Frayed Silk(57)

“Is not,” Greta says.

“Is too,” he says.

“Well, your stupid robot is, is, is … is hideous,” she stammers out triumphantly.

I’m going to need more coffee. Turning into the school driveway, I park as Charlie says, “It’s supposed to be. It’s a robot, dummy.”

“Hey!” I turn around, frowning at him. “Not cool.”

He has the good grace to look a little sheepish.

“All right, let’s go.” I jump out and grab their bags, making sure to grab the damn Furby out of Greta’s before she runs off.

Lola laughs, walking over to me. “Oh, shit. You’ve been initiated into the, ‘help, this thing won’t shut up’ Furby club, have you?” She takes it from me, tickling its belly and making the damn thing giggle evilly.

“Shush you. Sophie has one too?”

She nods gravely, handing it back over. “Yep, I took the batteries out a month after Christmas. She hasn’t noticed yet, thankfully.”

That gives me hope. Grinning, I turn around to open the door and place it in Greta’s car seat. I close the door and lean against it, watching the kids run into the school as the bell sounds. She leans in next to me. “Have you spoken to Jared?” she asks quietly.

The smile wilts off my face at the thought of him. Remembering that I still need to see him, to talk to him in person. I hope he shows up tomorrow even if I know Leo might lose his shit. I can’t leave things how they were on the phone on Friday. He doesn’t deserve some bullshit, half-assed explanation over the phone.

“Not yet.” I sigh. “I’m going into the shelter tomorrow. I’m planning on talking to Glenda about taking some time away. At least until Jared’s finished doing his hours.”

She scuffs some rocks below her Converse shoes. “You’re going to see him then?”

“I have to,” I tell her.

I look over to find her brows furrowing over her sunglasses. “But at what risk? Won’t Leo lose his ever-loving mind?” she whispers.

Probably, but I feel stuck about this. “I don’t want to upset him; it’s the last thing I want to do. Not when things look like they’re finally going to work out for us.” I chew on my lip for a beat. “But I need to talk to Jared in person. What I’ve done is pretty shitty on all counts.”

“I get it. But you know Leo’s probably not going to be happy about it, at all,” she warns.

That’s what I’m afraid of. “I won’t lie to him. If he asks, I’ll tell him. But otherwise … I’m just worried it’ll cause unnecessary drama by letting him know that I want to say goodbye to the guy who was there for me when he wasn’t.”

She sighs. “Alrighty, then. So.” She claps her hands. “Let’s go kick some ass.” She turns and climbs into my car.

Kick some ass? “Wait, what?”

She rolls her eyes. “She who shall not be named. Come on; I have an appointment with my gynecologist at twelve thirty, so we can’t take all day.” She closes the door.

Um. “What do you mean? Yeah, I’d like to inflict some bodily harm, but I don’t know if I can even stomach seeing her yet,” I say as I climb behind the wheel.

“I’ll stomach it for the both of us. Let’s roll.”

Feeling worried, I turn the ignition over, and we leave her Mazda behind as we drive away from the school.

On the way, my gut starts to churn as I think of all the times I hung out with Fiona. The times we had coffee, went shopping, had play dates and dinner parties. Then recently, cleaning her house. Trying to help her after her husband found out her dirty secret and left her. Left her because of what she did to my husband and God knows who else.

I start deep breathing as we turn onto her street. I don’t know if I can do this. If I can even face her after what she’s done—the lives she’s almost ruined. Parking in front of her massive house, I turn to Lola, who’s been surprisingly quiet.

“Oh, hell.” I look out the window to her house. Her perfect fucking house and perfect fucking gardens with her perfect lies hidden behind it all. “What are we even doing here?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know, but we need to do something. Let’s just go yell at her, maybe punch her in the vagina really good.”

I blanch. “Seriously? Let’s just go. Looking at those stupid ass lions is even making me sick.”

She grabs my hand as I’m about to turn the ignition back over. “If that were my husband, she’d be in unrecognizable pieces and buried in my backyard. And I’d sit there and have tea on my back porch every morning, staring at her final resting place, just hoping she was burning in hell.”

My throat bobs. “O-kay … that’s a little terrifying,” I whisper.

“She’s a crazy fucking bitch!” she almost yells. “You were her friend.”

“I know,” I say quietly.

She points at me. “You were there for her.”

“I know,” I say a little louder.

Her eyes take on a scary shade of blue as she growls quietly, “You gave her your favorite chocolate just last week, for Christ’s sake!”

“I know!” I yell then shake my head. “Okay, wait, Lola. Focus.”