of being trapped urges me to run. I don’t of course. We’ll get through this just like we’ve gotten through everything. Eventually, she’ll see that what we’re doing for her isn’t a big deal.
She slams the bathroom door in my face before I can walk in there. Guess she won’t be doing that right now. I sigh, drop her things in the glider in the corner, and leave the room.
Jinx offers me a cold beer the second I walk back into the kitchen.
“That went better than expected,” he mutters sarcastically as he lifts his own bottle to his mouth.
I huff a humorless laugh. “She’s pretty fucking pissed.”
“The bath will help.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be enough. This is different than buying that extra nursery set because you were worried it would get discontinued.”
“Yeah,” he agrees. “That was an uncomfortable evening.”
We both just stare off in the distance. I’m trying to think of ways to put her in a good mood, and I’m coming up empty considering she isn’t going to let me get close enough to touch her.
“Orgasms?” Jinx asks, his head clearly focusing on the same thing.
“Not gonna happen. She slammed the door in my face.”
“Damn.”
“Yep.”
“Curry?” he offers.
“She’s finally learned her lesson,” I say, rejecting the idea.
“A puppy?”
I tilt my head, considering that option.
“I don’t think we could get one by the time she gets out of the bathtub.”
“They are a lot of work,” he grumbles.
“Yeah.”
“Call the girls over?”
“They have that meeting tonight.”
Simone has been invited more than once to join the local book club that Misty and Emmalyn go to monthly, but she’s declined every time. She works so much that she doesn’t really have any extra time for such things, and when she’s not working, she’s here with us.
“Think she’s going to try to leave?”
Jinx grins around the mouth of his bottle. “Let her try.”
“Yep.” I clink my bottle to his.
Of course, we’d never seriously keep her here against her will. We’d let her walk away, so long as we had plans in place to keep her safe while she was gone, but walking away isn’t an option. No matter how angry she is about getting a new car or having her bills paid, she’s here for the long haul.
“Orgasms,” Jinx repeats.
“We’ve been over that. Not gonna happen.”
“Not tonight.” He gets a devious look on his face. “Tell her she can work off the money by giving orgasms.”
“Are you suggesting—”
He glares at me. “Not me, you fucking idiot, you.”
“That may work, but—”
“Not tonight,” he finishes.
“Let’s order curry, just in case.”
“On it,” he snaps, reaching into his pocket to pull his phone out.
Two hours later, Simone emerges from upstairs looking fresh and slightly less pissed than before. She barely looks in our direction when we tell her about the food waiting in the oven, but she arrows to it as if she hasn’t eaten all day. Jinx and I share a look behind her back, and it’s fraught with concern. If she hasn’t eaten, that only contributes to the attitude. She’s a beast when she’s hungry.
We make our plates after she’s done, both of us disappointed when we find her in the recliner instead of the middle of the couch where she normally sits, thus preventing our ability to touch her belly at our leisure. Yep, she’s well and truly pissed.
Jinx grumbles something I can’t decipher as he begins to eat, but Simone doesn’t even waste a glance on him. I can’t seem to eat. Nothing tastes like it should, but I know the issue isn’t the excellent Indian food on our plates.
I almost open my mouth to warn Jinx when I hear his fork clatter to his plate, but the look on his face says he wouldn’t listen if I did.
“You need to get over it.”
The air around us shifts, but instead of Simone getting angry and yelling, she slowly lowers her fork to her plate.
“Oh, fuck,” Jinx hisses when her head swivels in his direction.
Is it fucked up that I’m relieved she’s focused on him right now? My eyes dart toward the door, my mind running through a list of things I could be doing outside. The sidewalk needs to be power washed, right?
“What was that?” she asks, her voice calm. Her hands, now clenched around the plate in her lap, betray her ire.
“We’re family,” Jinx whispers. “We’re supposed to take care of each other. Get used to it.”
I think she might’ve been on board until those last four words.