Valerie and Rhonda both looked at her.
“What?”
“Where?”
“Ah…” Jeni’s mind raced to find a good reason to leave the house and said the first thing that came to mind. “I have a date.”
“A date?” her mother’s voice screeched from down the hall.
“Yeah.”
“You’re going on a date tonight? With us here and Andrew in the hospital?” Valerie frowned. “Surely this guy would understand if you asked for a raincheck.”
In for a penny, in for a pound. “Andrew insisted I go,” Jeni said, the lie slipping from her tongue surprisingly easily. “He knew how excited I was about it and said he’d be really disappointed if I cancelled on his account.”
Rhonda nodded sagely. “That sounds like our Andrew.”
“Yeah. So I’d better get going.” Jeni looked around for her purse.
Her mother returned. “Is that what you’re wearing?”
Jeni looked down at her jeans and long-sleeved T-shirt. “Oh. I guess not.”
She went to her room and grabbed the first date-acceptable top she could find, holding her breath to avoid inhaling the scent of the oil diffuser. She slipped into the bathroom and changed her shirt, smoothed her hair into a cleaner ponytail, and applied mascara.
She returned to the living room and picked up her keys. “I’ll be back later.”
“Hold on. You can’t take your car,” Rhonda said. “Mom needs it to go grocery shopping, and I need to take Andrew dinner later.”
Shit.
“This guy wasn’t going to pick you up?” Valerie asked.
“I…he…we were just going to meet there.” Jeni scrambled as she spoke. What was she supposed to do now? She was desperate to get out of here and could only think of one person to ask for help. “I’ll just text him and see if he can swing by on his way.”
Jeni’s hand paused over the screen of her phone. Was she really going to do this?
A desperate housewife began crying, and Rhonda cackled. Jeni’s fingers began moving of their own volition.
Jeni:You busy tonight? I need your help.