“No.” Margaret put her hands on her hips. “We’re having fun. You’re just being an old fuddy-duddy.”
Jena started to giggle. Fuddy-duddy. She caught Abby’s eyes and noticed she was smothering a giggle too. Abby stood on the table nearest Jena. With her long brown hair and very proper grey dress, she made it look like Kate Middleton was table dancing. It made Jena giggle harder.
The door opened and Jena’s giggle stopped dead. Matt, Joe and Grunt strode into the room. Only Joe was grinning.
“Oh hell no,” Claire shouted. “You have no reason to be here, Samuel Grunt Dayton. I officially broke up with you. Go back to America. Or your cave. I don’t care where you go, as long as it’s away from me.”
Grunt growled and took a step towards Claire before Matt’s arm shot out to stop him.
“Get down off the tables. Now,” Matt ordered.
Jena folded her arms. She noticed none of the other women rushed to do as they were told either.
“We”—Jena pointed at Claire—“have decided we don’t like your attitudes. You treat us like property. We’re people. You can’t claim people. You can’t say you’re keeping them. And you can’t boss them around. This is the twenty-first century. Isn’t it?” She looked at Abby, who nodded. “Yes,” Jena continued. “This is the twenty-first century. Slavery has been abolished. We won’t stand for your caveman attitude anymore.”
“Exactly,” Claire shouted. “I’m nobody’s fish!”
“It’s time you changed your attitudes,” Jena said.
“And stop kidnapping people,” Claire added.
“Yeah.” Jena made a fist sign at Claire. “No more kidnapping. Kidnapping is wrong. Unless you’re in a Liam Neeson movie, then it’s okay. But that’s the only place it’s okay.”
Her arms shot out to steady herself as she wobbled on the table. Matt took a step towards her, but stopped dead when he saw she was fine. Jena wondered vaguely if she was maybe a little tipsy.
“Baby,” Grunt said, his low voice echoing through the silent room. People were holding their breaths, afraid to make a noise in case they missed something. “I kidnapped Jena for her own good.”
Yeah, that was not the thing to say. The screams of outrage from the women were so loud that Jena had to cover her ears.
Claire put her hands on her hips. Her eyes blazing. “There is no excuse for kidnapping and abduction, Samuel Grunt Dayton. You’ve been bad. Very bad.”
“Claire, you’re embarrassing me,” Megan told her sister as people laughed. “Are you going to send him to the naughty corner?”
“Okay, okay.” Claire held a hand up to stop her sister from saying anything else. She glared at Grunt. “You’ve still been bad, and I’m not dating you anymore.”
“Baby,” Grunt said. “We weren’t dating. We were starting a life together.”
There were some very soppy aw sounds from the peanut gallery. Jena glared around the room. “No ‘aw’. That’s not an ‘aw’ thing. It’s an ‘oh hell no’ thing. Did you two talk about a lifetime commitment?” she asked Claire.
“No. We did not.” Claire folded her arms and glared down at Grunt.
“See?” Jena glared at Matt. “This is exactly what we’re talking about. You guys have got it all wrong. You think you’re the dictator of your own little relationship country. And we won’t stand for it anymore.” Jena stamped her foot to a cheer of approval.
The table shuddered. The leg gave way. She screamed as she fell. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Matt running. Her table hit the table beside her. Abby squealed as her table tipped. And just like that, Jena watched as all the women fell off their tables one after the other. There were screams. Crashes. Thuds. It was like some bizarre domino-toppling event.
“Are you okay?” Matt’s hands ran up her limbs, checking for injuries. “Did you hit your head?”
“I’m fine. I think. I landed on my ass. There’s gonna be a bruise.”
“You were lucky,” he said grimly.
Oh, oh, she recognised that look. She was in trouble. She eyed the door.
“Don’t even think about running,” Matt said. “I’m going to check out the rest of these crazy women. You stay put. Don’t touch anything. Don’t move an inch.” He strode into the chaos.
“Abby?” Jena shouted. “Are you okay?”
“I ripped my dress,” came the reply. Abby appeared beside her. She watched Matt nervously. “I think I’ll go home before Matt starts shouting.”