I stared at Allie for a long moment. I wanted to snicker. "Okay, now Iknowyou're joking."
"Alright, fine," Allie muttered. "She didn't say the lobster thing, but shewaspretty mad. And shedidrip off the sling."
Now,thatI could see.
I gave Allie a sympathetic look. "I'm really sorry you got stuck dealing with her."
"Don't be. I'm not."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah. You would've been way too nice."
"Hey, I wasn't too nice at the party. You remember, right?" Allie hadn't been there, but Ihadtold her all about it.
"Yeah, but knowing you, you were still nicer than she deserved."
I wasn’t sure I agreed, but that wasn't terribly important in the big scheme of things. I asked, "Anything else?"
"Oh yeah. She said you'd better call her." Allie rolled her eyes. "Or else."
"Or else what?"
"Who knows, who cares? If it were me, I wouldn’t call her at all."
That sounded like a perfect plan to me. After everything she'd done, Tabitha didn't deserve a call back.
See? I wasn't nearly as nice as Allie thought.
Besides, I had a different call to make. That call was to Jax, who definitely deserved a warning about my mom's hotel charges.
But as it turned out, he already knew.
Into the phone, I said, "Really? When did you find out?"
"Tuesday."
"And you never said anything? Why?"
"Because it's not a big deal."
"It is to me," I said. "I mean, don't you feel cheated?"
"Hell no."
"But—"
"Hey, today's the last day, so forget it."
It took me a moment to realize what he meant. A whole week had passed since that ugly scene with my mom. This meant that her stay was officially over.
I asked, "But what if she doesn't leave?"
"Then I'll deal with it. So don't worry, alright?"
I promised to try, but I wasn't sure that I'd be able to.
Sure enough, worry haunted me for the rest of the evening.
