Page 186 of Smooth Sailing

Vermillion.

I started to launch myself at her, for what purpose, I had no clue, but Hugger caught me around my belly and pulled me to his front.

“Take a breath,” he said in my ear.

I opened my mouth.

“Take a breath,” he repeated.

Fuck!

I took a breath.

“Maggie, I could use a coffee,” Gram said cajolingly, the way she talked to my mom a lot. “Let’s give them some time to get dressed. It’s just downstairs.”

“You better be in a different frame of mind when I get back, missy,” Mom threatened me, then she flounced to the door, tugged it open, and flounced out without holding it open for her own mother.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ll talk to her, doll,” Gram said to me.

I just nodded my head jerkily.

The door closed behind Gram.

It was then Hugger frog-marched me, still held to his front, to the living room and only let me go when he got me there.

“I’ll make coffee,” he said when I turned to him. “You go do your thing so you’ll be ready.”

“Did you call someone?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he answered.

“Who’d you call?”

“I called Pete, and told him to haul ass here, but before he did, I told him to get your dad’s number and tell him your mom is here so he should haul his ass here too.”

“How’s he going to find Dad’s cell phone number?”

“Trust me, he’ll find it.”

With the way he said that, I believed Big Petey would.

But I deflated. “Hugger, I don’t know?—”

He took my jaw in both hands and dipped down to me. “This showdown is gonna happen, baby, because you need it. But you need to have your family at your back when you do.”

Oh my God!

I was so falling in love with this guy!

I face-planted in his chest.

He wrapped his hand around the back of my head, kissed my hair, and said there, “Go. Brush your teeth. Do what you gotta do.”

Needless to say, after I relieved my bladder, and halfway through my tooth brushing, Hugger showed in the bathroom with a mug of coffee.

He set the mug beside mine and went to his own sink.

I mentally went through my wardrobe to see if I had a Showdown with My Mother Outfit.

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