Page 24 of Alice & Meg

“Guys,” Nikki called.

“What?” I laughed.

She jumped up from the couch. “Something is burning.”

“The banana bread!” Meg hollered.

Chapter Ten

Meg

“We didn’t mean to do it.”

Lo just stared at me.

“How were we supposed to know?” I demanded.

More staring.

“Are you going to say anything?” I knew Lo was pissed at me, but he hadn’t said one single word. His glare was saying plenty, though.

How were we supposed to know that the outlet in the bathroom was not, uh, shall we say, up to par to plug an air fryer into? Wasn’t it the same as plugging in a hair dryer or a curling iron? Evidently not.

Also, the hotel overreacted by evacuating the whole wing. Yeah, I said what I said.

It was like as soon as the smoke alarm had gone off, there was no turning back.

“There weren’t even flames,” I insisted. “Alice unplugged it, I opened the doors, Nikki grabbed the banana bread out, and then everything was fine.”

“The smoke alarms say different,” Lo growled.

I put my hands on my hips. “I told everyone to stay in their rooms, but no one listened.” Smoke alarms just sent people into a panic. How rude?

“Because the smoke alarms were going off, and there was smoke rolling out of our room!”

“Nothing was on fire, though,” I insisted.

Lo ran his fingers through his hair and paced the length of our new hotel room. The one we had been staying in was, uh, not habitable? Again, I thought the hotel was overreacting.

“Fire is a new one for you,” Lo sighed. “I guess I am going to have to put that in the rules.” He held up one finger. “Don’t get arrested.” He added another finger. “Don’t set the whole hotel on fire?”

I rolled my eyes and flopped onto the bed. “We didn’t mean to do it!” I insisted. “It was the outlet’s fault. It could have happened to anyone.”

“Yeah, because I’m sure there are tons of other guests in the hotel who are making banana bread in an air fryer,” Lo reasoned. He stopped pacing in front of me. “Why does this craziness always follow you, babe? I was terrified out of my mind. All people were saying was there was a fire on our floor. I didn’t know if you were okay or not.”

I held out my hands. “I’m totally fine. You should be glad there were no flames and just smoke.”

He closed his eyes and sighed.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “We honestly didn’t mean to do it.”

His eyes opened, and the anger that had been there was replaced with worry. “I thought you were hurt, Meg. I thought something had happened to you.”

And there it was.

Lo wasn’t mad at me; he was terrified something had happened to me. “I’m okay,” I whispered.

His shoulders sagged, and a chuckle rumbled from his throat. “Was the banana bread at least good?” he asked.

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