Page 14 of Out to Get Her
“There you go, buddy.”
Marty bobbed his headed and continued pacing and freaking out, screaming his name at the top of his lungs.
Sheesh. Erin had no idea how Grandpa put up with this thing, much less loved the creature.
Her phone rang from the end table. Erin picked it up when she saw Zach’s name on the screen.
“Hello,” she shouted over the squawking.
He chuckled. “Sounds like you and Marty are getting along swell.”
“Super,” she said. “What on earth is his deal? Was he always like this and I just forgot?”
“Kind of,” said Zach. “On and off. I mean, he’s a bird. They’re all obnoxious, in my opinion.”
“Believe me, in my opinion, too.”
“But he’s been a little more unsettled. Since… you know.”
Erin glanced over at the bird. Poor Marty. She should have realized he’d miss Grandpa. Of course he would.
“I was calling to check on you and see how things were going.”
“Just grand,” she said, her voice dripping with the sarcasm that had been festering all day.
“Did you just get back?”
“Yeah, walked in a few minutes ago.”
“That could be why he’s so excited.”
Erin looked down and saw a smudge of white gloopy bird poop on her hand. “Great. This day keeps getting better.”
“So I guess I shouldn’t ask how today went.”
“Today went fine,” she said on her way to the bathroom. “I crossed some things off the list, so I guess that counts as fine.”
Never mind that crossing things off just added more things to the to-do list. Not to mention those extra ten to twelve days. At this rate, she would never settle Grandpa’s estate and escape this place.
She flipped on the light and switched the phone to speaker. Then she placed it on the counter and ran the water, double-checking that she’d turned the cold water on because it came out warm, nearly hot. Exposed pipes and August heat. Fun combination.
“Did you just take me to thebathroomwith you? I didn’t know we were that close.”
“We aren’t. Calm down.” She finished her scrub and shut off the water. “I’m washing my—”
She froze mid-water-shake-off when she spotted something in the mirror behind her. Something that should most definitely not be in her grandfather’s bathroom with her.
“Holy crap!”
She stumbled toward the door, one hand on the knob behind her, the other hand up defensively in front of her. But it didn’t look like she needed it.
“Erin? Erin?” Zach’s voice echoed through the bathroom from the phone speaker. “Are you okay?”
She wasn’t sure how to saythere’s a giant man slumped beside the toilet in here with mewithout tipping off said man that she’d noticed him. But from the look of him, it might not matter what she said or did at this point.
“I’m okay,” she said. “I think.”
“You think? Erin, what’s going on? Talk to me.”
