living area, Ella is out of sight and Delilah gives me a tight smile.
“No luck?” I say, feeling my stomach drop.
“That’s one tough kid,” she says. “Though it’s not hard to believe given her situation.”
No, it isn’t. I hate it for her, but I’m also starting to get irritated with the whole bratty act. No one should be able to hate Delilah. She’s like a ray of sunshine bottled up with honey sweetness.
“Look, I hate to go, but one of my dog-walking clients called and they need me this afternoon.”
“I understand.”
Out of all of my roommates, Delilah is the only one who couldn’t find a steady job since we graduated from UT two years ago. She’s managed to scrape by with dog-walking jobs, the occasional personal grocery-shopper gig, and even some retail work. Long term, we’re all worried for her, but she doesn’t want pity or help.
“Are you gonna be okay, darlin’?” she asks, touching my arm lightly.
And I know, because she’s one of my closest friends, that she doesn’t just mean with Ella.
I shrug. “I guess I have to be.”
We walk to the front door, and when I open it, a man is climbing out of a tiny red sports car so fancy that I don’t recognize the make or model. He smiles up at us as he stalks closer in his expensive suit, a single dimple popping out on one cheek. He looks like the kind of man you should cross the street to avoid because he is just Trouble.
I bet he seduces a lot of women with that dimple. And the car. But mostly the dimple.
It is a wicked feature, one that should never have been given to a man that already looks darn good with dark, tousled hair and facial hair that’s somewhere between a five o’clock shadow and neatly trimmed beard.
“Hello, ladies,” he says, hopping up the steps. “I understand now why Gavin didn’t show up for our meeting this morning. Is there a two-for-one special I need to know about?”
The sound of Delilah smacking the smile off his face is so loud that I literally gasp. It’s like the crack of a rifle.
“Looks like your mama needs to teach you some manners,” Delilah says, in a voice so fiery that I’m shocked her sundress doesn’t go up in flames.
The man is completely undeterred, stroking the cheek she slapped as he continues to grin. “I could say the same about yours. Not that I mind.”
She goes to slap him again, but he grabs her wrist, twisting it slightly to plant a kiss on the back of her hand. Delilah goes to use her left hand, but he grabs that too.
I am completely frozen. What would a bouncer on the Maury Povich show do? The only piece of advice going through my head is that you don’t separate two dogs in a fight. And to be honest, these two seem more dangerous than a pair of dogs. I decide to just watch, wishing I had a bucket of popcorn drenched in movie theater butter.
“Truce?” the man asks.
Delilah scoffs. “Not on your life, mister.”
“If I let you go, do you promise not to slap me again?”
Her head tilts to the side as she thinks about this. Finally, Delilah nods. “Promise.”
“Are your promises trustworthy?” The man’s lips curl up into a smile, and I’m a little in awe of his lack of self-preservation. It’s like he’s not even afraid for his baby-making capabilities.
Or maybe he’s smarter than I thought, because he shifts to block Delilah’s knee with his hip just as she goes for the gold.
“Okay, okay,” he says. “I trust you.”
He releases Delilah’s wrists in a slow and dramatic fashion, holding out his palms as though showing he’s unarmed. Delilah smooths down her hair, huffing out a little annoyed breath.
And then she socks him right in the gut.
The man bends over at the waist, his face looking like he can’t get any air. Delilah pats him twice on his head like he’s a big puppy who’s just been disciplined after peeing on the rug, then hops down the stairs, her skirt swishing around her hips. Her dramatic exit is slightly dampened when her car takes almost a minute for the engine to turn over. But the backfire when it finally does is like an exclamation point on the whole exchange.
When I look over at the man, he is smiling as he watches her go, absentmindedly rubbing his stomach. I’ve never seen Delilah act so violently, not that