Page 18 of It Runs in the Family

The thing was, I used to go out with Mary Ellen and Ava all the time—and Selena, Rita, Hannah, and a few more of my cousins too. Weekends at T-Birds. Day trips to Waco. Shopping at the thrift store. But I’d slowly stopped joining them. It had happened gradually enough that I’d attributed my seclusion to a collection of things—I was tired, I needed to do my laundry—but they’d been excuses. I’d never stopped to examine why, and finally my cousins had stopped asking.

Maybe going out wasn’t such a bad idea. “Sure, I’ll go—if you send me photographic evidence of your date.”

“I’m not sending you a selfie with my date.” He paused. “But I’ll send you something if you send me proof too.”

“Fine. But your proof better be good.”

“Back at ya, Irie.”

He hung up, and I gulped down half a cup of my coffee before I texted Ava and asked if she and Mary Ellen were planning on going out tonight. She answered back right away.

Girl! You know it! Want to join us?

Something in me resisted, but it beat eating ramen and painting my toenails while I watched a true crime documentary.

Love to!

Want us to pick you up?

Mary Ellen and Ava usually liked to go home with guys after a night of drinking, and since that wasn’t my plan, riding with them wasn’t a good idea.

Nah, I’ll just meet you there. T-Birds?

You know it! 8:00

See you then!

I had about an hour to get ready, so I headed for the bathroom and turned on the water in the shower to warm up then remembered I still hadn’t called Jimmy.

Grabbing my phone, I walked into my room and called, preparing myself to sound sick.

“Iris?” he grunted. “Took your sweet-ass time to call me back.”

“I’ve been sleeping all day. I told you I was sick.” I coughed for good measure, then couldn’t help asking, “Did you get someone to cover for me tonight?”

“Tonight and every other night.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked in confusion.

“Mannie told me that you’ve been stealing from the register.”

“What?”

“You’re fired, Iris. Don’t be comin’ back. You’re lucky I’m not having you arrested.” Then he hung up before I could even defend myself.

Oh, I was going to kill Mannie with my bare hands.

Chapter Seven

After my call with Jimmy, I was suddenly in the mood to drink, so I had Mary Ellen and Ava pick me up. They were late—not uncommon—and pulled into the parking lot of my rundown apartment building in their twenty-plus-year-old Buick around 8:15. The car had belonged to their father and been passed down to them. Since they lived together and worked together at Simco, a grocery store distribution center, they shared the Buick. But the car looked rougher than the last time I’d seen it. The front passenger side was smooshed in like it had been T-boned, and the bumper was hanging from the car with a couple of wires.

They pulled up perpendicular to the exterior stairs from my apartment and laid on the horn.

Rolling my eyes, I walked out my front door onto the landing I shared with the apartment next door and headed down the metal stairs. “I’m coming!”

The passenger window was down, and they both catcalled. I did a double take when I saw Ava behind the wheel. Mary Ellen was the older sister and usually drove.

“Hot mama!” Mary Ellen shouted from the passenger seat, and Ava leaned toward the passenger window and called out, “Bow-chicka-wow-wow!”