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“Nope.” Spencer shakes his head at me, reaching over and sliding Danny’s phone closer to him and out of my reach. “Let’s maybe not try that again, okay, buddy? You’re not very good at it.”
As I glare at him, he smacks the top of my hand when I reach for her phone again.
“Sending her father the same text won’t make you feel any better either,” he informs me, reading my mind.
“What the heck am I going to do?” Some of my anger dissipates when I look back over my shoulder at the front door, just wishing she’d walk through it right now. “I don’t even know where she is or if she’s okay.”
“She’ll come back after she cools off. I mean, all of her shit is here. She’s not gonna go far,” Spencer reminds me, not making me feel any better that she’d only come back because of her things and not because of me.
Because why would she? I’m a jerk.
“How did I not even know what her father’s company does?” I mutter with a shake of my head, turning back to face Spencer.
“What you really should be concerned with is how theworlddoesn’t know this information,” he says with a curl of his lip in disgust. “That is some shady shit right there, and now Ireallywant to know why they suddenly want her to come back to Chicago after all this time. You know they’re probably trying to cover something up. Do you think she knows something, and they’re afraid she’ll release it to the public? Maybe they’re gonna put a hit out on her if she doesn’t comply. Have you noticed anyone following you lately? Getting any hang-up calls in the middle of the night? What about a stranger loitering by your golf cart when it’s unattended?”
I just stare at Spencer and shake my head. “You watch entirely too many true crime documentaries.”
“And you don’t watch nearly enough.” He shakes his head right back at me.
All of a sudden, there’s a loud thump against my front door, and we both scream at the top of our lungs.
“Oh shit!” Spencer whispers as we both turn on our stools and stare with wide eyes at the door. “They’ve come for you!”
Rolling my eyes and realizing we’re not on a TV show, I slide off my stool and walk over to the entryway just as my doorbell rings. As soon as I fling open my door, a body falls right through the doorway with it. I have to quickly scramble my feet and dart forward with my arms out as Danny pitches face-first right into them.
“Sorry about that!” my grandmother says as she appears in the open doorway behind her. “I propped her up against the door so I could ring the bell.”
“Yay, it’s no bones day!” Danny’s shout comes out muffled with her face smushed against my chest. I look over her head at Dottie with a raised eyebrow as I haul Danny up until she’s standing. Sort of.
“She may have had a little too much to drink,” Dottie adds with a laugh.
I tighten my arm around Danny’s waist as her body slumps against mine, and then she presses her nose right in the middle of my chest and inhales deeply.
“You smell yum,” she mutters with a slur, talking directly to my chest, making a grin spread across my face for the first time since she left.
I secure my arm around her waist a little tighter when her knees wobble, and she clutches the front of my shirt in her fist for balance. Her head flops down against my shoulder, and I close my eyes and kiss the top of her head. Before I move my lips away, I take my own deep inhale, breathing her in, just happy she came back, even if someone else had to bring her to me.
“Where did you find her?” I ask Dottie as Spencer comes up to join me in the entryway, giving my grandmother a wave.
“I was walking home from book club and found her about ready to fall face-first into the Summersweet pond.” Dottie laughs as I pull my chin back to look down at Danny, her head still resting on my shoulder. I bring my free hand up, brushing her hair off her face and out of her eyes that are currently closed, tucking it behind her ear as Dottie continues. “She was with Laura’s girls and Melanie up at the Dip and Twist, but they were all just as drunk as she was. It was like trying to herd cats on meth. I had to call Laura to come help me corral them.”
Danny suddenly whips her head up from my shoulder to smile at me with unfocused, glassy eyes and flushed cheeks.
“I got invited to Spith and Bip!” Her face scrunches up in adorable confusion. “No, that’s not right. Biff and Sitch! What the fuck is wrong with my mouth?”
Spencer barks out a laugh, and I have to bite down on my lips to stop myself from chuckling as well when she brings a hand up and starts sloppily pawing at her mouth with her fingers.
“Do you mean Sip and Bitch?” I ask, slowly enunciating the words for her, no idea how I’m not laughing right now.
“That’s what I said. Spip and Ditch,” Danny mutters.
“Oh, you’re fucked even harder than I thought if she went to a Sip and Bitch, my friend.” Spencer chuckles with a shake of his head.
After being with Emily for so many years, I am well aware of what Sip and Bitch is—and how annihilated those women sometimes are after one. I once had to rescue Emily and Wren from up in a tree, and Tess took a swing at me when I snatched away the explosive device she was attempting to make out of a bottle of vodka and a rag soaked with gas. I still have no idea how they even got up in that tree… or how Tess has so many hiding places on her person for BIC lighters.
Danny quickly turns her head and focuses on Spencer standing next to me.
“Hey, it’s the eye fucker!” she exclaims, finally letting go of her tight grip on my shirt to lunge forward and smack him on the shoulder, making me quickly wrap both arms around her before she falls right down onto the floor.
