I stifled a shudder.Normal? With that creep? Not hardly.
I replied, "But that's still five years away."
She smiled. "Oh, didn't I tell you? He's up for an early release."
"He is?" My stomach lurched. "When?"
She was beaming now. "In a few months."
Shit.
I listened with growing unease as she started talking about her glorious plans for the future. She was just mentioning the possibility of a new house when the sound of obnoxious throat-clearing made me look up.
When I did, I saw a couple of middle-aged women glaring down at me. One was short with red hair and freckles, while the other was tall with spiky black hair.
The redhead loomed closer and said, "I hope you're happy."
I blinked. "Sorry, what?"
The spiky one said, "Youdoknow they were almost engaged, right?"
I stifled a groan. I knew exactly where this was going. Still, like a total idiot, I mumbled, "Who?"
Together, they eyed me like I was biggest dumb-ass on the planet. The redhead said, "Flynnicity, that's who."
Next to her, the spiky one corrected, "You meanFlynnticity."
The redhead gave her an annoyed glance. "That's what I said."
"No you didn't. You forgot the 't' in the middle."
The redhead frowned. "There's no "t" in Flynnicity."
"Yeah, because it's not'Flynnicity.' It'sFlynn Ticity."As she said it, she stressed the "t" like it was the most important letter in the alphabet.
The redhead glared at her friend. "I think I'dknowwhat it's called."
I spoke up. "Look, whatever it's called, you've made your point. So maybe you could debate it somewhere else, okay?"
In unison, they both turned once again in my direction. The redhead gave me the squinty-eye and said, "Oh, we're far from done, sister." She leaned a fraction closer. "You've got a lot of nerve breaking them up."
I almost didn't know what to say. Yes, I knew that certain rabid fans had high hopes for the reunion of Flynnicity – or whatever it was called. After all, I'd seen the comments on far too many of those news stories.
They hadn't been flattering, to me in particular.
But I never expected to encounter such rabid fanshere, in Sugar Falls Michigan.
Usually, people here were pretty sane.
In theory, anyway.
"Well?" the redhead said, "Don't you have anything to say for yourself?"
I glanced at my mom, expecting to see her looking just as horrified asIfelt. But she didn't look horrified at all. She looked oddly pleased, even as the spiky one told me, "And you're not even his type."
If she only knew.
I glanced around the restaurant and felt myself swallow. Everyone was staring.
