“What time?”
“It starts at seven,” she said, contemplating inviting his cousins since the kids seemed to be getting along.
Not that Mikey actually wanted to go to the fair tonight since there was a game on. Mikey was determined to stay home and watch the game and Kasey was determined to remind her daughter that there was more to life than baseball. Mikey would fight her tooth and nail, but in the end she would drag Mikey to the fair and she would have a great time.
It was just a matter of dragging Mikey out of the house before she had a chance to lock herself in the bathroom with her iPad and the stash of drinks and snacks that Mikey didn’t think she knew about. It had taken some time and a lot of failed attempts, but now Kasey had this down to a science. Mikey would try to run, hide, outright beg, throw in a few tears, make promises that she never planned on keeping, use embarrassing flattery, and say and do whatever it took to stay home and watch the game, but in the end, Kasey would prevail. Mikey would be at the fair tonight even if she had to drag her there, kicking and-
“I’ll pick you up at seven,” came the sudden announcement, breaking into her inner musings.
“I’m sorry, what?” she asked, too late.
They’d arrived home and Reese was already out of the truck and walking around to her side before she managed to get the words out. Steeling herself for one last encounter with him today, she slowly exhaled, nodded to herself because she was an idiot, and climbed out of the truck, ready to talk her way out of this.
“I’m-” she started to say in a reasonable voice even as she ignored the urge to run away only to get cut off by the man that had absolutely no idea how badly she was struggling not to freak out right now.
“We can grab a bite afterwards if you want,” he said, not asked, she’d like to point out.
“That’s really not-”
“Or before,” he said, shrugging as he placed his hand on her back and gave her no choice but to walk the short distance to her front door with him. “Whatever you want is fine with me.”
“That’s nice of you, but-”
“Don’t get mad!” Eric, whom she’d liked to point out was supposed to be on his way to work at this very moment, said, as he stumbled out of the house, soaked to the bone, covered in white dust, odd fragments that appeared to contain hair of some sort, bits of wood, and pieces of wet newspaper.
“What the hell happened?” she asked, momentarily forgetting the man standing next to her and focused on Eric, who was standing there, licking his lips nervously and shifting anxiously as he said, “It’s not that bad.”
“What’s not that bad?” she asked, eyes narrowing on him as she noted the tool belt that hung around his hips with the price tag still attached to it, the condition of his clothes, that guilty expression on his face that reminded her so much of his brother, and cursed under her breath as she shoved past him.
Before she reached the kitchen, Mikey was standing there, holding up two filthy hands and trying to pull off a smile as she said, “It’s really not that bad, mom.”
Whatever was in her expression had Mikey quickly losing that smile, clearing her throat, nodding with a mumbled, “Alright then,” before taking off running towards the safety of her bedroom.
Telling herself that Eric and Mikey couldn’t have possibly done that much damage in the five-minute head start that they’d had on her, she slowly blew out a breath, started towards the kitchen when an odd squishy sound accompanied the one and only step she’d taken towards the kitchen. Looking down, she watched as water pooled around her feet only to disappear seconds later into the thick rug that she definitely needed to replace now.
A pathetic groan escaped her that came off more as a whimper as she followed that flow of water into the kitchen, splashing water the entire way until she found herself standing in a puddle of water, feeling absolutely numb as she took in the scene before her.
Five minutes…
That’s all it took, she thought as she slowly took in the scene before her and shook her head, trying to make sense out of what she was seeing. The kitchen was flooded, water was shooting out of what was left of the wall to her left, chunks of horsehair plaster were everywhere, pieces of newspaper were floating past her, there was a huge hole in her wall, and a sledgehammer that she’d never seen before was lodged in the “pantry” door.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d stood there, staring at that sledgehammer, or when she’d tackled Eric to the ground and tried to make him eat that tool belt, but as Reese and Jason tried to drag her off him, she realized something very important, after this she wouldn’t have to worry about trying to come up with an excuse to get out of going tonight.
Chapter 16
“What? No! I can’t go!” Kasey screamed somewhat hysterically later that night when all her well-laid plans were ruined and she found herself trying to smother Sara with a pillow.
In self-defense, of course.
“Let go!” Sara demanded, sounding out of breath as she tore the pillow out of Kasey’s hands and turned the tables on her.
“I’m not going!” Kasey said, rolling over in a desperate attempt to escape the mad woman.
“Yes,” pant, “you,” groan, “are!” Sara bit out as she grabbed hold of Kasey’s ankle and -
“Oh, crap!” Kasey gasped when she suddenly found herself pulled back into the middle of the bed, shoved onto her back and a demented woman pinning her to the bed.
“You’re going!”
“Hell no!” Kasey yelled, trying to wiggle her way to freedom, but unfortunately for her, Sara was a lot heavier than she looked.
“You’re,” grunt, “going!” she said through clenched teeth as Kasey did her best to throw the larger woman off her.
“Oh, my God! I’m naked,” she reminded her best friend, hoping to buy herself a little time.
“You’re wearing pajamas!” Sara shot back, accusingly.
“Same thing!”
“No, it’s not!”
“I still need to get dressed!”
“You can do that in the car,” Sara snapped, adjusting her hold and-
“What are you doing?” Eric asked, as he climbed onto her bed and sat back, grabbing the remote and not really looking like he cared that they were beating the shit out of each other as he sat there, scrolling through channels and taking a bite out of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich that he’d been forced to make since her kitchen was now out of commission.
“She’s trying to get out of going,” Sara said tightly as Kasey continued to struggle.
“I’m not going!”
“Yes, you are!”
“Why do we care if she goes?” Eric asked around another bite, sounding bored.
“Because!” Sara snapped as though that said it all, which in her mind it probably did, but since she’d clearly lost her goddamn mind that wasn’t saying much at all.
“I’m tired and I just want to go to bed,” she groaned, which was sadly true.
From the moment they’d managed to drag her off Eric, they’d been working non-stop, trying to clean up the mess until about a half hour ago when their wives had forced them to call it a night. She still wasn’t sure how they’d managed to get it done so quickly, but within the hour they’d had the water shut off, a large dumpster delivered, and a permit to cover the damages that needed to be fixed.
After Eric had fled for his own safety they’d quickly decided that there was no point in trying to save the rug. So, Trevor and Jason had moved her furniture into the garage and had torn up the ruined rug, rolled it up and threw it in the dumpster while Reese had worked on fixing the damaged pipes. Once the rug was out, she took over the job of pulling up the old padding and carrying it out to the dumpster while the guys were forced to tear out all the cabinets on the damaged wall so that they could replace the pipe that Eric had destroyed.
Except for the meal breaks they’d taken, and she’d honestly never met anyone who devoured as much food as they did, the
y’d worked nonstop until the pipes were fixed while she’d worked with Mikey on pulling all the staples out of the living room floor. When their wives came over and announced that it was time for dinner, she’d nearly wept with joy.
That is until Reese had reminded her that they had plans. Well, they were really his plans since she planned on curling up in her bed with a bottle of Advil. Every muscle hurt, which made her wonder what kind of sick bastard would even suggest going out tonight? Clearly the man had issues, but that was something that he needed to work out with his therapist, because she had her own issues to work out, the biggest one being the psychotic bitch trying to force her to leave the confines of her bed.
“You need to go!”
“Why do you care if she goes?” Eric asked, shoving the last bite in his mouth as Kasey finally managed to free herself.
“Because she needs to go!”
“Why?” Eric asked, looking incredibly confused.