“This is delicious, Mrs. Quinn.”
“I told you, we’re both Mrs. Quinn now. Call me Mom.”
“No offence, but I can’t do that. I already have a mom.”
“Skye then. For now. Forever if you prefer, I won’t be pushy. But if Mom starts to feel natural, or Grammy when that time comes… I’m okay with that.”
I swallow down a big sip of the punch.
“My offer to share information stands,” says Bailey while she reaches for the green grapes on the charcuterie board.
I lift a cracker and the knife so I can attack the sunflower seed coated cheese ball.
“He should be with whoever he was destined to be with before my aunt spent her fortune getting me and Ivy shapeshifters.”
“It may have been written in the stars that it turn out this way, though, Amelia,” Bailey says. “These things work mysteriously at times.”
“Mason said he’s going to see the witches today to see if they broke any rules,” I tell them. “You guys seem like nice people. But I don’t want a lesson on how to be an alpha wolf’s little lady. I don’t want to be a bitch and be rude to you: I’m sorry if I was standoffish the other day, Skye. But, I’ve had a really trying few days and I just want to get my head together and figure out how to move forward.”
Skye climbs up onto the stool beside me.
“Let us help,” Cicely invites, sitting on the bar stool on the other side of me and reaching for an apple slice. She dips it in a caramel spread in the corner of the board.
“Ooh, I need some of that,” I say after another sip of my punch, “This is all great, Skye.”
Skye smiles. “Enjoy. Eat up. Drink up. Let’s just have a girls’ day. No pressure.”
“Sounds good to me,” I breathe, popping the apple slice into my mouth.
“If you don’t wanna talk, don’t worry about it. But if you do want to talk out your issues with us…” Cicely says, “do it. Right now, we’re not your Arcana Falls welcome wagon. We’re new girlfriends, kickin’ back, having some beverages and snacks on a lovely sunshiney but brisk afternoon. Mind if I throw the fireplace on?”
“We can close the door, I just wanted to smell the spring. My place at home doesn’t have grass and I miss the early spring smell.”
Nope: Rick’s place isn’t my place anymore. I’m officially homeless. Wonderful.
I wish I’d rented out my condo instead of selling it and putting the money into investments. I hope they’re nothing that’s locked in because otherwise it’ll be a while before I can afford to put a down payment on anything what with my stupid new car payment and all the wedding debt.
“We’ll leave the door open and throw on the gas fireplace,” Cicely suggests, moving to the fireplace. “Mase makes big bucks. He can afford the heat bill.”
I snap out of my sudden money woes. I can move in with Mom for a while. I’ll sign on for extra overtime. I don’t have to fret about money right this minute. I have options. Choices. As soon as all this stuff I’m currently dealing with is over, it’ll be okay. Somehow. I sure could use some girl talk. But these three aren’t likely to be impartial.
“I’ll be your mother-in-law starting tomorrow. And I’ll take my mother-in-law hat off whenever you need me to. Go ahead. Shoot.”
I sigh. She seems to have the same mind-reading powers her son has. They all wait expectantly.
“Well…”
Each of them waits. I moisten my lips, then take a sip of my drink before speaking, “I’ve been dealing with a pending monster-in-law for months now. I could use a day without one.”
“I won’t be a monster-in-law!” she exclaims. “You’ll see. I’ll be like a big sister who you can have fun with, get drunk with, go to your problems with, and bonus: one who offers free babysitting when the time comes.” She takes a big sip of her drink.
Ugh.
“You’re still acting like Mase’s mom,” Bailey points out.
“Oops. Sorry.” She takes another mouthful of her drink. “This will help.”
And I almost laugh.
“Talk to us,” Bailey invites. “You don’t know us, but I promise, you can talk to us.”
“Well… where to start?” I sip my drink. “I was supposed to get married in less than two weeks and in the blink of an eye, that’s over. Not only that, but I was also already dealing with a motherlode of stress. My parents splitting up, Dad acting like an a-hole. Being overworked.”
“What do you do?” Cicely asks.
“I’m a nurse. Most of my shifts are in a hospital emergency room. Sometimes I work in the peds ward.”
“High-pressure,” Cicely says.
“Yeah. Twelve-hour shifts and run off my feet while planning a ridiculous huge wedding that I was turning into a gopher for and having almost no input into. Monster-in-law and nightmare drill-sergeant wedding planner. Fighting with my sister because I was just up to my eyeballs with stress and expecting her to understand that. Hating on my father. And realizing and yet ignoring that I was about to marry a man who had no sex drive and very little interest in anything but himself.”