AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Yup," Zeph checks the new message she just received, "looks like they're all there."
"Ash said they got in a fight," Hyacinth offers.
"Apparently there was some property damage," Ginger mentions.
"And stabbing," Zephyr mumbles after her phone goes off again. "I have to go."
Following the women outside, I'm saying my goodbyes to babies and friends when I notice Mesa's truck parked by the tavern across the street.
The driver's seat is empty but Abu is sitting in the passenger seat looking tired. She sees me and waves.
"What happened to you, 'Lita?" As soon as I get across the street, she lowers the window and I get a look at a pretty serious bruise covering her right cheek.
"Psh." Her hand raises and drops, indicating it's nothing. "The old bitch clocked me when I was trying to pull Alice off of her. Last time I try to help."
"Vera hit you?"
I can't imagine Mable landing a punch that hard. Mable's barely even five feet tall.
Abu's shaking her head though. "Mable, she had a book."
"Mable hit you with a book?"
Abu's head bobs affirmatively.
"Have you been drinking?" I'd been about to lean in through the window to give her a hug when I got a whiff of whiskey. That probably explains some of it.
"We were playing Never Have I Ever over at Howard's." Abu's dark eyes sparkle with mischief, "Alice is snockered."
"Worse than Vera?" I laugh, thinking about my grandmother playing a drinking game like a sorority girl. My money would definitely have been on Vera Jones for being the most experienced of the four.
"Alice. Hands down," Abu says proudly, "that woman has done shit you've only read about."
Do not ask. Do not ask. Do not ask.I breathe deep and let it go.
"Did Justice arrest Mable?"
My grandmother is neither too drunk nor too upset about the fight to miss a beat. Her head swivels to eye me carefully, one gray eyebrow rising up her forehead.
"Justice?"
"Hawk. Did Deputy Hawkins arrest Mable for hitting you?"
"Oh, I know his name, Mija. I just didn't realize you were on a first name basis with the man you hate so much."
Great. Now I'm blushing again.
"I don't hate him, Abuelita," I mumble quietly.
"No. Nobody got arrested, sweetheart. No one's pressing charges."
"Hey kid." Mesa messes with my hair as he passes behind me, carrying a big bag of takeout in one hand.
"You should see the other guy." He quips, gesturing to Abu's shiner as he hands her the bag through the open window. "She stabbed Vera with a toothpick...We're doing dinner at the homestead, you on your way home? There's plenty for everyone."
"Nah," I answer my brother as he climbs behind the steering wheel, "I have some stuff to do in town.
"Stay out of trouble, ‘lita."
