Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 119764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
“’Bout time,” is all Dottie says, a smirk on her face.
I stick my tongue out at her like a child, heading straight for my daughter and obsessively looking her over like the helicopter mom I’m trying not to be. “We’re home,” I announce unnecessarily. “How was everything? All quiet? What did you eat for dinner? Did you sleep all right?”
“Everything was fine, Mom. You guys weren’t gone that long.” Rabbit barely glances at me as she gently massages the medication onto the squirming cat’s eyelid.
It launches itself free of Aggie’s grip and howls a protest, heading straight for Murr. He scoops up the cat and holds it against his chest, scratching at its ears. Aggie shoots me a look as if I’m the one that made her release the cat. Dottie doesn’t even look up. It feels…deflating. Here I was, worried about these three, and they don’t give a flying fart.
“I got you a postcard,” I tell my daughter, feeling lame.
She wipes her hands clean. “Cool.” Rabbit gets to her feet and eyes the cats milling about. There are a few sprawled on the pavement, and more are inside, but none of them seem to make her happy. “Where’s Beaker? He was squinting yesterday. I want to get a good look at him.”
“Which one is Beaker?” I ask.
“The big orange.”
“Half of ’em are orange,” Aggie grumps. “Gonna have to narrow it down.”
“The one that’s squinting,” Rabbit says, unbothered. “I’ll go find him.”
“You don’t want your postcard?” I ask, feeling needy and unneeded at the same time. In the past, Rabbit’s always been beside herself with excitement over a new postcard for her scrapbook, but now she doesn’t even want to look? I get that cats are more interesting than a piece of paper, but…damn.
I don’t like change, and this feels like change.
Rabbit tosses me a sideways look. “I’ll see it when I get back!” Then she’s off, heading across the parking lot and pausing to check under cars.
Murr touches my shoulders and pulls me in for a kiss on the cheek. “Murr hunt food. Yes? Big meal for all.”
“Yeah, sure.” I manage a small smile for him and take the loin wrap he hands me. He flies off and I watch him, feeling disgruntled. Surely I can have both alone time with my new husband and a daughter that acts like I exist, too?
Aggie gets to her feet, stretching slowly and putting her hands behind her back. “Well, now that you’re back, I might as well show you something.”
“Oh god.” Here we go. The other shoe is about to drop.
CHAPTER 76
DAKOTA
Aggie’s casual statement makes my heart stop in my chest. “Show me? Show me what? What is it? What’s happened?”
She shoots me a dirty look and waves a hand, dismissing my concerns. The elderly woman turns and heads for the doors to the bookstore, forcing me to follow after her. “You’re being ridiculous, Dakota. You think if something happened, we wouldn’t have led with that? Calm the fuck down.”
“I’m calm. I’m totally calm. It was just an ominous statement.”
“Asking you to look at something is ominous? Jesus, Mary and Joseph.” Aggie shakes her head, her wig’s waves bouncing. “You’re still wound up tight even after a night of fun.”
Am I? I bite back a retort, because I feel it’s perfectly normal to be anxious after leaving my teenage daughter with two elderly troublemakers for a night. “Just show me the problem and we can figure out how to handle it.”
Aggie starts laughing. She shakes her head at me as she walks slowly through the store, leaning on her cane. “All right, but promise you won’t get mad.”
Her words make a pit form in my stomach. I follow on Aggie’s heels, not paying attention as much as I should be. Of course I won’t get mad at whatever happened. We’ll just handle whatever has happened. Is that why Rabbit didn’t say much? She’s letting Aggie deliver the bad news? I should have known better than to leave. She—
Aggie stops and gestures ahead of her with her cane. “Here it is. We made a room for you two.”
They what? I stare ahead, noticing just now that the shelves have been moved, stacks of books cleared. My things have been neatly stacked in one corner, and in the center of the “room” is a queen-sized mattress on the floor and a bed adorned with thick blankets and two pillows. There’s even a framed picture on one of the shelves, and it’s of an old book cover with a golden dragon.
They made us a room. My voice comes out squeaky with surprise. “You…did?”
“Yeah. You wanted to know if there was a problem. There is. The problem is how do we get you to calm down already? Sheesh.”
I feel like a jerk. Here I’ve been convinced they got up to trouble, and they were making something special for us. “I’m sorry, Aggie. It’s the first time I’ve left Rabbit since I found her. I just worried.”