Page 44 of Misadventures Of A Single Mom

“Holy crap.”

“I need to go to my parents’ but I can’t leave you here all alone knowing there’s a lunatic who chops up bodies on the loose. You’re spending the night at Goldie and Paul’s.”

I wasn’t very interested in being alone with a lunatic on the loose either. The thought of being by myself gave me the willies. “No problem.”

“Pack a bag and I’ll follow you over there.”

I rang Goldie and told her I was coming. While I dug through my clothes, I listened as Ty called in to work to get the day off. It was a haul to get to Pony, close to two hours, and he’d have to deal with the police in the morning.

Any interest we might have had in sex had been killed off, just like Morty. It definitely wasn’t the right time for the two of us. We’d both given it the oldcollege try, but something always seemed to get in the way. Dead bodies, homicidal maniacs, gnomes with semen inside.

Ty followed me the short distance to Goldie’s in his rental car. All was quiet and dark. Goldie was at the front door waiting for me, the porch light on. She wore a thick robe. Her hair was mussed.

I climbed out of my car, went over to Ty who was in his loaner car. His window was rolled down.

“Later,” Ty said. I read it two ways, as insee you laterand inlater we will have sex.

13

“I swear your life was as boring as could be before all this hubbub started,” Goldie commented the next night while inventorying lickable body lotion at the store.

The phone rang.

“No kidding,” I replied, taking over the lotion stocking. Goldie liked to answer her own phone.

“Goldilocks. We’re open until midnight. Yes, we have bondage items. What are you looking for specifically?” Goldie pulled out a pen and scrap paper. “Uh huh, okay, right,” she mumbled as she took notes. “If you’re interested in all that, you may just want to start dating a police officer.” Goldie laughed. “We have everything on your list. Stop in and we’ll get you all set up.”

She came back to the aisle and started stacking the dusting powders. Strawberry and piña colada were the current choices. “The boys called me this morning.”

“I know,” I said wistfully. “They called me, too. They were very excited about going to the beach today.”

Goldie patted my shoulder. “They’ll be fine.”

Of course, they were having too much fun to be homesick, but what about me?

“So how was last night?” Obviously, Goldie decided to change the subject. She, no doubt, missed the boys, too.

I stopped shelving and grinned at her. “Ty came with me.”

That stopped Goldie’s hand mid-motion. “You’re kidding me.” She laughed again. “That man has athi-ingfor you. If you can’t see it, you’re an idiot. He went to a bachelorette party. That’s love.”

I put the lotion down. “No way,” I said, nervous. Sweat formed on my upper lip.

“Have you ever, in your entire life, heard of a man going to a bachelorette party?”

“Well…”

“One who’s not a stripper.”

“No.” I thought back to Ty at the bachelorette party, how miserable he’d been. Does miserable mean love? How the hell would I know?

“I’m surprised you didn’t go with him last night to his parents instead of staying with us.” Goldie stood, dusted off her jeans. She wore a matching jean jacket, white blouse and gold hoop earrings. Her hair was left down long, curling artfully about her shoulders.

I, on the other hand, wore jeans and plain shirt, this time in green. I had simple black flats on my feet. My hair, too, was left down, but I habitually tucked it behind my ears.

“I wanted to go with him. I was anxious to learn more about Morty and his gruesome death. But I wasn’t prepared to meet Ty’s parents.”

The bell on the door dinged the arrival of a customer.

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