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“Well,” I start, and then pause to gather my scattered wits. “You remember when I dashed in and saved your life?”
“I’ll never forget it.”
“Good—”
“But you should have just let me perish. Would have made for a better story.” She looks down at Blair. “And like they say, I’m old, and nothing good happens after fifty.”
My brow raises. “Great to know.” I’m in no mood for this tonight, so I don’t leave her room to get a word in edgewise. Once she gets wound up, it’s hard to get her to stop. “Anyway, the reason I’m here is—I found your son—” I glance over my shoulder. “I found Theo in my driveway.”
“Did he—”
“Anyway, he said you two had some sort of squabble, and being that it’s late, and it’s cold out, and it’s almost Christmas, and I’ve had a really shit couple of weeks—I was hoping that you could do the right thing and let him back inside.”
“He didn’t tell you what he did, did he?”
“Quite frankly, Mrs. Crump, I don’t give a damn.”
She looks at me, clearly taken aback, and opens the door. I gesture for Theo to cross the threshold. After he has, I hoist my daughter up. She wraps her legs around me, her cast digging into my hip, and we head home.
Mrs. Crump calls after me. “I bet you’d care if you knew what it was!”
Later, as I’m putting Blair to bed, she asks if I think Theo’s mommy is going to send him away.
“I don’t know.”
“I sure hope not. Theo is my best friend.”
“He can’t be your best friend, sweetheart. He’s a grown man.”
She shifts away from me. “He is!”
“What makes you say that? You hardly know him.”
She flops over and looks me up and down. She narrows her eyes as though to say I know nothing. “I do too!”
“Okay, then.” I pull the covers up to her chest and flip on the night light. I’m thinking about the gun, about going to get it. I’m thinking about sleeping with it under my pillow, just in case Mooney should try anything. Though, I doubt he’s in the best shape. “Whatever you say.”
“He talks to me every day. Through the fence.”
The next morning, Greg texts me that Naomi had a good night. I tell him that once I get Blair up and fed, we’ll head that way. Not long after, he texts again, saying that her blood work looks good and not to come. She is being released shortly. Too exhausted to type out a text, I pick up the phone and call him.
As he answers, a yawn overtakes me. “Sorry,” I say. “I hardly slept.”
In the background, I hear cartoons on the TV.
“They’re about to come in with discharge instructions. Can I call you back?”
“I need you to call the exterminator again. Preferably before they shut down for Christmas.”
“I know. You told me.”
“No, I mean again, again.”
“Huh?” There’s shuffling in the background. He sounds distant. “Okay.”
“The squirrels kept me up all night. Although…I don’t know…it could be raccoons. Whatever it is, they’re loud.” I sigh. “Maybe we should call a different company.”
“Why?”
