Page 92 of Broken Grump

Addie looks away from me after that and sighs.

Betsy comes in later and clears our dinner plates, and then she announces that she’s made strawberry cheesecake for dessert.

“That’s Luna’s favorite,” Addie whispers.

But her excited response already told me that. She abandoned the fish altogether and started buzzing next to her mother.

“I’m so excited!”

“I know, sweets. But just try to calm down a little.” Quite literally, Addie has to put her hands on Luna’s tiny shoulders to keep her from hopping up and down.

I’m glad she’s excited, but the rambunctious energy is all a little too much for me right now.

To make matters worse, as soon as Betsy comes back through the swinging doors, Luna rushes over, collides with her, and knocks the pitcher of lemonade off of the serving platter.

As if in slow motion, it flies through the air, ricochets off the table, and then smashes perfectly onto my phone.

Dammit!

The cracked screen tells me all I need to know.

Addie stands up and pulls Luna back by the chest, hugging her close. “I’m so incredibly sorry, Hayden. I’ll pay for the damages.”

The heat inside my body is boiling, and I know that I’m going to explode at any minute if they don’t get out of my sight.

“It’s fine,” I say through gritted teeth. “But I think dinner is over now.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

“No! I want cheesecake!” Luna protests.

Addie continues to fight with her and tries to corral her towards the door, but she refuses.

“Mom! You said I could have some!”

When I’ve finally had enough, I bang my closed fists against the wooden table and exclaim, “Enough! For God’s sake. That’s enough!”

Both females before me retreat and look at me in horror.

I want to stop myself, I really do, but I can’t.

“Now, if you could’ve just stayed still for five more seconds, you wouldn’t have made this stupid mistake!”

In response to my booming voice, Luna cowers before running out.

Before following after her daughter, Addie throws me a glare.

Chapter twenty-five

Addie

Of course, just whenI was starting to think that this man had turned over a new leaf and couldn’t possibly make any more stupid, hair-brained mistakes, he goes and does this.

“Luna!”

She ran surprisingly fast, and now I’m frantically trying to find her in this oversized mansion.

“Luna!”

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