Page 83 of Claws and Feathers

Gina glanced across the living room to Rodney’s office. “Rod? Can you come here?”

Her father exited the study and ambled up to the kitchen island with his hands in his khaki pockets. “Let me guess. You want to go to the mall and need money.”

Abby considered the suggestion, her interest piqued.

“Wait, I know. You want a car.”

“Well, yes,” Gina chuckled, popping the Tupperware lid on the fruit bowl. “She also wants to be our chauffeur tonight.”

Abby grabbed her flip phone off the table and waved it in front of them. “You can call me when you’re ready to go. I promise I’ll keep the ringer up.”

Her parents gazed at each other across the island as they debated the proposal. There was a look of love there, and Abby couldn’t help but wish for that someday. Rodney and Gina Stone weren’t just a wealthy power couple – no, they were truly, helplessly in love. Everyone knew that. It was in their careful touches, their flirtatious banter, and their longing looks of affection. It was in the way they worked together as a team and sat ridiculously close to each other on the couch during movie nights. It was in their ‘good mornings’ and ‘good nights’. They never went to bed angry, and they never left the house without saying ‘I love you’.

Abby hoped she could say the same for her and Jordan in twenty years.

“I don’t see why not,” Rodney responded, rubbing his hand along the shadow of bristles on his chin. “What do you think, hun?”

Gina finally conceded. “I suppose. Our dinner reservations are at seven P.M.”

“Yay!” Abby jumped in place, eager to get on the road. Most of her friends were already driving, and so was Jordan. “Well, I’ll be in my room pretending to do homework, but secretly talking to my boyfriend.” She held up the cell phone to drive the point home. “Ciao!”

Abby could hear her parents’ simultaneous sighs as she bounded up the stairs. She paused to look back over her shoulder and saw them exchange a kiss from across the island.

She smiled.

“Are youserious?” Abby threw a piece of popcorn at the television screen in frustration. “This is what I’ve been waiting all season for?”

Ryan glanced up from his computer with little interest. “Did your Billy Idol wannabe die?”

Abby tossed a handful of popcorn behind her shoulder, nailing Ryan in the back of the head. “My hopes and dreams were just destroyed. Pulverized.” She shook her head, completely heartbroken. “Shefinallyconfesses her love, because let’s face it, we all know she loves him, and Spike goes, ‘No, you don’t. But thanks for saying it.’ What. The. Hell. The entire show is ruined, and I’ve wasted seven years of my life.”

“You’re so dramatic,” Ryan said dismissively, clicking away on his keyboard.

“And you’re boring. What are you even doing over there? Picking up girls in chat rooms?” Abby twisted around on the couch to spy on him.

“Writing an essay on annoying little sisters.”

“Ooh. Good one,” she rolled her eyes. Abby’s cell phone began to ring, and she quickly snatched it off the couch cushion beside her. It was her mother calling. “Hey, Mom! Ready for my services?”

“We’re ready, sweetie,” Gina replied on the other line. “Be careful driving. It just started to rain.”

Abby jumped off the couch and slipped on her sneakers. She eyed Ryan’s car keys dangling from the coat rack and she bit down on her lip. “Hey, Ryan? How much do you love me?”

“As much as I love root canals,” he deadpanned, his eyes still glued to his computer screen.

Abby scrunched her nose and crossed her arms over her chest. “Can I please take the Firebird to pick up Mom and Dad? Someone from school might see me and I’ll die if I show up in the minivan.”

He spun around in his rolling chair and narrowed his eyes at his sister. “No way.”

“Ugh, why?”

“I get nothing out of this act of kindness,” he shrugged.

“Duh. That’s why it’s called an ‘act of kindness’. You’re not supposed to expect anything in return.”

Ryan leaned back with a sigh, matching her stance. “Fine. Do my chores for a week and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

“Aweek? That’s hardly fair. Besides, you have to clean the downstairs toilet and I’m about to vomit just thinking about it.”

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