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“Oh yeah,” she said in too chipper of a voice for someone who had just been arrested.
“Why are you in handcuffs?”
She nodded over her shoulder in Abey’s direction. “Ask her.” She smiled at Murphy. “’S’up, Murph?”
“What’d you do?” he asked her.
Devo was a saint. What could she have done to land herself in handcuffs?
I looked at Abey in question, and she planted her hands on her hips. “Oh no you don’t,” she said. “Don’t you give me that sour puppy-dog look. I was just doin’ my job is all.”
Devo snorted, and she snubbed her nose at Abey, turning the chair away with a toe press.
“Hey,” Abey said. “It wasn’t me who decided to go all liberal warrior on the biggest redneck in town. And you parked your truck in front of a fire hydrant. I warned you, missy, and then you got all sassy.”
“Don’t call me missy,” Devo said.
“Sorry, Devona. I warned you, Devona.” Abey frowned. It looked like maybe it was upsetting her to be the reason Devo was stuck in the sheriff’s station. “It is kinda funny, though, that you got arrested at an LGBTQ rights protest by a lesbian.”
Devo whipped around so fast that she teetered on the edge of the chair as it tipped to the side. I worried she’d fall on her butt on the floor, but she kept herself in the chair by sheer will, then righted it and planted her feet, glaring at Abey. “You’re gay?”
Abey looked down at herself, like the brown, polyester uniform she always wore held the answer, and then back up at Devo. “Obviously. Last time I checked anyway.”
“Do you want me to call Theo?” I asked, my head swinging back and forth between their faces while Murphy led Grum to his dog bed in the corner.
He’d brought a whole backpack full of chew toys, and he pulled them out, one by one, letting Grum sniff them. He’d also brought one of his T-shirts from his laundry basket because he thought if Grum had something with his scent on it, he wouldn’t be sad while we were out of town.
“He’s on his way,” Devo answered me, and to Abey she said, “How do you ‘check’ your sexuality?”
“Seriously? It’s an expression. I—”
Devo narrowed her eyes further. “What?”
“Nothin’,” Abey said. “I was about to say somethin’ kinda rude. Sorry. Bad habit.”
I snorted. “I’ve never known you to stop yourself before.”
She ignored me, her eyes fixed squarely on Devo’s. Walking closer with her hand on the butt of her gun sticking out of its holster around her waist, she leaned over so they were face-to-face, but Devo pushed off the floor again, backing away.
Abey removed the holster, setting it on Frank’s desk, and then she stepped closer again, but she clasped her hands behind her back. I stood there like a spectator at a baseball game, watching some kind of tension explode between them. Neither one of them acted like they even remembered Murphy and me were in the room.
But Abey smirked and leaned in closer, whispering so Murphy wouldn’t hear, “I was gonna say, ‘I check my sexuality every time I’m down between a woman’s legs’… but I didn’t wanna be rude.”
Devo’s eyes widened infinitesimally, and Abey licked her lips.
The front door swung open behind me, and Frank barreled into the station in a huff. “What’s takin’ y’all so long? We coulda made it to the airport already.”
He took in the look on my face as Abey backed up two steps, straightening and fastening her holster back around her hips, but stayed locked in a battle of wills with Devo.
Devo watched her, but the way she was eyeing Abey had Frank backing up too. “Uh, yeah, so how ’bout we head out? Murph, hop to it. Say your goodbyes. Grum’ll be fine.”
“I don’t wanna leave him.” The heartbreak in Murphy’s voice was killing me. I’d even tried to convince Frank to let us take Grum with us to Texas, even though I knew it was ridiculous. We were only going to be gone for a few days. “Why can’t we take him with us?”
Abey and Devo were still locked in a face-off, but Abey was listening to Murphy. She was a really good aunt. “Don’t you worry, Murph. Grum and I got plans. My brother’s havin’ a cookout this weekend, so Grum’ll get to swim in a creek and roll in the mud. And if he’s a good boy, I’ll let him chase me when I go four-wheelin’. He’s gonna have a ball.”
Devo rolled her eyes at Abey. I hadn’t known Devo to be argumentative or rude in the past, but cordial was the last thing on my mind as they glared at each other.
What was on my mind, though, was, Whoa! Get a room already.
