I stewed and fumed the whole ride there, and then I fumed a little bit more when I pulled up and saw his car sitting there, as if he wasn’t guilty of being the world’s biggest asshole. Basically, I fumed all the way up until the door opened and I saw Jose with my niece on her hip, both of them smiling at me. And that’s when I pasted a smile on my face – one which I knew didn’t reach my eyes – and held my arms out for the beautiful little girl who could turn any frown upside down. Well, on the outside she could, on the inside I was rubbing a dirty diaper in his face while his mouth was open.
“Hey, honey,” Jose greeted, passing over Liv.
“Hey, pretty baby, your Aunty Rose missed your hugs lots,” I murmured, accepting the kiss Liv was pulling my head down for, and then directing my attention back to Jose. “Hey, thanks for inviting me,” I lied out of my ass – something which my sister-in-law didn’t miss.
Snorting, she leaned in and sniffed me. “Overwhelming scent of bullshit there, girl.”
Rolling my eyes, I tucked Liv’s head under my chin and glared at her mom. “Well, if you knew that was going to be the case, why the hell did you invite me?”
Most people would think I was being rude - and if I’d said it to anyone else yes, it would have been - but Jose knew why I was upset, seeing as how I’d been unable to stop myself from telling her everything that had been going on with my neighbor a couple of months ago. I blamed the tequila, and the Absinthe, and whatever else we were drinking that had taken me three days to recover from. Seriously, you have a bad day and imbibe, and that’s what happens. Loose lips don’t sink ships anymore, they spill shit.
Frowning, Jose scanned my face and then looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was within hearing distance. When she didn’t find what she was looking for, she took a step closer and whispered, “What did he do this time?”
“His dog pissed acid on my lawn and plants. The whole area needs redone, and it’s going to look like crap for a long time until it all grows in together.”
Again, it really did sound like a stupid thing to be so upset about, but come the fuck on – I was proud of my home. I spent a lot of time making sure it looked perfect and was proud of that, too. If someone came up and poured paint over your drive, wouldn’t you be pissed? This wasn’t that far from someone doing something like that in my eyes.
Taking a sharp breath in, Jose stiffened and looked at me with wide eyes. “Oh, shit. How big a patch are we talking?”
“A big patch, and about three feet of the border plants, too.”
Pulling me inside the house, she held her finger up to her lips, and then nodded with her head toward the hall leading to where the bedrooms were. She only waited long enough for me to give the signal that I understood, then started tiptoeing in that direction, not waiting to make sure I was following behind her. Sighing, I started walking, pausing when she went into the bathroom instead of Liv’s bedroom, which was where I’d assumed we were headed.
Sticking her head out the door, she took a quick look down the hallway from the direction we’d just come from, then closed and locked the door. Putting her finger back up to her lips, she pulled me into the corner furthest away from the entrance. It was a decent-sized bathroom, but I’d never been one of those women who insisted I go to the bathroom with a friend – that shit was just weird. I mean, we peed on our own normally, right? So why the hell would I need company to do it somewhere else?
Something which I pointed out to her just then. “Dude, I don’t conform with this sister shi-shi stuff where we have to pee holding hands, plus the toilet is just over there,” I nodded at the other corner where the porcelain throne sparkled. “So, if you’re gonna pop a squat, I’ll wait for you outside. I don’t even know if your daughter should be seeing this, what if Liv decides she needs to go in pairs and starts dragging other kids with her, too?”
Glaring at me, she slapped her hand over my mouth, stopping me from saying anything else. “The other rooms are bugged,” she hissed. “This is the only one I can talk freely in without the fuzz hearing what we’re saying.”
Yanking my head away from her hand, I looked more closely at her to see if she was drunk. The only time I knew of where she’d talked about the ‘fuzz’ had been after hours of drinking with her sister Tabby. Seeing that her eyes were clear, and that she looked sober, it left me with one other option. “You hit your head again?”