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Mrs. Jonsdottir mentioned time and again that she wanted to sell and move closer to her children who’d long ago moved out of state. Every time I saw her, I reminded her I wanted to buy it from her, and she always said she’d talk to me first before she did anything. But she’d yet to sell.
In the meantime, I was saving hard for it and was careful with my expenses. Fortunately, for the Vegas bachelorette trip, I’d only needed to pay airfare and food. Hotel was covered.
I looked around my room. Even though I’d lived here for over a year, it felt… temporary.Ifelt that way. Like I didn’t know where I belonged. I needed something of my own. A place where I could paint the walls and walk around in my underwear. That I could do with what I wanted. Or fuck who I wanted. When I wanted it. And where. It wasn’t like I could get a guy to fuck me on Maggie’s mom’s hand-me-down kitchen table or over the back of the couch she’d picked up at the thrift store.
“I’m too old for this,” I muttered to myself.
I snagged the yellow lace panties, slipped them on. They didn’t say seductress. I wasnotone of those. I had no clue what I was doing outside of watching porn and pretending my vibrator was an actual dick.
Go-sh, I was so nervous! Dinner with Tom was one thing, but being with him alone? Naked? He would see me. Only me. I couldn’t hide behind my clothes or my sass or sarcasm. I wanted him to make me forget my own name.
“This is what happens, woman,” I said aloud to myself. I wasn’t getting a pep talk from my brother on this one. He knew about the date, but we didn’t talk about our sex lives. I made that easy by not having one. “Get your shit together. Get naked. Get some dick-made orgasms.”
After the pizza and pep talk the night before with Bridge, I’d coordinated via text with Tom for a date. Tonight. It was a school night, so neither of us were going to do anything wild and crazy. Well, I’d take wild and crazy as long as I was in bed by midnight.
By in bed, I meant asleep.
My cell rang and I grabbed it from the bedside table.
CHERYL.
“Fudge. Sugar. Dang. Carp. GAH!” I practically shouted. I hated to watch my cuss words, but if there was a time to swear, it was now.
She only called when she needed something, like money.
I glanced at the ceiling, then swiped the screen to answer her call. If I didn’t talk to her now, she wouldn’t stop. I wasn’t going to let her mess with my date.
“Hey, Cheryl,” I said, dropping onto my unmade bed.
“How’s my pumpkin?”
I rolled my eyes.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Does something have to be up? Can’t I want to talk to my only daughter?”
Andit started.
“Yes,” I said. “How’re things? Dad?”
I could see her shrugging through the phone. “Fine. The shop was closed for two days. A water main burst down the street.”
“I heard about that.”
Small-town life meant nothing was a secret. When a tree fell on Bridge’s and Lindy’s house over the summer, news had spread within a few hours, and they’d had the entire town drive by to see it. I had to admit, it was a spectacle.
“Maybe you can stop by and visit with him since he’s been a little bored without anything to do while he was off.”
All he probably did was sit in his recliner, smoke, and watch TV, perfectly content.
“Sure.”
“Bring some beers with you. Oh, and a quart of milk. Eggs. OJ. Bread.”
She was out of money. Again.
“What happened to the extra cash I gave you at the beginning of the month with the rent?” I asked.
