Page 185 of Smooth Sailing

Hugger made a scary noise that had to come from deep in his chest.

But I demanded, “Are you joking?”

Mom pointed straight-armed at Hugger. “A man I do not know opened my daughter’s door.”

“Get your ass to the coffee joint,” Hugger growled.

“No!” Mom bit. “Maybe you can absent yourself while I have a chat with my daughter.”

“Not gonna fuckin’ happen, lady,” Hugger returned.

Mom’s torso swung back in affront. “You speak to me with that language?”

Hugger opened his mouth…

But I was done.

“This is my home where I pay the mortgage, so it’s me who says what happens here, and what does not happen is you getting into my man’s shit.”

“Diana,” Mom breathed in injured astonishment.

“You wanna do this now, we will,” I clipped.

“Baby,” Hugger murmured.

“But I suggest you go have a coffee so I can cool off,” I finished.

“Let’s go get a latte, hon,” Gram urged.

“Cool off from what?” Mom ignored Gram and asked me.

Had she not been here the last five minutes?

And had she not listened to my voicemail or actually read my texts?

“We can talk about that when you get back,” I stated. “And by the way, when you come back, you can bring me a dirty chai made with oat milk, Hugger a double espresso, and bring up two cheese Danishes.”

“I’m not a waitress,” Mom hissed.

“You’re not much of anything,” Hugger said under his breath.

“What did you say?” Mom demanded to know.

“You don’t wanna know,” Hugger told her the truth.

She glared at him then turned that to me.

“I can’t believe you’re letting your boyfriend disrespect me, Diana,” Mom said. “But I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, since he clearly lacks even the most basic of hygiene.”

“Maggie!” Gram cried.

But I was seeing red.

No.

Scarlet

No.

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