Page 19 of It Runs in the Family

I laughed. “You two need to get a life.”

But I knew I looked pretty damn good. I had on a white with brown paisley patterned, short-sleeved baby doll dress and brown cowboy boots—my dressy ones, not the ones I wore to help Granny with farm chores. My hair was slightly curled, hanging to the center of my back. I had naturally long lashes, but I’d put on a few coats of mascara, some smokey eyeshadow, blush and some lip gloss. My ID, debit card, front door key, and some cash were tucked into the pocket of my dress.

“We have lives, thank you very much,” Mary Ellen said as I opened the back door. “You’re the one who needs one.”

“No one can claim we don’t have fun,” Ava said, glancing back at me.

“That is true,” I said as I shut the car door. If anything, many people claimed my cousins had too much fun.

Mary Ellen and Ava were a year apart, and Mary Ellen was three years older than me. Neither one had ever had a serious relationship, claiming they were having too much fun to settle down. Since Mesquite County wasn’t all that big, they would have run out of men years ago if it weren’t for the cowboys who traveled through.

“Ready to have some fun?” Ava asked as she pressed on the gas pedal, the tires squealing.

“Are you talking drinking fun or an ER-visit-after-we-crash fun?”

Ava laughed. “We never crash.”

“Your front bumper and side panel say differently.”

They both laughed.

T-Birds was twenty minutes from my apartment, but I wasn’t sure we were going to make it after Ava ran over two curbs and sped through a red light.

“Why isn’t Mary Ellen driving?” I asked.

“The eye doctor said she needs glasses, and she refuses to get them,” Ava said. “So I’m the driver for now.”

“And yet she still drives better than you,” I said dryly.

“I just don’t have enough practice,” Ava said matter-of-factly.

I suddenly wished I had taken my own car.

Shockingly, we made it the bar parking lot without crashing, but as Ava pulled into an open parking space, she scraped the side of a new shiny black F150.

“Oh shit!” Ava muttered in panic.

Mary Ellen reached for the door handle, but Ava had parked so close to the truck the door would only open a few inches. “The guy who drives that is going to kill you, Ava!”

“I know!” Ava put the car in reverse and scraped it even more as she backed out.

“Drive around to the other side of the lot!” Mary Ellen shouted. “Maybe the owner will be drunk enough he won’t notice.”

“It’s on the driver’s side,” I said, leaning over the console. “I think he’s gonna notice.”

“But he won’t know who did it,” Ava said, driving two lanes over and finding a spot next to a compact car and a curb next to a tree. “If I back into this space, then he might not figure out it was me.”

There was definitely more space than her first attempt, but I still wasn’t sure she could execute this maneuver. I had enough trouble in my life. I didn’t want to be an accessory to another hit and run.

I grabbed both front seats and shouted, “Stop!”

Ava hit the brakes and flung me forward with a jolt, the seat belt catching me and hauling me back. She turned back to me expectantly.

I gave her a tight smile. “You know, I think this is going to take a lot of concentration, so the fewer distractions the better. I’ll just get out and meet you inside.”

Ava bit the corner of her bottom lip. “Yeah,” she finally said. “Good idea.”

I didn’t give her a chance to change her mind. I unbuckled my seatbelt, flung open the door, and scrambled out. The door hadn’t even closed before the car started moving again.