Page 19 of Hunter's Revenge

“But that’s completely not me. I just hope he leaves town soon.”

She rolls her eyes at me. “That man is not leaving anytime soon. If he were, he would have rented a hotel room not a beach house. Plus, I hear he has a brother staying with him who is equally hot. So, the way I see it, there’s one guy for you and one for me.”

She’s driving me crazy.

“Thereyou are,” comes a haggard drawl from behind me that sounds like a bad version of Blanche Dubois from a Streetcar Named Desire.

I don’t have to turn my head to know it’s Marybeth.

She stomps up to the table, wrinkles her already wrinkled face at me, and sets her hands on her bony hips.

When I was little, I thought she looked a lot like Olive Oyl fromPopeye. I still think so. Not only does Marybeth have the same hairstyle, she wears similar clothes, too. The only difference is she has the temperament of a witch from hell.

“Can I help you, Marybeth?” I put on my best business voice and act like I don’t know this is part two of my chew-out session. This is one of the wonderful joys of living in a town with people who knew you as a child. They always see you as one.

“I heard about how you embarrassed yourself last night. I didn’t think you could sink any lower, but you proved me wrong.”

Since Grams went to the nursing home, Marybeth has taken every opportunity to criticize me. She’s the kind of person who will kick you right into an early grave and carry extra dirt in her purse to ensure you’re buried properly.

“I already apologized to Duke. And I am sorry for the way I behaved.”

“Your sorry means nothing to me. Who the hell thinks it’s okay to strip practically naked and dance on the counter of a bar, then ask men for sex when their ex was murdered a week ago?” Her eyes blaze, and Dru’s widens even more.

I never told my friend about those parts of my evening.

“Everyone has their ways of dealing with grief.” I know that sounds lame, but what can I say if she won’t accept my apology?

Besides, if she truly knew everything that was going on with me, I doubt she would care.

All she would say is ‘like mother, like daughter’ because Mom attracted trouble, too.

“Just don’t run your grandmother’s business into the ground,” she adds in a high-pitched voice. “God bless Leila. She deserves so much more than you and your no-good mother. At least your mother did her dirty things in secret. You are a public mess.”

“Hey! Watch it, lady,” Dru cuts in, sharper than a razor blade, always ready to defend me.

“I will watch nothing.” Marybeth switches her gaze from Dru to me. “Last night, you didn’t just embarrass yourself, you embarrassed your grandmother, too. You couldn’t even get yourself home. What a complete disgrace you are.”

I would defend myself if I had the strength. And if I didn’t see that on this occasion, Marybeth is right. That’s why I say nothing when she shoots Dru and me the dirtiest look she can muster before she marches back the way she stormed in.

Marybeth might be a bitch, but she talks a lot of hard truths people don’t want to hear sometimes.

My skin feels hot again. This time from shame.

I have become a pathetic public mess, and I need to fix it somehow.

I need to fix me.

It’s just that I feel as if I can’t breathe until this mess with Conrad is over. Everything is too uncertain.

I never saw this shit with him coming any more than I did Gage being a fraud.

“Don’t take any notice of her.” Dru reaches across the table and taps my knuckles.

“Dru, please. She’s right.” I dip my head, and my shoulders sag with the weight of my worries. “I was a real mess last night. The bank turned me down, and I’d had enough. I just needed something to help me deal with whatever was going to happen next, which I still don’t know.”

“Keep your fingers crossed for the loan.”

“What if I don’t get it?”

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