Page 17 of Lonely Hearts Day
I narrowed my eyes, retrieving the blue shirt from the chair and taking it off its hanger. “Yeah, I don’t like that saying. I like the one that goesrevenge is best served cold. It’s been four years. I think it’s cold enough.”
“Remind me not to ever get on your bad side. You can hold a grudge.”
Icouldhold a grudge. Especially when it came to someone hurting my friends. That, I rarely let go of. “Get out of here, I need to change.”
He walked toward the door.
“Hey Jack?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t get on my bad side.”
He picked a scrunchie up off my dresser and flung it at my head as he left my room, heading for the basement.
Chapter 7
I walked down the hall after changing, heading back to the kitchen where I was going to retrieve the last of the snacks to take downstairs, when I heard loud voices in my parents’ room. I stopped and listened for a moment.
“This weekend is not a good one,” Mom said.
“We’re all going to be here,” Evelyn replied.
A tugging started in my chest, and I figured it was because I felt bad about eavesdropping. I knocked on the door and the voices stopped.
“Come in,” Mom said.
The door opened with a loud whine. “Hi,” I said.
My mom was in jeans and a t-shirt, her hair up in a messy bun.
I glanced from my sister to my mom. “Everything okay?”
“It’s fine,” Mom said. “You all ready?”
“Almost,” I returned. “You’re not, though.”
She seemed confused. “Do you need help?”
“No, aren’t you going to get ready to go out? For Valentine’s Day,” I added when she still wasn’t following. She and my dad always went out for Valentine’s Day.
“Oh,” she said. “No, Evelyn is in town.”
Evelyn huffed like she didn’t like that my mom wasn’t going out because of her.
“Plus, you’re having a party. It seems like there might be more kids this year. I felt like we should be here. Be responsible parents and all that.”
This time I huffed. I didn’t like that my mom was using me as an excuse either.
“We can go out next weekend,” she assured me. “It’s not a big deal.”
Evelyn crossed her arms. Maybe that’s what they’d been arguing about. Evelyn had this under control. I needed to finish up. People would start arriving any minute.
It was like my thoughts conjured the first arrival because there was a knock at the door as I came into the living room. Sage was standing on the porch when I answered. “Oh, hey, want to help me carry some food downstairs?” I asked.
“For sure.” She came inside and shed her thick jacket, hanging it on one of the hooks just inside the door. “It looks like it’s going to snow again.”
I stuck my head out the door, peering at the sky. The air bit at my cheeks and made my eyes cold. It smelled like snow, that smoky sharp smell. I shut the door while she stepped out of her boots, shoving them under the long bench against the wall.