Page 7 of Hide and Sneak
He nods and pulls out his phone. “I’m going to go to the grocery store. Any requests?”
Good, he’s leaving. My feet are starting to itch. Marshmallow is surprisingly hard to get off, especially in a sink. I need a shower. “No, I’m good.”
“Are you sure?” Amusement leaks into his voice and I look up to see his lips twitching. “You don’t need any condiments or sauces or…toppings?” His grin is infuriating. He’s having so much fun with this.
“Are you trying to get your ass kicked?”
“That’s pretty big talk for a girl who almost got eaten by a puppy.”
My toe still throbs from that bite, though it didn’t break the skin. When I don’t rise to his taunting, he sits back, propping his foot on his knee. “I prefer my fluff on a peanut butter sandwichbut to each their own. If that’s what your guy is into, I’m not judging.”
He thinks I was taking pictures for a boyfriend. It’s probably better than him knowing the truth but it throws me off. “I don’t—he’s not.” Ugh, nothing I say will be right and it pisses me off. God, my feet are itching like crazy but there’s no way I’m scratching. “What I do is none of your business. Just leave me alone. I’m trying to play my game.”
He leans over to peek at my laptop screen. “You play Third Place? What’s your Small’s name?”
I shut my laptop to glare at him, and he holds his hands up while getting to his feet. “Fine, I know where I’m not wanted.”
My phone beeps with a text from Cara.
Cara
Girl’s night tonight?
Me
Absolutely. Didi borrowed my car but she should be back before long.
Cara
Come over anytime.
By the time I look up from my phone again, Sutton has left. Time for a nice, hot shower then an evening with my best friends. That’s what I need.
Thankfully, Sutton doesn’t return before I leave. Holly meets me outside, and throws a warning back to her sister. “No boys in the house. I have lots of neighborhood spies who will call me.”
“No penis wielding individuals will enter,” Fern replies, and her friends giggle.
“I left money on the table for you to order pizza. Be inside by ten, lock the door, and Freda will be home if there’s an emergency.”
“I’m fourteen not four. We’ll be fine. Go get a life,” Fern calls out.
Holly sighs as she settles back in my passenger seat. “Every time I leave her alone I think of the things I did at her age.”
“Do you really have a spy?” I ask, pulling out of my driveway.
“Donna promised to keep an eye out. You know she sits on her porch most evenings.”
Holly has done her best to raise her sister and her biggest fear is that she’ll get pregnant before she’s out of high school. It’s a fate Holly avoided and she’s determined not to let it happen to Fern either.
We make a stop on the way to Cara’s house to get some snacks and a margarita mix. Maren and Cara wave at us from her porch, all smiles when we park in front of her house. It’s been a while since all four of us could get together and it’s clear I’m not the only one who needs a girl’s night.
I let Dusty loose in her fenced yard, making sure to close the gate behind me as he runs off with their hyper golden retriever, Twist. Dusty was one of the puppies dumped on their doorstep thanks to Twist getting loose and knocking up a neighborhood chocolate lab.
Cara’s boyfriend, Row, steps out on the porch along with Maren’s new husband, Cooper. “I thought it was girls only tonight. You two don’t look very girly,” I tease.
“I’m completely in touch with my feminine side,” Row replies, pretending to flick back his hair. “But we’re leaving soon.”
“Come inside! It’s too hot out here,” Cara invites, and we move inside to sit around her kitchen table. She makes a pitcher of margarita, and I fill our glasses while she grabs Holly a soft drink since she doesn’t drink alcohol.
