Page 131 of The Man Next Door
“I bet that’s what the woman in LA said right before she got cut up and stuck in the freezer,” Gilda said.
“I’m going over there,” Louise announced.
Okay, enough was enough. “You are not. I’ll handle this myself. Gilda, take over,” she said, walking away from her dinner in progress. “I’ve got to get ready to go to work.”
“Me! I don’t know how to make stir-fry,” Gilda protested.
“It’s easy. You stir it,” Zona said, her irritation with Gilda bleeding through. “If you get stuck, Mom can help you She’s an expert when it comes to knowing what people should do.” Silence fell in the kitchen as Zona stormed out.
She brushed her teeth, put on some jeans and a top, and then hurried downstairs. She could smell sesame oil and frying onions as she grabbed Louise’s car keys from the bowl on the small table by the door.
Her mom wasn’t any good at stir-fry. She always overcooked everything, but she and Gilda would have to cope because Zona had no intention of returning to the kitchen and being served a lecture. She didn’t need it. She already knew what she had to do.
She had to get to work, so it would have to wait until Sunday. Dealing with this required a face-to-face conversation.
BREE STOPPED BYher grandmother’s house to pick up the check Gary had left for her and found Gram and Gilda seated at the kitchen table with a plate of cookies and two glasses of milk, playing cards.
“The check from Gary is on the buffet,” Gram said. “Want to stay and play?”
This was what Bree’s Saturday nights had come to, cards with her grandma. But, oh, well, she liked hanging out with Gram.
“We’ll start over,” said Gilda, scooping up the cards.
“Handy for you, since you were losing,” Gram teased.
Bree went to the buffet and picked up the check and frowned at it.Big frickin’ deal, Gary.
“He probably felt real proud of himself for coming up with that money,” she said to Gram as she went to pour herself a glass of milk. He probably hoped she’d feel grateful. She didn’t.
He’d stolen from her. The fact that he’d done it legally didn’t change how wrong it had been, and it didn’t change her feelings toward him.
“It’s something,” Gram said.
“Loser,” Gilda muttered.
Somewhere along the way Gilda had become like a member of the family. It seemed she knew all their dirt. But so what? The more people who knew what a rat Gary was the better.
“Compared to what he owes me, it’s nothing,” Bree said. “It’s you and Mom who came through for me. You guys are the true heroes.”
“Take the money anyway,” Gilda advised.
“Oh, I will, believe me. I hope if he keeps paying Mom can ease up.” Gary had done the crime and Mom was doing the time. Not fair at all.
“She wants to do it for you.”
“She has no life,” Bree said. It was sad, and it was all Gary’s fault.
“She has one with our neighbor,” Gram said with a frown.
Bree mirrored it. She wanted her mom to have a fun life and do stuff, just not with a man.
“There’s something off there,” Gilda said with a knowing nod.
“I don’t like what comes with him,” Gram said, and proceeded to tell Bree about the vandalism the woman had done to Mom’s car.
“You’re kidding me.” Bree felt stupid for having missed seeing it. Then she felt angry.
With a woman like that coming after her, Mom had to be out of her mind to want to be with Alec James. At least Gary was able to admit he had a gambling addiction. Mom had a love addiction and refused to see it.
