but you gotta take full advantage.”
“I’ll think about it,” I promised, angling my body towards my room, so I could make my escape as soon as possible. I would not submit to another torture session in the chair Lurlene’s oldest son had ripped out of a defunct hair salon. Last time, she’d damn near given me a perm.
“Well, what else do you have goin?” Lurlene asked. “Hank said that you’re not signed up for a shift at the butcher shop. Or the bait shop. Or the towing business. What are you gonna do with yourself all weekend?”
“I have homework,” I lied again smoothly. Community college coursework had been my go-to excuse for years. And while I did have a few associates degrees under my belt, including computer science and marketing, I hadn’t taken actual classes in about six months. My parents didn’t need to know that.
“Oh, honey, community college isn’t gonna get you anywhere you want to go,” Braylene said. “If working for family is good enough for your cousins, it’s good enough for you. You know how busy the butcher shop is on weekends.”
“Angelene met her husband while she was working at the butcher shop,” Lurlene added.
“Angelene’s husband thinks he’s gonna make money off of selling homemade batteries!” I retorted.
“He says it’s all about who you know,” Braylene said, shaking her head.
“Pardon me if that isn’t exactly what I’m looking for in a mate,” I huffed.
“Well, you’re never gonna find one if you’re so all-fired picky,” Lurlene shot back.
I objected, “It’s not ‘picky’ to—”
Daddy cut me off with a gesture. “All right, all right, enough. I’m sure Tylene will come to her senses soon enough.”
Braylene stood, picking up her bowl of peas. “You need to talk to that girl, Tyler.”
She pulled Lurlene up by her elbow. Lurlene was trying to pull away, whispering to me, “Just some layers around your face maybe. Or some bangs! We could tease ’em real high!”
“With all due respect, Aunt Lurlene, I would rather be bald,” I said quietly, shaking my head.
With the front door slamming behind my aunties, Daddy whirled on me. “I’ve had enough of that library bullshit, Tylene. I know when you’re lying to me. Where were you? Were you with some boy we don’t know? Go ahead and tell me. You know I could smell him on you if I wanted to.”
Pointing out that at twenty-four, I should be spending time with men, not boys, was a point that would have been completely lost on my whole family. Instead, I chose to focus on the idea of my father literally trying to sniff out my sins.
“Oh, gross, that is a huge violation of privacy,” I said, backing away from him.
“You live under my roof, so you follow my rules.”
“Well, then maybe I shouldn’t to be under your roof.”
“Don’t start that again, Tylene,” Mama said quietly. “Until you’re grown, your place is in our home. If you leave sooner, the whole pack will ask why. You’ll put our place at risk.”
“I am grown! I’m twenty-four years old! I have savings. I can pay my own bills, my own rent.”
Mama rolled her eyes. “You know what we mean by ‘grown!’”
“‘Married’ does not mean grown!”
“How do you all the sudden have all this money?” My father’s eyes narrowed. “Who’s been giving you money?”
I gritted my teeth and took a big breath through my nose. These arguments were always so circular, not to mention pointless, because they never listened to a word I said anyway. “I don’t suddenly have money. I’ve been saving it for years! I have more than enough to support myself. I could get out of your hair. You don’t even like having me around. You think I can’t tell when I’m not wanted? Trust me, I’ve picked up on the signs.”
“What do you mean ‘not wanted?’” Mama exclaimed. “We’re your parents!”
“Okay, but most people move out from their parents’ home by the time they’re twenty!”
“Most humans, you mean,” Daddy countered.
“I knew this was going to happen,” Mama murmured. “I told you, when Jolene married that human, that she’d bring the whole pack down with her.”
“This has nothing to do with Jolene,” I groaned.
“Just look at this.” Mama tossed a copy of the local newspaper onto the table. The headline read, Beeline Abuzz: Hollow-based vampire concierge service expanding to five new cities. When I failed to react—because I couldn’t figure out what that had to do with us or Jolene—Mama rolled her eyes and flipped the paper over to show a