Page 100 of Forfeits

“Easy for you to say.”

“Why? Do you think I’ve never been tied to the hitching post before? Jacob does it every morning.”

Aiden and I looked at him in shock.

“Okay, not really. But it has happened a few times. When in Rome and all that.”

I felt a bit better knowing that Sebastian, this fine gentleman and co-owner of Maverick Molly’s, liked to be a pony, too. But I was tired and sweaty and needed a shower.

While sitting in the passenger seat of Aiden’s car, I checked my phone.

“Fuck,” I said, scrolling through a bunch of texts and missed calls from Robin. “Fuck, fuck, fuck. Oh my God.”

Aiden glanced over. “Are you okay?”

“No. Robin’s been trying to get in touch with me for an hour!”

I hit the call button, not even reading his texts except to see him mention Annie and Brian. If the grandparents were there, it must be fucking serious.

“Robin!” I said, when he answered.

“Oh hi, Fletcher. I wondered when you’d get back to me. Sorry to bother you.” Robin’s words held a note of irony.

I heard Annie’s muttering in the background.

“Lucy! Is she okay?” I stammered, convinced something terrible had happened.

“What? Oh, she’s fine. She beat my ass at Scrabble and went to bed.”

“Oh…” My brain swirled. “So…okay. Thank God. But why all the texts?”

“Did you not read them?”

“We just got in the car to come home. I panicked. I thought something was wrong. Why did you try to call me?”

“Oh, well, it’s only that Lucy’s grandparents decided to drop by. Did you know they were coming?”

Oh fuck.

“No. They didn’t tell me they were planning to stop by, or I wouldn’t have gone out.”

“Mm-hmm. Well, they’re here with me. So you might want to come home and explain that I’m a responsible, mature person who is quite capable of looking after their granddaughter for a few hours.” Robin sounded sweet and amenable, but I heard the sharp crack of ice beneath the surface. “They told me I could leave, but I refused. You’re the one who hired me to watch Lucy.”

“Oh fuck.”

More muttering.

“They can hear you,” Robin said.

“You have me on speaker?”

“No. But my volume is up. I’m half deaf in one ear.”

“I didn’t know that,” I said.

“It’s fine. Anyway…”

I glanced at Aiden. “We’ll be there in ten minutes.”

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