Page 206 of Smooth Sailing

He turned his head and spit out the pancakes.

The woman leaned in after he straightened and said, “We think Annie put salt in them instead of sugar. But everything else seems okay, erm…so far.”

I started giggling.

Because…

Annie.

“How do you know Annie?” she asked.

“I work with her,” I told her.

“Oh, that means you must be Diana.”

Hmm.

Annie spoke of me.

“Guilty,” I said. “And this is my boyfriend, Harlan.”

“Hi there,” she said to Hugger.

“Hey,” he replied.

“I’m Wendy. Me and my husband have known Annie for ages. We live down the street. She talks about you a lot. All good. She thinks you’re just great.”

If the threat of Hugger’s broken kneecaps (or other) wasn’t warming me enough, that did it.

“She says you’re the best employee she’s ever had,” Wendy continued.

And more warmth.

“Wow, that’s nice,” I replied.

She leaned in again and whispered, “My husband says she’d be out of business without you. She’s sweet as sugar and would do anything for someone she cares about,”—yes, like the threat of busted kneecaps (or other)—“but she isn’t the type to be a savvy businesswoman.”

Hugger grunted.

I tamped down laughter. “No, she’s a great boss, and I really like her, but she’s not that.”

“I…” The woman sniffed and her brow wrinkled. “Do you smell something?—?”

A loud beeping filled the house.

“Fuck,” Hugger grunted a word this time, then he dumped his plate and the napkin, and he was on the move.

I followed him to a kitchen filled with smoke.

I noted where it was coming from, dashed to the oven, opened it, and more smoke billowed out, making me cough. I waved at it, and after some of the smoke dissipated, I saw some kind of casserole that was put directly under the top coils had caught on fire.

Hugger saw it too, I knew, because he yanked me back and went in himself.

“Hugger!” I cried.

He turned off the oven, grabbed some oven mitts, and ordered loudly to be heard over the fire alarm still going off. “Do something about the alarm, babe.”

I ran to a window, opened it, then raced to a dish towel and started waving it at the alarm as Hugger used the oven mitts to pull a casserole dish out of the oven. He dropped it with a clatter on the stovetop, then used those mitts to beat out the fire.

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