Page 194 of Big Duke Energy

“Gel. That seems easy enough.” She glanced down again. “She did a shoddy job. I finish at eight tonight. Come home with me, and I’ll take them off for you, Grandma.”

“You can take them off?”

“Yes. You just need some acetone, which I have since I do my own. I can get them off lickety-split for you, then do your nails properly.”

Esme narrowed her eyes. “How do I know I can trust you?”

I picked up her other hand and showed her the green nails. “Can it really be worse than this?”

“I’ll be a bit sad to lose them,” she mused. “I was hoping I could use them to scratch out May’s eyeballs.”

“You’re almost eighty!” Max sputtered.

“So?” Esme looked at him with a twinkle in her eye. “You’re never too old to scratch out someone’s eyeballs, Max.”

Pen dropped her hand and turned away to serve someone. “I’m putting that on a t-shirt.”

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

ELLIE

You’re Never Too Old. Unless You’re Drinking. Then You Are.

“Meerow.”

I stretched my arm out from under the covers to bat away my shouty cat. “Shhhh.”

“Merow. Meeeer!”

“Winston. Shh.” I gathered the covers in a ball in my fist and pulled them up over my head. “I’m tired.”

And hungover.

I was quite hungover.

I was never drinking with Esme again. Or Penny, for that matter.

Not that it really mattered. I already knew it wouldn’t happen again because the chances of us ever crossing paths again was really quite slim.

I wasn’t even sure how I’d gotten here. Drunkorto Greygarth Lodge. I had a vague recollection of Esme insisting upon a round or two of drinks for us to ‘send me off with,’ but that was it.

Actually, that wasn’t it.

There were a lot more than two rounds of drinks.

Gosh, I felt dreadful. I really wasn’t twenty-one anymore. It was almost as if my tolerance had gone down as soon as I’d hit twenty-five… or perhaps it was because after that point, I preferred to drink wine in my pyjamas instead of party all night.

Either way, I definitely could not handle hard liquor anymore.

And I wasnotgoing to be leaving Windermere today.

Oh, well. My mother had said she didn’t mind if I wasn’t home, and I still had three other days to get there. I had her position in writing, so she was going to have to suck it up.

A bit like me right now. I’d made a dreadful choice in drinking with Penny and Esme with her talons, and now I was going to have to suck it up.

“Meeeerrrrrrahhh,” Winston whined, climbing on top of me.

“I’m getting up, I’m getting up,” I groaned, shuffling him off me gently as I rolled to the side to get out of bed.

---