Page 45 of Married with Mayhem

“I’m fine,” Sabrina says for about the fifth time. “Yes, I promise. Yes, I’m eating right now. No, I haven’t told Mama yet. Maybe that can wait until I get to Colorado.”

Her eyes flicker to me and she scrunches up her nose. “He’s right here.” She passes the phone over with a wince of apology. “She wants to talk to you.”

I finish the bite of food in my mouth and take another swallow of coffee before accepting the phone. “Hey there, Anni.”

She doesn’t waste time being polite. “What the hell was my little sister doing at a mob convention, Monte?”

“Not a convention. It was a card game at Gino’s. But you’re right. I shouldn’t have let her go. It was too dangerous. I’m sorry.”

The quick apology seems to take the edge off Anni’s anger and her voice turns worried. “Is she really okay?”

“Seems to be. She’s eating a bagel and hanging on every word I say, as usual.”

Sabrina raises her right hand, slowly extends her middle finger and glares. I give her a wink. She drops her hand and looks away with a blush.

“All right,” Anni says with a sigh. “Let us know if anything changes.”

“I will. We’ll be back on the road in a few minutes. I promise to deliver your sister safely to your doorstep.”

“Hey, Monte?”

“Yeah?”

“I really wish you’d killed that fucker, although I guess it’s better that you didn’t.”

“Right,” I snort. “I’ll take care of her, Anni. I swear.”

“I believe you. But I’ve got some breastfeeding to do so let me talk to my sister again for a minute.”

I pass the phone back to Sabrina. Once more she reassures Anni that all is well.

“And kiss sweet little Janie for me. Tell her Auntie Sabrina loves her so much and can’t wait to hold her.” She gets a little misty-eyed as she says, “I love you too, Anni. Please don’t worry about me. I’ll see you soon.”

Sabrina has a wistful smile on her face as the connection cuts off. She immediately scrolls through her phone and gazes lovingly at a photo of her baby niece.

“How long until we get to Colorado?” she asks without taking her eyes off the photo.

“Two days,” I estimate. “We’ll have to stop and sleep at some point.”

She looks up with a frown. “Maybe we ought to do that now. “

“Nah. I’ve got at least six hours of energy left. Let’s power through.”

“Are you sure? You look like you might pass out.”

“I’m not going to pass out.”

“You have deep circles of exhaustion under your eyes.”

“It’s just the lighting in here.”

Hastily, I fork up the last bites on my plate, withdraw more than enough cash from my wallet to cover the bill, and throw it on the table.

“Let’s go,” I say.

“I’m not finished with my bagel.”

“Take it with you.”

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