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No way I shut the cats in my room.
Apprehension wrapped cool fingers around my spine as the door to my mom’s room opened and her laughter floated out. “Let me just get us a drink…”
And there she was, wearing nothing but a t-shirt and her hair was a wreck and the door was open wide enough I had a perfect view of Mr. Standish—shirtless in Mom’s bed.
I think I just threw up in my mouth.
Worse, my mom just grinned when she saw me. “Hey, baby. Sorry, keep the cats in your room tonight, okay? Eddie doesn’t like them.” She closed the door and headed for the kitchen.
Yep.
Horror movie.
Called it.
Chapter Twenty
At the Bottom Of Everything
Ishowered swiftly, not wanting to be out of my room longer than absolutely necessary. In fact, I didn’t even want to be in my apartment. She’d seriously brought him here. Her car hadn’t been in the lot, so he’d probably driven her. I ran a comb through my wet hair and left it to dry on its own. In my pajamas, I stuffed ear buds in and cranked up my music before leaving the bathroom.
I didn’t want to evenaccidentallyhear anything.
So. Gross.
In the kitchen, I made a sandwich, grabbed two sodas and a bottle of water, then a bag of chips. I wanted no excuses to have to come back out. Then I horded everything into my room and even grabbed the cat’s litter box—I’d rather leave it in my bathroom, thank you very much—but if they had to be trapped with me, then I wasn’t going to make them suffer.
Instead of sitting on the bed, I hunkered down on the floor on the far side of it, using the bed as a barrier between me and the door. Then I stared down at my phone.
I’d left the guys, what? Forty minutes earlier? If that? Torn between laughter, tears, and fury was not a good place to be. I should have grabbed the damn ice cream when I was in the kitchen. I’d finished the sandwich, and the unsettled feeling wasn’t going away.
Music still cranked, I opened the text messages. My finger hovered from one to the others and back—finally, I went to the group text I had with them. It wasn’t as active, unless we were planning something or checking on morning coffee.
Me:Anyone still up?
My phone pingedin rapid succession.
Coop:Yep, finishing paper.
Ian:Just watching a movie.
Jake:Told you I would be.
Archie:Yep. Trying to debug this robot program.
Relief sang through me,they were all there.
Me:Mom is here.
Several dots appearedas though someone was typing, but I wasn’t finished.
Me:And your dad, Archie.
The dots stoppedfor a moment then:
Archie:You okay?
Coop:WTF? Her car wasn’t there.
