“I’m sorry.” She blinks her eyes. “She spent the night?” She points at Hailey. “And Gabe wants Crystal?”
“I don’t want her,” Gabe says at the same time Crystal yells out, “Oh, he doesn’t want me,” and they glare at each other.
“I actually slept on the couch,” Hailey says, “and nothing happened.” I wrap my hand around her shoulder, and I bring her to me and kiss her head.
“Honey,” Darla says to Brody. “I think we need to go outside and walk back inside,” she whispers as he bends down to kiss her.
“I would love, love to eat something,” Crystal says as she walks into the kitchen and grabs a doughnut. “I can make the toast.” She chews on a piece of doughnut. “Hailey makes the best pancakes of life.”
“I can make pancakes,” she says as she wraps her hand around my waist.
“I can make the bacon,” Brody says.
“I can set the table,” Darla says
“That means you can leave.” Crystal looks at Gabe. “You might have another date waiting.” She smirks at him.
“I’m not leaving.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “Me and you are going to have words later,” he says, and the way he speaks, I know I don’t want to be part of that conversation.
“I don’t have to speak to you before Monday,” she says as she turns to face him, “so I guess we can talk then.” He walks to her, and when she looks up at him, he bends over, picks her up, and throws her over his shoulder.
“Now.” He carries her into the backyard as she howls, but only gets two feet away.
“You asshole. You’re hurting me,” she yells, and he stops and puts her down. You could see the horror in his eyes.
“Where are you hurt?” he asks as he checks her out, and she slaps his hands away.
“You hurt my stomach,” she says as she tries to shoo him away.
“I didn’t mean to.” His voice going soft, he touches her stomach, and she lets him.
“Holy shit,” Darla says again. “It’s like aliens have invaded our city.” They look inside, and Crystal walks past him, breaking the moment.
“Are we going to eat or not?” she asks as she opens the fridge and takes out a water bottle. No one says anything as we watch Gabe look at the sky and say something under his breath. We all go into the kitchen and take our places to try to cook breakfast. The saying too many cooks in the kitchen is in fact the right one. With every turn, we were bumping into someone. We finally finished and all ate outside.
After we clean up, we’re all standing around the kitchen. Brody and Darla are the first to leave, kissing us all goodbye. Darla smirks at me the whole time. “You dirty dog, you,” she whispers in my ear.
“Let’s go,” Gabe tells Crystal as he gets up.
“No, thanks,” she tells him as she turns and walks out the back door, slamming it on the way.
“That fucking woman is going to be the death of me,” he says as he turns to walk out the front door, slamming it. I look at Hailey, and she looks at me, and then we hear the door open again and watch as Gabe runs through the house to the back where he slams the door while yelling Crystal’s name.
We both look at each other, shaking our heads. “Come on,” I tell her as I grab her hand and walk back to the couch. “I want to kiss you again.”
“Really?” she says. “Aren’t you sick of me yet?” she asks as I look at her.
“Not even close,” I tell her as I kiss her lips, and we fall onto the couch.
Two days later, I’m still replaying the weekend in my head. Her taste still on me as my cell phone rings, and I see it’s Jessica.
“Hey,” I say as I answer.
“Walker,” she says, whispering. “Norma is here, and I think you need to come home.” I get up from my desk as I walk to my truck.
“What’s going on?” I ask her as I hear rustling in the background.
“She showed up and tried to come in with her key, but it obviously didn’t work,” Jessica says as I start driving home. I had the locks changed the next day. “Anyway, she insisted she see Mila. I didn’t think anything of it till she took her to her room and …” She stops talking, and my blood turns cold. I think I see black, but all I know is that I couldn’t get home fast enough.
“And what, Jessica?” I yell.
“She didn’t know that the baby monitor was still on, so she just started asking her questions …” Jessica stops talking. “About you and Hailey.”
“Jessica, I’m there in two minutes. You do not let her leave. When I get there, I’m going to need you to take Mila for a walk, for ice cream, I don’t care, but I want her out of the house,”