Page 41 of Naughty by Nature

Chapter 13

Cheyenne calledher mother the next morning and explained what was going on.

“I don’t understand why you didn’t tell us this sooner. You know you always have a place here.”

Cheyenne hated to hear the hurt in her mother’s voice.

“Mama, I didn’t want Daddy, or you, to be stressed out. I know you would have welcomed us, but Daddy needs time to recover. The wedding date is coming up soon and I know he’s been focusing on that. Sheridan has a lot of security around his house, and he has a guard dog.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And his house is huge. He moved into Loveland, remember?”

Her mother laughed. “Ridiculous name. I remember when that old man moved out there and plastered that name on the fence. We laughed about that for weeks.”

Cheyenne snorted. “I remember.”

“Does Brock know that Wade is out of prison?”

“Yes. Sheridan called him.”

There was silence on the line. “Okay. I’m not going to say I’m not hurt that you didn’t call us sooner, but I understand you were worried about your father.”

“I was,” Cheyenne confirmed. “And you, Mama. I know you’ve been working hard taking care of Daddy and getting the house ready.”

“What about the wedding shower? Chad and Lora are coming down at the end of the month.”

“We’ll be ready for them, don’t worry. Payton is handling some of the details for me, like the walk-through. Everything will work out.”

“Okay, Cheyenne. I love you, baby. Keep me posted on Wade.”

“I will, Mama. And you let us know if you see him around too. He’s driving a white truck with blacked out windows.”

“Will do. Give my babies a kiss for me. And if you still want me to take Grace while the other girls are away, you let me know.”

“Okay, Mama. Bye.”

Cheyenne decided a few minutes later that her mother was an angel sent from heaven since she’d offered to take her youngest hellion for a while, and she would be getting a call taking her up on that offer directly. Cheyenne breathed deeply, trying not to lose her patience. “Grace Elaina, what have you done?”

Grace looked shame-faced, but Cheyenne could also see humor dancing in her bright blue eyes. Carolyn stood beside her, arms crossed over her chest. Carolyn’s beautiful strawberry blond hair was wet and lank, and her t-shirt and jeans were soaked, her expression furious.

On the floor of the kitchen was a huge pool of black soda. The counters dripped. Everything within a ten-foot radius was wet.

“She pranked me, Mama,” Carolyn cried.

Grace snickered, and Carolyn shoved her in the shoulder.

“Grace,” Cheyenne said as sternly as she could. “What did you do? I’m not going to ask you again. This is not our house, and you’ve made an incredible mess.”

Finally, some of the amusement left her face. “I’m sorry, Mama. I thought it would be funny to prank someone, so I put Mentos on a string and put them inside the Coke bottle, in the lid, and cut off the string. My friend Abby told me how to do it. Then when Carolyn took the lid off the Mentos fell in the pop and fizz exploded all over her. It was awesome!”

Cheyenne took another breath and fought to keep her face stern. It was kind of an awesome prank, but blazes, what a mess. “I give you points for doing a science experiment, but you need to apologize to your sister and start cleaning this up. Then you’re going to apologize to the sheriff because this is his house.”

“Yes, Mama.” Grace looked down at her feet.

“And you’re probably going to have to clean this a couple of times, because you know how sticky Coke gets. Now, apologize.”

“Sorry, Carolyn,” Grace said reluctantly.

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