Page 57 of Happenstance
Sighing, I flopped back in my seat. Who thought I’d be happy to spend time with Lillianna Whitley? Her car was parking in front of the house when we got home. Parker seemed less enthusiastic about it than I was. To me, she was the perfect excuse to escape my so-called husband. How sad was that? I opted to spend time with Ashen Springs dragon lady, over facing Parker.
“I hope you’re feeling okay,” Lillianna’s hand swirled through the air as she spoke. “Preston and Ava were the worst. I was sick all the time. But not my baby boy.” She smiled at Parker as he rolled his eyes and walked out of the kitchen. “My Parker was a breeze.”
Her Parker? She didn’t talk about her elder children like that. Nor did she look at them with the same loving shine in her eyes. Then again, Ava was crazy, and Preston… Well, I doubted he loved her either. But she did seem to genuinely care about Parker. Perhaps she wasn’t as bad as Nan thought? Someone who cared that much for her child had to have a heart somewhere, right?
“Of course, pregnancy might be different for your kind.”
Okay, maybe she only had half a heart.
“Other than some nausea in the morning, I feel fine.”
That was a bold faced lie. I yacked my guts out almost every morning for at least an hour, but she was being nice to me, so…
“I have something to help with that.” Lillianna walked around the island and opened the fridge. “It’s an old family recipe.”
“Okay.” I didn’t really know what else to say.
This was the same woman that judged me by the color of my skin, but who was also the grandmother to my children. That earned her some credit. Gramps used to say some people were by-products of their upbringing. Ignorance begets ignorance and I shouldn’t hold what someone was taught against them. My acceptance might be the thing that made them open their eyes. When it came to Parker’s mother, Nan didn’t agree.
My nose crinkled at some of the things Lillianna was dumping in the blender. She put a raw egg in there? Eww. I didn’t want to be rude though, so I turned away and looked out the window. Better to study the flowers in the garden than to throw up all over this nice shiny floor. And it was nice and shiny. Black tiles sparkling in the sunlight. Didn’t think I’d like a black floor, but it suited the room. The entire house was pretty. New appliances, and fully stocked rooms. I’d never seen a fridge so full in my life. Then again, the only other fridge I’d seen that big was at Harper’s, or Riley’s.
A glass of what I could only describe as thick pinkish-grey sludge was placed in front of me.
“Here you go.” Lillianna beamed down at me. “This will cure your nausea.”
I looked down at the cup, studying the chunks floating inside. What the hell was that? Strawberries, or some kind of raw meat? God, it smelled like feet. I gave Lillianna a small smile and picked up the glass. Scratch that, it smelled like ass. This crap was suppose to cure my stomach issues? I wanted to throw up just looking at it.
Lillianna gazed down at me expectantly. I could almost hear her voice urging me on. Telling myself she was just trying to help, I stared at the crap in my hand.Ass Juice, cure your tummy troubles today.
Well, here goes nothing.
“Lana,”
Oh thank God.
I placed the cup down and smiled at Parker as he entered the room.
“I can’t find my keys. Do you know where I put them?”
Why would I know where he put them?
“They’re on the table by the door.”Huh, guess I did.
He smiled down at me. “Would you mind getting them for me?”
Were his legs broken? Then again, if I played gopher, I could avoid the ass juice. I glanced at the glass, then out in the hall where things smelled nice, and stood up. Gopher was definitely a better option. I sauntered out of the room, arms swinging at my leisurely pace. No need to hurry, after all. I was halfway there, when I remembered Parker didn’t drop his keys on the little black table by the door. He dropped them on the kitchen counter.
Well, crap! Back to the ass juice I guess.
I released a grumbled sigh and turned around. A kitchen had never looked more foreboding. Staring at the oak cabinets coming closer, I imagined the boogeyman hiding behind one of them. Laying in wait for me to come back and drink his putrid cup of sludge. I could see his beady eyes peeking around the corner. Sharp lips curling to bare his fangs as I came closer.
Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly.
Stupid fly, walked right into that spider’s house. Kind of like what I did when I agreed to Parker’s dumb conditions. Was it Lillianna’s cup of vomit I was afraid of? Or facing the guy I couldn’t stop picturing naked? All strong and hard, with droplets rolling down his washboard abs. Trickling over each solid bump, leaving tiny little streams of goodness my tongue wanted to lap up.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
My brow arched at Parker’s tone. The Greek God was angry.
