Page 52 of Effortless

“So… how was your time in Nashville?” I ask my parents with a smirk.

“Don’t be a brat, Hadley,” Mom snaps.

I lift my hands in mock surrender. “Hey, I’m truly wondering. I’m not the one who ended up behind bars.”

“Nashville is the devil,” Dad mumbles. “It’s not our fault.”

I snort. “Right. It’s Nashville’s fault.”

Mom narrows her eyes while we stand outside of the police station, waiting for the car to pick us up. They’ve never been in an Uber before which makes the entire situation even more fun. For me, anyway.

“What even happened?”

“Martinis,” Dad explains.

Mom uncharacteristically gags. She looks like hell. Her hair’s a mess. Her clothes are unkempt. The exact same clothes she was wearing when she was at the diner two days ago. Makeup smudged. To top it off, one of her heels broke off so she’s walking with a limp. If I didn’t have Dorothy to worry about, I’d say this was one of the best days of my life.

“Lots and lots of martinis?” I guess.

“Yes.”

“They did you dirty, huh?” I laugh at myself. “Get it? Dirty? Like dirty martinis?”

Dad glares at me. “Very clever.”

“Tequila,” Mom mutters.

My eyes grow huge. “You drank tequila? Like… shots?”

Dad groans. “It was Nashville’s fault!” he shouts. “And that stupid party!”

I laugh. “What party?”

“It was a bachelorette party. Or maybe bachelor?”

“Both. They did it jointly, remember?”

“Oh, boy. You went to a party, then?”

“Can we stop talking about this?”

I pretend to think for a moment. “I don’t think so.”

Our car pulls up, a bright blue small sedan. I open the front passenger door, confirm the driver’s name, and hold it open for Dad.

“Sir, your ride is here,” I joke.

He rolls his eyes and huffs, folding his large body into the front seat while Mom and I climb into the back.

Giving the driver the address to our hotel, we sit in silence as he maneuvers through traffic.

“Where are we going?” Mom whispers.

“The hotel. I’ll explain when we get there.”

Dad makes small talk with the driver, seeming interested in “this whole Uber thing he’s heard so much about”. The guy is so out of touch with the ninety-nine percent of the world who doesn’t have his kind of money.

When Dad asks him how he got into this line of work, the driver tells us it’s his second job and that his wife also has two jobs. They both work for their kids’ school district. His wife is a lunch lady and he substitute teaches as often as he gets called in for. His wife is trying to grow her online boutique.

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