Jose’s mom was a piece of work. Where I’d been blessed, she’d been cursed because Wylda Harrison was as self-centered as they came. The first time I’d heard her in action was on the day it had all gone down with Larry and Slutita. Being the rat-faced shit weasel that he was, Larry had called her to whine about what was happening as Rita attacked his pregnant wife, and the fact that he was going to be carless and homeless because of it. Then he’d whined that he couldn’t believe she’d called the police on him. Wylda had called Jose while the deputy was detaining them to give her a reaming and to demand Jose let him take stuff of value so that he wasn’t left with nothing. She’d even suggested that Jose move out and rent a place, ignoring the fact that my sister had been the one to pay for the house and everything they had because Larry was too busy trying to find his vocation in life. Finally, her last bit of advice was that he was feeling left out because she was having a baby, and that it would take him time to adjust to not having her full attention on him, so of course he’d try to find ways to get it.
Fortunately, the woman lived in Cabo with her latest boy toy, a twenty-one-year-old Mexican man she’d met while she was on vacation with her girlfriends. Rumor had it that the whole group had engaged in some nighttime sports, and that she’d decided she had nothing in the US so she would stay behind with him. The whole thing was faintly creepy in my mind, but to each their own. Fortunately, this meant that the chances of her turning up on Jose’s doorstep were slim seeing as how she would view it as an inconvenience. Having to deal face-to-face with the selfish big fat bitch tits was the last thing Jose needed right now.
One of the saddest things about the whole thing had been – not once had she asked if her only daughter was ok, or even taken an interest in her grandchild. The woman’s stupidity, ignorance, and selfishness had blown my mind, so I could only imagine how it had left Jose feeling.
“I know it’s not ideal being pregnant and getting divorced like this, but it might just end up being the best thing that could happen. You and the baby can have your life together without the Larry-weight that was holding you down. Do you think he’ll want to even be in the baby’s life?”
Shrugging, she winced and rubbed her side as she shifted positions in the recliner. She was about to reply when someone knocked on the door, almost making me drop the plate I was still holding.
And that was when I asked that age old really flipping stupid question. “Who’s that?”
Shooting me a look, she rolled her eyes and snorted, “If I could see through things, I’d be a rich woman. I’d probably also be scarred, but I’d have enough money to afford a team of the best therapists to get me through it.” When I just looked at her blankly, she burst out laughing. “Which means I don’t have a clue, so you’ll have to go and answer it if you want to find out.”
Sticking my tongue out at her, I pivoted on my heel and walked quietly over to the door. After how things had gone down since I’d been here, I think my trepidation about opening it was warranted. Scanning the door for the peephole to spy through, I almost growled when I didn’t see one. Who had a door without something like that?
“Pssst,” Jose whispered. “You can get one of those camera thingy’s that attach to your phone later. It’s better than a spy hole and you can check it from your bed. It also means that if you don’t want to answer to that person they can’t see the shadow that your feet make when you stand in front of the door when they kneel down to look under it. A bit like yours are doing right now.”
Glancing down, I saw that there was indeed a shadow from my feet because the sun was shining in through the window behind me. If the person on the other side right now decided to be really nosy, all they’d have to do is hunker down on the other side and they’d see it. Wasn’t that just freaking magic.
On this occasion, that wasn’t what happened. No, apparently instead of looking under the door, all they had to do was walk around to my back porch and knock on the door we’d left open. Which is what happened at that moment, scaring the shit out of both of us.
“Knock, knock,” a deep voice rumbled from behind us, making both of us jump and screech. Spinning around, I saw Sheriff Bell standing there looking amused at both of us, before settling his gaze on me. “I was passing by and thought I’d drop in to see how things were going with the unpacking,” he muttered, shifting to look at the boxes surrounding us. “See you’ve gotten some furniture too. Beats lying on the floor, right?”