Page 23 of Snowed In with an Incubus

“My ferns! The ones I got from the flea market! She has a plant in her cubicle. I know she knows how to take care of ferns!We had a giant talk about plant care after Jeff had to throw out his ficus!”

Xena whined.

“I’m patting,” Jaz insisted, though she had once again stopped during her plant rant. She scratched Xena behind the ears, trying to focuson Xena’s pleased growl rather than the anger boiling inside her. She didn’t want to waste energy being angry at Brandon,no matter how satisfying it was. She’d wasted her late twenties on this guy. She’d moved to Alaska for him, putting up with their stupid vegetable fairs and six-months-a-year winter.

“She’s not here,” Brandon said.

“What? Why?”

“Because this isn’t her house,” Brandon said desperately. “It’s our house! Yours and mine!”

She rolled her eyes. “It stopped being mine yesterday.”

“But—but—” Brandon stammered. “We have three months left on the lease!”

Jaz laughed. She’d actually thought he’d been about to say something romantic.

“Well, I’m not paying my half! That’s what happens when you fuck your girlfriend’s coworker on the kitchen counter of our house!”

“We weren’t fucking,” Brandon argued. “We’ve never—we were just kissing!”

Jaz laughed louder. This would be genuinely funny if her heart wasn’t breaking a little bit. “Brandi said you guys had beensneaking around under my nose for months!”

“When did she say that?”

“When I was getting my toothbrush, and she cornered me in the bathroom to sob into my nice shirt while you were trying tofix your dumb fucking PlayStation!”

“It’s not fixable,” Brandon said. “I’m going to have to buy a new one. I hope you’re happy.”

“I’m so happy,” Jaz seethed. “I wish I broke it more! Did you call to piss me off, or did you actually have a reason?”

There was another long pause. Jaz stroked Xena so hard her furry face was pulled into a surprised expression, pressing herears back against her head. Xena grumbled contentedly. She loved hard pats.

Finally, Brandon asked, “Do you know where the car jack is?”

Jaz waited. This had to be a joke. He did that sometimes, making jokes at inopportune moments.

“You used it last,” he continued, rushed. “It’s kind of an emergency.”

It wasn’t a joke, Jaz realized. The anger in her chest reached a boiling point. She surged up, Xena tumbling off her lap.“I’m the sun? I’m the sun, Brandon? So what if I’m a little too much sometimes! Some people are into that! You know what no one likes? A selfish shithead!”

“Jaz,” Brandon tried.

Jaz hung up. She stormed to the door, almost getting kneecapped by Xena as the dog tore past her and into the hallway. Jaztook a second in the bathroom doorway, scrubbing furiously at her cheeks. They were dry, thank god, but she could still feelthe tears gathering in her eyes. She hated that she was getting so upset over this. He wasn’t worth her tears. Wasn’t worth anything, especially not this anger threatening to volcano out of her at any moment.

“Hey,” Reg said as she arrived back in the living room. “Would you want to come …”

He stopped, suddenly looking nervous. His tail twitched behind him.

“Uh,” he said.

Sam asked, “Is everything alright?”

Jaz wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. She wanted to tell him about that time she spent a week learning how to make Brandon’sfavorite childhood meal for his birthday, and when her birthday rolled around, he got her a fifty-dollar gift card for BedBath & Beyond.

“Brandon Malcovich,” she seethed, “is scum.”

Reg cleared his throat. “Okay! I’m going to go on that run. Hope I see you guys at the party tonight.”