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“Oops. I forgot I was in a church. Shoot.” She said another prayer. “You know being in church makes me nervous, Poppy.”
“No, Mom, I didn’t know that. Probably because you never took us to church. Tell god that while you’re there pretending to know prayers.”
The sound Mom made might’ve been similar to the sound of an exorcism. “You hateful child.”
“Anyway, Mom. I don’t know what wedding you’re talking about. Is it on Dad’s side?” I forced myself to make my bed while I listened to Mom stammer like she was losing her mind.
“Are you serious, Poppy?” she screeched. “Kaitlyn’s wedding! I told you they moved the wedding up because Andrew has some show he’s shooting this fall.”
I dropped the phone and had to fish it out from under the bed. “I’m sorry. Did you say Kaitlyn’s wedding?”
“I told you, Poppy!” she grumbled. “Or maybe that was when I wasn’t speaking to you for that horrible display you put on. Have you talked to the boys yet? Those poor babies.”
“Mother, I’ll talk to you all about the guys later, but right now you need to tell me what the hell my cousin is doing having a wedding when her fiancé told me they called the wedding off. And has been calling me multiple times a day. After he came to my house, let himself in, and tried to kiss me!”
Silence stretched over the line.
“Mom!”
“God, Poppy, give me time to panic.” She mumbled to herself for a few seconds and then grunted, signaling she’d made a decision. “You need to get your butt down here right now.”
“Ew, Mom, no. I’m not going to that wedding. The groom is trying to get into my pants, or did you miss that part?”
“Poppy Jo Summers, you get your ass down to this church right now or I’ll tell your father that you’re the one who burned down his shed.” Clearly threatening people just ran deep in my family. “You’ve got to talk to your cousin and save her from marrying this idiot.”
“Oh, now he’s an idiot?” I was already shoving my legs into a pair of jeans while trying not to fall. “You didn’t seem to think so when you were encouraging me to embrace the happy new couple a few months ago.”
“I’m going to have a long talk with god about you when I’m done saving your cousin and I’m going to make sure he knows to give you bratty little kids as payback.” Her voice softened. “Bratty little curly-haired kids.”
“Newsflash, Mom, I’m the one coming down there to save the day. Where are you, anyway?” I pulled on a T-shirt and then shoved my feet in the first pair of shoes I could find.
“St. Vincents. You’d better hurry.”
“I’m coming. Mom?” I waited a beat. “Just don’t tell Dad I burned down his shed, okay?”
“We’ll see, kid.”
I grabbed my truck keys and then saw that Bogie was stretched out on the couch, watching me. Taking a deep breath, I pulled open my front door, thinking I could send Bogie to Sam’s, but Sam wasn’t home.
“You’re coming with me, Bogie. Looks like you’re going to get to help rip Andrew to shreds.” I grabbed his leash and we both got in my truck, just to find the battery dead.
I felt panicked to get to Kaitlyn before she made a huge mistake and I let out a string of curses over the truck. Racing to my ex’s wedding wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time, but having my truck quit working on top of that just sucked.
“Watch your mouth, young lady.” Bad Mood Banner glared at me from the sidewalk and held up a sign for me to read. In big red letters, it readPoppy Summers is a mean girl.
I banged my head on the steering wheel and looked around, hoping that a taxi would choose that moment to appear in our quiet neighborhood. Of course, the only people on the street were me and Banner.
“What’s wrong? Can’t get out to bully any nice young men?”
“You know what, old man?” I forced myself to bring my ire to a gentle, rolling boil and tried again. “I am in a big rush and I don’t have time to fight with you right now. However, if you’d like to take this show on the road, I need to be at St. Vincents, ten minutes ago.”
He frowned. “You’re going to church?”
“I could be. Don’t sound so shocked.” I looked away. “But, no. I’m going to stop my cousin from marrying the biggest piece of scum on earth.”
“Just don’t show up and that solves that problem.”
I got out of my truck and walked toward his boat of a car with Bogie in tow. “Come on. You’re driving me. I don’t have time for your shit. Just get in the car and let’s go. I’ll buy you an ice cream afterwards if you’re quick.”
