Page 34 of One Bed

‘I can make you some, Golly,’ Nadia softly replied. ‘But cheese sauce takes a little time. What about some oatmeal?’

Golly’s bottom lip pushed out. ‘I want cheese sauce, not oatmeal.’

Reena waved a hand in front of her face. ‘I can feel the colours, Gols. And the back of my head is prickling.’

‘I want to feel the colours, too! I want another brownie, Nadia. Why did you take them away from me?’

Bea looked at Gib, who was standing by the big free-range stove, his hand over his mouth and his shoulders shaking. Yeah, yeah, the old people were Burj Khalifahigh. This wasn’t their first drug rodeo, but she didn’t expect them to be stoned at – she squinted at the dial on Gib’s fancy watch, he’d swapped his Rolex for something high tech – 8.17 a.m.

She looked at Cass. ‘Want to explain?’ she asked, heading towards the coffee machine and pushing a cup under its spout. Staying with the drug theme, she knew she’d be mainlining espressos today.

Cass took Nadia’s hand. ‘Nadia suffers from lupus, and she takes micro-doses of cannabis to keep the inflammation down.’

‘I came down early this morning and made a batch of dope cookies.’ Nadia’s voice was so low Bea had to strain to hear her. ‘I left the slab cooling in the cake tin and went back upstairs to get dressed.’

Cass bit her lip. ‘I asked Nadia if she wanted to come for a walk with me, so we headed into town.’ She lifted her chin, looking a little defiant. ‘Knowing how crazy the rest of the weekend would be, we decided to take some time out.’

And why shouldn’t they? They’d worked their butts off to pull off a last-minute event last night.

‘I came back, intending to cut up the brownies into bite-sized portions,’ Nadia said, lifting the cake tin. ‘And I found this.’

Bea winced at the ripped apart cake. Golly and Reena hadn’t used a knife, choosing to pull the brownie mixture apart with their fingers. Damn, it did look yum, and Bea could do with a hit of sugar and chocolate.

‘Don’t even think about it,Bea-darling,’ Gib murmured, laughter in his voice.

Bea-darling? Was him using her nickname supposed to mean something? No, they’d only recently met up again –it felt like they’d known each other for weeks, not days! –so it couldn’t. Mean anything, that is. Reena and Golly called her Bea-darling, and he’d just picked it up from them.

She stepped away from the plate and clasped her hands behind her back because, damn, the brownies lookedfabulous.

‘I take it that they ate far more than they should’ve?’ she asked Nadia, resigned to the idea of Golly and Reena going back to bed for the morning. Possibly for most of the day.

‘Alotmore,’ Cass stated. ‘Nadia only takes a half-inch square, and she’s used to the stuff. If I ate what she does, I would float off the ceiling.’

And the Terrible Twosome ate half the tray.Shit.

‘I’m really sorry, Bea. I didn’t think they’d be down so early, they never are usually,’ Cass gabbled.

‘They chose to eat the cake, Cassie,’ Gib quietly reminded her.

Cass tossed him a grateful glance. ‘Do you think we should take them to a doctor or something?’

Bea shook her head. ‘They’re just high, Cass, they aren’t dying. And, honestly, I’m pretty sure they’ve tried worse.’

‘I once ate magic mushrooms at Burning Man, and I loved Molly when I was younger,’ Golly grandly declared. ‘I’ve always been able to handle drugs.’

Since she was dipping her fingers into her coffee mug and trying to suck the liquid off her fingers, Bea wasn’t convinced. And Reena, head on the table, was out like a light. Bea pushed her fingertips into her forehead. ‘Jesus, Golly,’ she muttered. ‘You don’t need to brag about it!’

‘If I don’t blow my own trumpet, who will?’ Golly demanded. Her eyes, sort of, focused on Bea’s face. ‘Oh, you look so very pretty this morning, Bea-darling.’

Since she was dressed in another pair of shorts, and a sleeveless cotton shirt, this was definitely the drugs talking. OK, it was time to get her godma horizontal. ‘Let’s get you up to bed, Gols.’

Cassie bit her bottom lip. ‘Um, Bea…’

‘Yes?’

‘Does that mean that we’re not fired?’ Cass tentatively asked, her eyes reflecting her worry.

Horror made Bea’s throat constrict. ‘God,no! If anything, I’m terrified you’re going to resign,’ she admitted. ‘Please don’t resign,’ she begged them.

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