I sure hoped so.
A few feet away, my uncle was still crouched like a dog on all fours. I glared down at him. "Stay!" And then, I turned toward the front of the house.
Continuing to flick on lights as I went, I hurried from room to room, heading toward the front window. Once there, I pushed aside the heavy curtains to peer outside.
I squinted in confusion. In front of the house, I saw two pairs of headlights. But as far as I could tell, none belonged to the police.
I shielded my eyes from the glare and tried unsuccessfully to figure out who was here. There were no sirens, no flashing lights, no swat team, rushing for the front door.
Praying it was Joel, I moved away from the window and started heading toward the front door. I was halfway there when the doorbell rang several times in quick succession. And then, the pounding started.
Moving faster now, I rushed to the door and hit the intercom button. "Who is it?"
I heard Joel's voice. "It's me. You alright?"
My shoulders sagged in relief.I was now.After disengaging the alarm, I unlocked the door and flung it open.
And there he was, Joel, with Jake and Bishop standing just behind him.
Joel strode forward and pulled me into his arms. "Sorry I'm late. Are you okay?"
I couldn’t help but lean into him as his arms closed tighter around me. In the back of my mind, I realized that nothing was truly settled between us, but for now, I couldn't bring myself to care.
He was here, and his body felt amazing, hard and tight against mine. "Yeah. I'm fine." I sighed. "But guess who showed up."
"Iknowwho." He pulled back and asked, "Where are they?"
I blinked up at him. "Wait, how would you know?"
"I saw their car."
Before I could ask where, Aunt Vivian's voice drifted out from somewhere behind me. "Melody, darling, I'msorelieved to see you."
Startled, I whirled to face her. "Yeah, I bet."
She offered up a smile that looked more like a grimace. "And I see you have company." Her eyes narrowed to slits. "How nice."
I didn't bother smiling back. "What are you doing here?"
"Why, making sure you're okay, of course. That storm was awful, wasn't it?"
"Seriously?" I said. "That's the best you can do?"
She drew back. "Just what are you implying?"
"I'm not implying anything. I'm telling you flat-out that I know you're lying." My voice rose. "You're not here to check on me. You're here to check on…" I made a little fluttering motion with my hands…"the freaking punch-bowls!"
Somewhere behind me, I heard Jake, ask, "What's a punch bowl?"
Bishop said, "It's a party thing. Don't ask."
Ignoring all of them, my aunt trotted out her overly patient voice and said, "No. Darling. We're here to check onyou."
I gave her a hard look. "Is that so? Then why, exactly, were you wanting the punch bowls?"
My uncle wandered up behind her and said, "To, uh, water your cat?"
I stared at him. Even from Uncle Ernie, that had to be the dumbest excuse I'd ever heard.
