“Actually, if you could take me somewhere I could get a phone, that’d be great.”
He hummed his agreement as he shoveled a heaping spoonful of cheesy scrambled eggs onto his plate.
“Do you like to watch Bluey?”
I looked across the table to answer Lindsey, who was staring me down with expectant eyes. “Yeah.”
“Cool!”
Chapter Two
Avery
“Mom?”
“In the laundry room, honey!”
I hung my jacket up on the coat rack and tossed my backpack on the floor. “I’ll be in the kitchen!”
I made a beeline for the coffee pot and grabbed a tumbler out of the cabinet. I filled the cup with ice from the fridge and then poured caramel syrup and half-and-half into the bottom before filling it to the brim with coffee. I pulled a reusable straw out of the drawer and stirred everything together before screwing the lid on.
“Hey!” she yelped. “You’re banned from iced coffee until you start bringing back some of my cups, young man!”
I groaned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I put the straw in my mouth and took a large drink. “Mmm. Mhm, that’s what I needed.”
When I finally turned around my mother had framed herself in the doorway with her hands on her hips. “And Ineedmy cups back! Half the cupboard is empty, Avery!”
“No way! I might have like… one.”
She rolled her eyes. “I bet you if I walked out to your car I’d find at least three of my cups rolling around your filthy floorboards.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“That you’re a slob and a thief,” she said flatly, moving across the kitchen to grab her own coffee cup from the island.
“You know,” I commented. “Some mothers are nice to their children.”
“And did you know, in some species, the mothers eat their young,” she countered, sipping from her mug.
“Ha. Ha,” I deadpanned.
“But seriously, Avery. That’s the last cup you are walking out of this house with until they’ve all beenreturned safe and sound.”
“Mom, you have like 50 cups!”
“I have 32, and, when I counted yesterday, I was down to 25. That’ssevencups missing, Avery!”
“Aunt Sharon probably has five of them.”
“No, she had two. I raided her cupboards last week after bridge.”
“Do you hear yourself right now?”
She set her cup down and frowned. “What do you mean, Avery?”
“You are whining about raiding other people's cabinets for tumblers after bridge games. Do you remember when I was young, and you told me to tell you if you ever started becoming one of those weird old people like Grandma Jacky…”
“I beg your pardon? I have a hard time connecting having hobbies and collecting something as aweird old peoplething.”
