Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 139147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
“Reunion with my estranged father,” I told him.
“Damn, you okay?” Otis inquired.
“Doesn’t she look okay?” Tex demanded. “She’s an Avenging Angel. It’ll take a lot more than shouting at someone in a fancy-ass restaurant to bring her down.”
Boy, the RCHB really did share the goss.
“Tex, loose lips,” Luna warned.
Otis looked confused.
“Right,” Tex mumbled (but it was still loud). What was definitely loud was when he handed off a paper cup to a waiting customer without sparing them a glance and boomed, “Next!”
Luna tugged me back to the main area.
When we got there, she repeated, “You okay?”
I nodded. “Processing through some stuff. But yeah. I’m okay.”
“We can get into it before we go to The Slide tonight,” she replied.
Oh yeah.
Right.
We were going to The Slide that night.
“Listen, sister,” she began. “After you kicked ass and took names with that Jinx biz, I think you got this shit down, and we should ask Jessie and Harlow to come with us.”
I considered this.
While I was doing it, she said, “It’s better cover. The two of us might look like we’re casing the place. The four of us makes it a party.”
She was right.
Still.
“They work until seven, and we need time to give them the lowdown then figure out some way to perform a blood pact so they don’t blab to anybody upon threat of voodoo magic claiming their firstborn.”
“Yeah. We’ll think on it.”
“Agreed.”
Byron, standing at the bar, asked, “Is anyone gonna serve me?”
Luna and I looked to him.
Then we got to work.
It was after the morning crush, but before the lunch crush, when Dream wandered in, laden with children.
I was clearing a table, Luna was behind the bar, and Dream made a beeline to Luna, so I did too.
I dumped the plates and cutlery in the busser tub, and Dream looked to me.
“I was too upset to say I was sorry to hear about your history, Raye.”
“Thanks, Dream,” I replied cautiously.
She turned to her sister.
I edged closer to Luna.
Dream launched in, her words saying good things, but they were still issued like a challenge.
“I asked Mom and Dad for my college/wedding fund. Since I didn’t go to college, and marriage is an anchor for women that weighs them down, so I’m never gonna do that, I’m gonna use that money to get my child care certification and take in a couple kids at my place.”
I hated to admit this, but this idea was genius, and if she could rearrange her tarot reading sessions, she’d be great at it.
Though, only my opinion, if she didn’t do the things her parents saved the money for, it didn’t mean it was her money. They’d saved it for her to do those things, and when she didn’t, again my opinion, it should revert back to them.
I didn’t share this opinion, however.
My phone vibrated in my apron.
Dream kept talking.
“And Dusk’s daddy is thrilled he’s got a son, and he wants him every other week, so I’m gonna lose my son half the time, so thank you for that.”
She said thank you, but she was not grateful.
And not-so-side note: that wasn’t at all Luna’s fault.
“The man’s his father, and it’s good he wants to be in his life, but I’m not sure why you’re up in my face about it,” Luna said.
“They didn’t dip into your college/wedding fund to look after me and the kids, so I don’t know what your beef is,” Dream retorted.
I edged even closer.
“You know what, I’m not gonna do this here,” Luna replied. “I work here, Dream. I can’t deal with your shit when I’m here. And it isn’t cool you show whenever you want to do whatever you have a mind to do. I have a phone. Call me. I work Monday through Friday, seven to four. In those times, I’m off limits. And I’m a busy girl, but we can set a time to sit down and chat.”
My phone buzzed again in my apron, reminding me of the text.
“Like you’re gonna spend time with me,” Dream returned.
“You’re my sister,” Luna pointed out. “If you have something to talk about, I’ll listen to you.”
“You think I’m a flake.”
“You are a flake,” Luna declared. “And whatever. Work it. I just don’t need you flaking all over me. I have my own life to handle. It’s called boundaries, Dream. My bad for letting you push through them. The thing you have to get is, I’m not going to let you do that anymore. That doesn’t make you any less my sister, and I care about you. But I can’t have you shitting all over my boundaries.”
They stared at each other.
I didn’t move.
They kept staring at each other.
I stayed put.
They continued staring at each other.
I loved Luna, but I wanted to know who’d texted me.
And anyway, someone had to help her defend her boundaries, and as her best bitch, that was my job.