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“Anytime.”
“Where’d you learn all that anyway?”
“TV mostly. The Cooking Channel.” He shrugs. “What can I say? It relaxes me.”
“Well, you’re gonna make some lucky girl a wonderful husband.”
“Nah. I’m never getting married.”
“Sure, you will.”
“No. My dad’s been married enough times for both of us.”
“Your dad’s the one with the Tesla?” Heidi asks.
“The one and only.”
“Sounds like the two of you don’t get along.”
“Let’s just say we aren’t each other’s biggest fans.”
“Well, I think it’s very nice that you visit your grandmother.”
“She’s the best. And I’m pretty much living here now,” he corrects. “At least for the time being. Till I get my shit together. Which could be a while.”
“And speaking of shit,thisshit is pretty damn amazing.”
“That it is.”
They continue passing the joint back and forth in silence until it has all but disappeared.
“Oh no. Don’t leave us,” Heidi says, feeling what’s left of the tiny butt burn the tips of her fingers.
“All good things must come to an end,” Mark says.
Which is when they hear the front door open.
“Heidi?” a woman’s voice calls out.
Heidi is immediately on her feet, spinning around aimlessly, like a top on the verge of toppling over. “Shit, shit, shit, shit!”
“Who is it?”
“It’s my mother-in-law. Shit, shit, shit,shit!” Heidi checks her watch. Aiden doesn’t finish work until seven, and it’s just past six-thirty. What is Lisa doing here?
“Heidi? Where are you?”
Heidi swats at the malodorous air, hearing Lisa’s footsteps fast approaching. “I’ll be right there,” she calls out.
But it’s too late. Lisa, impeccably dressed in white pants and a floral-print Chanel blouse, every dark hair perfectly in place, is already filling the doorway.
“Good God. What’s that awful smell?” she asks, her gaze shifting from Heidi to Mark. “And who are you?”
“This is Mark Fisher,” Heidi says. “His grandmother lives next door.”
“And you’re here because…?”
Heidi, her newfound resolve struggling with the fog in her brain, manages to quell the urge to respond, “And this is your business because…?” Instead she says, “Mark was kind enough to give me a hand with tonight’s dinner.”
