“I can explain!” Tori shouts as she shuffles toward us.
“Watch out.” From this angle, it’s easy to see the oil slick on the floor that my kids dragged along the wood.
It happens in slow motion, Tori wiping out. Arms windmilling. Legs flying out from under her. The yelp she cries before she hits the ground.
I feel helpless under a pile of sticky children.Shit.
“Babe, you okay?” I grunt as I slowly peel Mila and Cody off me.
Tori moans, slowly reaching around to rub her elbow, then her ass. Speaking of ass, mine hurts like the dickens. That floor is harder than it looks.
I’m limping toward her when the front door closes and my brother’s voice rings out. “Holy shit. What happened here?”
But it’s the gasp that follows that has me looking up. “Good lord, boy. I didn’t raise y’all in a barn.” My mother chuckles at her joke.
“GRANDMA!” my kids shout and scramble toward her, but I snag the backs of their t-shirts, stopping them in their buttery tracks.
“Nope. Bath time first. Then you two miscreants can hug your grandma.”
My mother looks tickled to find her brood in such a disarray. “Need some help?”
I blow out a breath and send up a prayer of thanks. “You have no idea.”
Tori
It comes at the perfect time.
I stare at the text message, wondering if I’ve somehow willed it into existence.
Kat:Can you help me this week? Please? I’m desperate. I’m behind on a ton of orders, but I’m too big and too tired to do this on my own. I’ll owe you!
When I don’t respond because I’m too busy re-reading the message, another one pops up.
Kat:Want my truck? You can have it.
She must really need my help.
Kat:Stay with me. Maybe a week or two? I’ll pay you! More than the sisterly wage of love and tacos.
I chuckle. She knows I’d do anything for her for free.
A wave of relief settles over me. At least this way I can leave on my own terms instead of having Ethan let me go.
But when I tell him my plan, he looks confused.
He’s paying bills in his office, and I’m sitting in front of him. It’s a very boss-employee moment, which is weird since we haven’t had this kind of vibe since he peeled off my panties in the back of his truck.
His eyebrows pull together. “What are you talking about? Don’t you wanna stay?” A hurt expression flashes on his face, but then it’s gone. Did I imagine it?
I nod. “Of course I want to stay, but where do you suggest I bunk? With your mom?”
We were all surprised Beverly returned early, but she was homesick. She’s staying here for now because Logan needs “a few days to clean his house,” which probably means he needs to clear out ten million pizza boxes and trash cans full of condoms. Gross.
Ethan has a spacious house, but it has limitations. Where’s Beverly supposed to sleep? With Mila, the human octopus? Beverly should have my room. I could sleep on the couch or on the floor in the sewing room, but I can’t bring myself to suggest it.
The idea of sleeping on the floor reeks of desperation, and that embarrasses me. Nothing used to embarrass me, but I’m starting to think it’s because I didn’t know better.
In any case, I’m not shacking up with Ethan while his mom is here.
