Page 12 of A Hot Sauce Halloween

“Was she pissed?”

“Yeah, she was pissed. She pointed a gun at my head.”

His eyes grow wide. “Okay. Okay, go on. What’d you say?”

“Tommy, I really don’t think it’s relevant to your situation—”

“But you must have said somethinggood, right?” he asks. “I mean, a few days later you two hooked up. Right? Wasn’t that the, uh… the timeline?”

I scratch my nose, glancing around to make sure Vincent didn’t overhear how casually Tommy mentioned me hooking up with Anna.

“I said I was sorry,” I say.

He furrows his brow. “That’s it?”

“An apology goes a long way. Then, after that, I saved her from the mob and made her kid a breakfast burrito, but I’m pretty sure that sorry broke the ice a little.”

Tommy pauses with a far-off expression. “Hmm…”

My phone shakes my pocket, giving me a decent excuse to get as far away from this conversation as possible.

I pat Tommy on the shoulder. “You’re gonna be all right, Tommy. If not Monica, then some other woman will come around. Just be yourself.”

“Be myself…” he mumbles.

“Just be yourself,” I say again before slipping away to answer it. “Hello?”

“Hey, honey,” Anna says. “I come bearing your emergency-level excuse, if you need it.”

“Jake!”

I turn around to find Vincent waving me into the backroom again.

“Actually, I think I’m good here,” I tell her.

“Oh, yeah?” she asks.

“Yeah, I’ll be home later. Lot of work to do still.”

“Okay, have fun. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

I hang up and rush toward the back again.

Vincent instantly hands me a box of black curtains. “Tommy will show you what to do with these,” he says.

“All right.” I adjust the box, getting a better grip on it.

“Was that Anna?” he asks.

“Yeah,” I answer, pausing in the doorway. “She and Evey are trying to pick out wedding dresses tonight.”

He nods and silently turns away, giving his attention back to the pile of decorations.

Ugh. Maybe I turned down that emergency excuse a little too soon.

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