A Most Excellent Midlife Crisis - Robyn Peterman Page 0,66
the walls and torn to shreds. The tables were overturned and broken and my overstuffed armchair looked as if it had been incinerated. Shards of glass covered the floor and not a ghost was to be found.
“What the hell?” I choked out.
Hindsight was 20/20. Not checking that Heather was actually at the house was unwise. Insisting Gideon leave was a shitty plan. Deciding not to call him when I realized Heather wasn’t here might have been my final mistake.
Dropping my purse and slamming myself up against the wall so no one could come at me from behind, I inched along the wall back towards the front door.
My house was trashed, and my dogs definitely hadn’t done it.
My stomach plummeted. Where were my dogs?
Where were my babies?
“Donna? Karen?” I called out in a shaky voice. “Do you guys want a treat?”
Both of my furry girls bound out from behind the couch and practically knocked me over. My relief was so intense, tears pooled in my eyes. They were panting hard, and Karen shook like a leaf. Donna sat at my feet facing away, baring her sharp teeth and growling at the vandalized room.
“Oh my God,” I said, squatting down and trying to calm them. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’ve got you. Although, we’re getting the hell out of here. Now.”
Turning toward the front door, I screamed and jumped back at the sight that greeted me.
“Is that any way to greet an old friend?” Clarissa inquired, tilting her head to the side and examining me from head to toe with displeasure.
I returned the favor.
She looked unhinged. Her outfit was sloppy and dirty. Her eyes were dull and lifeless. I’d never once seen the woman when she wasn’t completely groomed from her toenails to the top of her dyed head. The Angel of Mercy had turned into a hot mess.
“I’d hardly call you a friend,” I said, keeping my voice steady.
Donna continued to growl. Karen took a cue from her buddy and growled along with her.
“I think it’s soooo cute that you have a Hell Hound,” she said, waving her hand and creating a bubble that surrounded the trashed room.
I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth and bit down on it so I didn’t squeal with relief. If I could break through John Travolta’s bubble, there was a fine chance I could break through Clarissa’s. I needed to stay close to the door so I could make a run for it when the opportunity arose.
Please let the opportunity arise.
“Hell Hounds are quite tasty from what I hear,” Clarissa purred with a smile that made me want to headbutt her. “Just roast them with a little salt and pepper and you have a rare delicacy.”
“If you try to eat my dog, it will be the last thing you do,” I informed her coldly.
“Ohhhh, so brave,” she said with a brittle laugh that made the hair on my neck stand up. “Where have your manners gone, Daisy? That’s no way to talk to a guest in your home.”
“I wouldn’t go so far as referring to yourself as a guest,” I shot back, wondering if I could keep her talking for the half hour it would take for Gideon to come back. “More like an intruder.”
“Semantics,” she said with a shrug. “It just breaks my heart that you’re not happy to see me.”
“If you had a heart, then I’d feel bad. Since you don’t, I don’t,” I replied in a polite tone that belied my words.
That’s when I noticed Steve, Gram and Jimmy Joe Johnson. They floated on the outside of the bubble and looked terrified. I didn’t want them anywhere near this.
When Clarissa briefly turned away, I mouthed get Gideon. Steve nodded and disappeared. Get the ghosts out of the house, I mouthed to Gram and Jimmy Joe, and to my relief, they vanished, too.
Clarissa really did look rough. She’d always been a redheaded, overly made-up she-devil, but she had a desperation about her now that made her extremely dangerous. I used to think she was pretty in a hardened way, but those days were over. What she’d done to my mother and father and Steve destroyed any beauty she ever had.
“It’s not in your best interest to be ugly,” she warned. “I can make your life very difficult.”
“Are you serious?” I demanded with a humorless laugh. “You’ve already done a fine job of making my life difficult so far.”