Page 90 of Hold the Pickle
“He kept the place.”
“I see.” She pets Greyson’s soft head, and for her trouble, he rolls to his back and attacks her fingers.
“I need to let the kittens grow, get them fixed, and, I don’t know, figure out what to do. No regular apartments are going to let me keep them all.”
Dad lifts his three kittens all together in his big hands. “They’re trouble. You going to adopt them out?”
“I don’t know. I need a minute to figure out my next move.”
My parents share another glance. “Sherman will want to be involved in that,” Dad says. “He considers you a Pickle.”
All three of us say, “Every Pickle’s a Pickle,” then laugh, startling the kittens. But I sober quickly. Uncle Sherman’s insistence that I work for him is what’s gotten me here.
Dad passes me Ferris. “Let’s get these wildlings back in your room before they get lost. We can figure out a plan over breakfast.”
I hold on to the white kitten, glad for a sounding board. For help.
It’s good to be home.
But I wish Dalton were here.
30
DALTON
Going home feels pointless without Nadia there, so I spend less and less time at the apartment. I drive out to Harrington’s place to eat pizza and drink beer. I meet Fitz and her boyfriend for burgers.
I shower and sleep in a place that used to feel like home.
About a week after Nadia left, Mom calls on one of my off days. She doesn’t bother with pleasantries.
“Well, your old lady got fired again.”
I sink onto the sofa. “What happened this time?”
“I told you about old Joe, the shift manager?”
“Right, the one who said you shouldn’t fake being a redhead?”
Mom changes her hair color every season with drugstore dyes.
“Yeah, that one. He slapped my ass, and I punched his lights out. He went down like roadkill.”
“And they fired you?”
“Nah, they fired both of us. If they’d just fired me, I’d have sued the pants off them.”
I lean my head against the back of the sofa. “Are you going to be able to pay rent?”
“They won’t do nothing over one month. You have to rack up three or four missed checks before they get testy.”
“Mom, you shouldn’t do that. You’ll lose your deposit.”
“This place sucks anyway.”
I blow out a long breath, quietly, so it won’t register on the call. “I’ll call them and make the payment.” Somehow.
“You can’t do that, Baby D.”
