Page 14 of Tickled Pink

“Yes, I would. Thank you.” He steps forward, quickly grabbing his wrinkled coat off the desk. “Love what you’ve done with the place, Phoebe.”

“Thank you, Mr. Fellows.”

He bolts out without another word.

Jackie closes the door behind him and exhales hard. “Okay, fine. We were boning.”

I snort. “Duh.”

She points a stiff finger at me. “But you were supposed to be gone until after New Year’s, giving me plenty of time to deep clean the place before you could even find out.” She crosses her arms and glares at me. “What are you even doing here?”

I point at the couch. “Did you guys do it here?”

“No,” she answers.

“Cool.” I plop down onto it with a sigh and reach down to pet Stinky’s head as she settles by my feet.

“Uh-oh,” Jackie says, studying my face. “What’s wrong? What’d they do?”

“They?”

“Was it Max?” she asks, toughening up. “I knew he was too perfect.”

“It wasn’t Max.”

“Thad?” Her jaw drops. “He cheated, didn’t he? I told you, Pheebs, you can’t trust a pilot.”

I laugh. “Thad didn’t cheat, Jackie.”

“Well, tell me what they did and point me at ‘em.”

“They didn’t do anything,” I say. “It’s my parents. They’re not coming.”

Her shoulders sag. “They’re not?”

“No.”

“I thought they were excited, though.”

“I thought so, too, but… my dad called this morning and said that they couldn’t support my lifestyle. So, they aren’t coming.”

Jackie furrows her brow. “What a crock of shit.”

I shrug a shoulder. “They’re entitled to their opinion. It’s all right.”

“Uh, no. It’s not all right. You have the best lifestyle ever. What the hell is their problem?”

“I mean, they’re right. Right? It’s not normal normal...”

“What’s so great about normal?” She scoffs. “Normal sucks.”

“Having supportive parents who show up for holidays is a nice perk of normalcy, I’d say.”

Jackie pauses. “Okay, sure, but...”

“I don’t really want to talk about it, honestly,” I say as I scratch behind Stinky’s ear. “Just came here for some quiet while I think of what I’m gonna do.”

“What you’re gonna do?” she repeats. “What’s that mean?”

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