Page 37 of Out to Get Her
“McFlyyyyyyyy!”
The bird bobbed up and down and yanked his neck from side to side like he was doing some kind of grotesque dance.
“You sure? Marty would love a new furry friend to keep him company.”
“Uhhhh, Marty isn’t sticking around either,” Erin said. No how. No way. She couldnottake a bird to her apartment. Not even if she wanted to. “And have you forgotten that I don’t actually plan on living in this house?”
Zach scratched the back of his head. “Right. Kind of did forget that.”
She bumped his arm. “You could always move to New Orleans. I’ll probably need an extra roommate if I can’t get out of here soon and lose my job and can’t pay my rent.” Her stomach turned just thinking about it. “Speaking of money. I need to get to work. I saw I had some online sales the last couple of days that I need to fill and take to the post office tomorrow.”
“Gotcha.” He awkwardly pointed his thumbs toward the door in a dorky move. Like the dork she’d forgotten she missed so much. “I’ll get out of your way.”
“Do you think you could drop me off at the post office before work tomorrow if they can’t drop my car off before then?”
“No problem.”
Her phone rang inside her bag on the couch and the screen flashed an unknown local number. “That’s probably the mechanic. Sam said she’d give them my number to call when they were done.”
When she answered the call, a man’s gravelly voice greeted her with a mismatched cheerful tone.
“This is Frank, over at the repair shop. Is this Erin?”
“Yes. Is the car ready? Because I can—”
“No ma’am, I was just calling to tell you it won’t be ready until at least early tomorrow afternoon. I have to find a tire to replace it, and I don’t have one to match here.”
“The nail was that big? You can’t just plug it?”
“Ma’am, that wasn’t a nail.” There was silence on the other end. For a second, Erin thought she’d lost the connection, but the mechanic eventually spoke again. “You sure pissed someone off good.”
The universe was definitely out to get her, but she got the sense that wasn’t what this guy meant. “I don’t understand. What was in it?”
“Nothing was in it,” Frank said. “Someone slashed your tire.”
“What?”
Zach took a step closer, his brow furrowed with concern at her shriek.
“I’ll have a new one on there for you tomorrow. I’ll give you a call as soon as I’ve got it ready to go.”
Erin barely stuttered a thanks before the call ended.
“Problem?” Zach asked just as Marty squawked, mimicking the same pitch she’d used a moment ago.
“No, just a delay.”
Erin couldn’t tell him the truth. She couldn’t form the words that someone hated her enough to slash her tire. She’d barely been in town for three days. Who’d she piss off so badly in that little time?
The memory of those accusations being flung at her a few hours ago flashed through Erin’s mind.
No.
Addie would never go that far.
Would she?
“Car will be ready tomorrow afternoon,” Erin said.
