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I have no idea what she thinks.
She promised she’d always be my best friend no matter what, but I know it’s up to me to fix things. I do have to make things right. Granny’s absolutely correct because Elodie is the only one for me. I know it now, and I can finally admit it to myself. I just wish I could have told her that, even if her parents and granny strangled me for doing so.
Or whipped me.
Garrrrrghgghghghh. This is what comes from crossing granny lines, book clubs, constant meddling, and curses.
“I second making it right,” Toren says in his deep, no-nonsense voice.
Then everyone makes the rounds of repeating the motion.
“Now?” I ask into the silence that follows. “I should just go after her right now?”
“When then?” Granny asks. “Next bloody year?”
Okay, yeah, I should go right now. I’m going, and I’m moving, trying to find my truck keys. Everyone is grinning at me encouragingly, but it’s going to be me on my own out there. I grab the metal box that has the soul contracts before I walk out the door. I have no idea why except maybe I might need them.
CHAPTER 17
Elodie
I’m not entirely sure my parents aren’t going to lock me in the house and throw away the key. I make sure I keep an eye on my bags until they’re safely back in my room. I have to say I’m disappointed in myself. I should have stood firm and told my parents that I wouldn’t be coming back home, that I was going to get my own place. I didn’t want to give them a heart attack, though, and telling them would totally have done it. My poor mom would have cried like a spewing fountain until she flooded Taylen’s living room.
I think I mostly went with them because I didn’t want to cause a big scene in front of Taylen and his entire family. After running out on my wedding, I know I’ve had enough drama for a lifetime, let alone for the same week.
I’m upstairs in my room, lying on my bed and contemplating how on earth I can find the right words to disappoint my parents thoroughly, and my grandma too, since apparently, she’s in favor of me marrying Henry Stinkpants Thousand Names Jr. I didn’t know she was so pro-Henry. Or maybe she’s just pro my parents and wants to be sure that the next time she shaves her legs, it won’t be for nothing.
When the doorbell rings, I literally freeze. I find my breath coming short and nasally, and my stomach does a nasty flipflop that feels a little bit like a bad amusement park ride mixed with fermented cabbage and beans. I don’t even know what dish that would be. Maybe a chili dog with sauerkraut?
I’m so sure my parents called Henry that I leap off the bed and bolt to the door. My bedroom doesn’t have a lock on it, so I consider ramming the desk chair up against the knob and barricading it with the bookcase or even with my bed after. If necessary, I can even make a sheet ladder, climb out the window, and run down the street with the duffel of all my money on my back.
What about Jeffers? He’s downstairs. Shit, I can’t leave him behind.
I crack the door an inch to call Jeffers’ name but freeze when I hear my mom downstairs.
“Oh, Taylen. Hi. We weren’t expecting you.”
“Hi, Mrs. Thompson. I was wondering if I could talk to Elodie for a minute.”
“Oh, um…”
I can practically hear my mom’s wheels turning as she tries to figure out if it was Taylen who helped me get away from my wedding. She knows it was, but she has no way to prove it, and Taylen has been my best friend for so long that she can’t very well shove him out, flip him the bird, and slam the door in his face. Not that my mom would ever flip someone the bird. My mom doesn’t flip birds. Or fingers.
With my heart pounding frantically, I burst out of my room and rush down the stairs. Jeffers hears me coming and rounds the bend downstairs so fast that he nearly sweeps my knees out from under me.
“Jeffers!” I put a hand out to keep myself from falling on my face. He wags his tail furiously and paints my face with a sloppy wet kiss.
That’s how Taylen finds me. He sees me rush down the stairs, and now he’s also seeing me standing here with dog drool dripping off my face. I wipe it away quickly and shift awkwardly from foot to foot.
He bolts past my mom and stops in front of me. The look on his face is so urgent that I’m afraid something happened. Like maybe his granny keeled over from too much excitement after I left. That’s doubtful, though. Helen lives a wild and crazy life.
