Ride the Lightning - Aimee Nicole Walker Page 0,38
we go inside the house, Miss Thing.”
“Are you talking to Betty or me?” Jonah asked.
“You can piss in your own front yard if you want to. Who am I to tell you what to do?”
Jonah tilted his head back and laughed. God, how he loved her. Thirty minutes ago, Jonah would’ve thought himself incapable of joy. Two minutes with Marla and the world was a much better place. Then he remembered her diagnosis, and it felt like someone stabbed him in the heart.
Seeing his mood shift, she wagged her elegant forefinger from side to side. “None of that now,” she said firmly. “I will not spend the rest of my time feeling sorry for myself, and I don’t have the emotional energy to spend on making others feel better either.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Marla gave a haughty nod. “All right, then. Let’s get down to work.”
Jonah retrieved her suitcase while Betty sniffed the grass until she found the perfect spot to pee. The three of them went inside. Jonah started a pot of coffee while Marla sat down at his ancient kitchen table, which was a representation of both the best and worst times in his childhood.
He’d dyed Easter eggs with his granny on the scarred surface and had completed his homework there after school every day while she prepared dinner. He could close his eyes and remember the smell of her freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. The kitchen table was also the scene of many standoffs between Jonah and Oscar when he hadn’t wanted to eat something on his plate like liver or lima beans. It was during one of those battles of will that Oscar had called him Joanie for the first time.
“A sissy name for a sissy boy.”
Oscar was smart enough to never say those things in front of Granny or Ellie, but he wore a hateful sneer on his face that let Jonah know when he was thinking them. The old bastard’s tactics won every time, and Jonah had bent to his will.
He’d fallen into the same toxic paradigm with Trexler. Jonah needed to break the pattern before it broke him.
“I love the new wall color in the living room,” Marla said when he carried two steaming cups over to the table. “It’s very serene and peaceful.”
“Thank you,” Jonah said, taking a seat across from her. He reached beneath the table and rubbed a hand over Betty’s smooth fur. She must’ve liked it because she stood on her hind legs and placed her front paws on his thighs. Scooting his chair back, he scooped the dog up and set her on his lap.
“Miss Thing, you know damn well you’re not allowed to sit at the table,” Marla said, but she couldn’t keep the grin off her face. “Lord, she’s going to have you wrapped around her paw in no time.”
“She will,” he replied, not bothering to deny it. Wasn’t it better to let Marla see how much he would spoil her beloved companion?
Betty barked, and Marla laughed.
“You’re not all that,” Marla told her dog. “You snore, and you fart worse than any human.”
Jonah laughed. “And here I thought you were bestowing a great honor on me.”
Marla smiled. “I am, doll. I truly am.” She reached inside her large pink tote and pulled out a notebook. Marla ripped out a sheet of paper and slid it across to Jonah. “These are all the things you need to know about Betty.”
Jonah read the brand of dog food and snacks, as well as the dates for Betty’s next annual checkup and the name of her veterinarian. Marla had included the brand of flea medicine and heartworm preventative Betty used and her schedule for taking them. He was not at all surprised by the care she put into the details.
“Thank you,” Jonah said, winking at her. “So, how’d you find out about Felix’s article? Did the Associated Press pick it up?”
“They might have, but one of my friends back here sent a link to Felix’s article in the Savannah Morning News. I can’t believe you didn’t call me,” she said accusingly.
“Well, Felix kind of jumped the gun a little bit and caught me off guard too.”
Marla raised a perfectly arched brow. “Trouble in paradise already?”
Jonah smiled. “Let’s just say we’re still working out the kinks. It’s more like growing pains instead of real trouble. The three of us have very different personalities, and we’re used to working solo on projects for the most part. There is a definite learning curve in the process.”