“Is he good-looking, Marshall?” Mom asked cheekily to Daniel’s laughter. At least he was taking this in stride. “I bet he’s good-looking. He sounds good-looking.”
Mortified, I felt my cheeks heat and pressed my lips together, refusing to answer.
“He’s blushing, Evelyn,” Daniel responded with a chuckle after it became obvious that I wasn’t going to say anything. “I think that’s your answer.”
“Ooh! Wonderful!” Mom said enthusiastically. “Marshall tells me that he’s in your care for a week until his car gets fixed. Is that right?”
Finally, we could get back on track. “Yes, Mom. That’s what the mechanic told me.”
“Perfect,” she said slyly, which immediately put me on high alert. “Plenty of time for you two to—”
“Nope!” I said, cutting her off in alarm, much to both her and Daniel’s continued amusement. “We’re not going to talk about that.”
“Talk about what?” Rose asked, making me and Daniel turn our heads to see her skip over to us, Bucky, as always, trailing after her, his nails tapping noisily on the floorboards.
“Ooh! Another voice!” Mom said happily. “Who’s this? Is this Daniel’s daughter?”
The color drained from Daniel’s face as all humor left him.
Aha!Now he could get a taste of his own medicine!I laughed evilly before I said, “Yes. This is Rose.” I looked at Rose before I nodded to my phone. “Rose, this is my mom.”
Happy as a lark, Rose bounded over to kneel on the floor next to the coffee table. “Hi, Marshall’s mom!”
“Hi, sweetie! You can call me Grandma!”
“MOM!”
Rose collapsed into a fit of giggles at my reaction while Mom tried to hide her own laughter. “What? You know how much I want grandchildren, Marshall.”
“Yes, but I really wish you’d stop introducing yourself to anyone under the age of sixteen asGrandma. I’m supposed to be staying here for the next week, Mom. You’re not making it easy for me.”
“Oh, piffle. If they don’t have a sense of humor, they’re not worth your time.”
I groaned, my hands covering my face as I leaned back on the sofa to stare at the ceiling. Fuck my ever-loving life.
“Hi, Grandma!” Rose said cheerfully, much to my continued mortification. “We have so much to talk about!”
“Rose, no!” Daniel said in warning as I heard movement.
I lifted my head to see Rose getting up with my phone in her hand, holding it away from her dad, who was trying to get to it.
“Wait,” I said, scrambling to get off the sofa. “Rose, stop!”
“Ooh! This sounds exciting!” Mom said, her eager amusement still beaming through the speaker. “What’s going on?”
Rose only giggled in response, pushing off the floor and making a run for it.
“Rose!” I flung myself off the sofa to follow her but got blocked by Bucky, who was barking and jumping around in front of me, thinking the commotion was a huge game. “Come on, Bucky! Move!”
Daniel had a slightly better time of it than I did. He was able to avoid Bucky but wasn’t quick enough to catch up to a cackling Rose as she ran down the hallway, heading straight for her room.
I heard her door slam, and by the look and sound of Daniel jiggling the handle, then slapping the door to gain entrance, she’d locked herself in.
With my phone.
And my mother.
With Bucky circling my feet and looking up at me adoringly, I let my hands drop as I stumbled to a stop at the top of the hallway. I stared down at the dog at my side and absently scratched his ears. “We’re so fucked. Aren’t we, boy? Yes! Yes, we are! So very fucked!”
