Page 67 of Positively Pricked
Chapter 23
Charlotte was still staring at the sheet of paper. "Is this for real?"
I took another swig of my wine. "Apparently."
"What do you mean, apparently? On the phone, you said you accepted."
I'd called her an hour ago, after I'd first gotten home. Based on the timing, Charlotte had obviously left my parent's house the moment I'd told her the news.
I knew why. She thought I was losing my mind.
She was right, of course.
I blew out a long, shaky breath. "Yup."
"Shouldn't you be, like,happyor something?" Again, she looked to the paper. "I mean, holy crap."
I blew out another breath. "Yup."
"That's a lot of money."
I took another drink. "Yup."
She eyed my half-empty glass, and then, the half-empty bottle. "I thought you hated merlot."
"Yup."
"So why'd you buy it?"
"I didn't. It's Paisley's."
Charlotte gave a snort of laughter. "You're kidding."
"Nope."
I wasn't a big drinker, but I liked to keep a bottle of wine on-hand, just in case. Sometimes, it was just in case company showed up. Other times, it was just in case you accepted a job offer from the biggest prick on the planet and wanted to drown your anxiety in a bottle of cabernet.
Unfortunately, Paisley had swiped my emergency bottle weeks ago, and I'd been too broke to buy a replacement. So here I was, drowning my worries in cheap merlot.
Or heck, it might be expensive merlot. It's not like I could taste the difference.
Charlotte picked up the bottle and took a closer look. "But where'd you find it? I mean, the way you talk, she never stocks the pantry."
"Got that right," I muttered.
"So where was it?"
I glanced toward the back hallway. "In her bedroom."
Charlotte was grinning now. "No way! You went through her bedroom?" She leaned forward. "So, did you ransack it or what?"
I hadn't been looking for the wine. In truth, I didn't even realize shehadwine. No. WhatI'dbeen looking for was the cordless telephone.
Eventually, I'd found the phone under her pillow, but onlyafterI'd found the bottle of merlot, hidden under her bed, where I'dalsofound three cans of soup, a box of saltines, and an unopened bag of corn chips.
I looked to the bag, which was now sitting, half-empty, on the kitchen table. I pushed the bag in Charlotte's direction. "Corn chip?"
She burst out laughing. "Don't tell me. Are those Paisley's too?"
