The Accomplice(75)

“I warned you,” Luna mumbled as she and Griff entered the overheated house.

The smell hit them both hard—a musty odor that overpowered everything. Griff tried to make polite sense of it, not understanding that it was the natural odor of ferret. He thought that it might have been a combo of mold and something in the oven with the distinct aroma of game.

The couple followed Belinda down a long hallway, flanked by closed doors and walls adorned with a few family and mostly ferret pictures. Griff studied every photo with humans, searching for young Luna. He couldn’t find her in any of them. At the end of the hall was the kitchen and living room. A lanky man in a ruffled apron hovered over the stove. He turned around to greet his guests. He had a thick helmet of brown hair speckled with gray.

“Beau, this is my daughter, Luna, and her friend Griff,” Belinda said, adding a wink to the friend reference.

Beau looked at Luna and extended his hand. “Luna, nice to finally meet you.”

“Yes. Nice to meet you,” Luna said.

Then Beau and Griff shook hands. After one forced smile and two handshakes, Beau returned his attention to the stove. Griff thought that a guy in a frilly apron would be friendlier than he was. Four adults and two ferrets crammed into the small kitchen got awkward fast. Griff asked Beau what he was making. Cranberry sauce, Beau said. Griff asked for the recipe, because he couldn’t think of anything better to say.

“Sugar, water, cranberries. They print it on the bag. It’s not rocket science,” Beau said.

Griff would always remember those words.

“Are you ready to meet the rest of the family?” Belinda asked Luna.

“Sure,” Luna said, because it was inevitable.

Belinda walked back to the front of the house, indicating that Luna and Griff should follow. She opened one of the closed doors. Inside were at least six more ferrets, all of them in seasonal costumes. Griff counted two Santas, two elves, a snowman, and a tree. The odor that Griff first noticed when he walked in the door had become an unmitigated stench.

As Belinda rattled off the names of the costumed ferrets—Oberon, Titania, Demetrius, Puck—Luna began to wheeze.

“Oh dear,” Belinda said. “I was afraid of this.”

“I’m going to step outside and get some air,” Luna said.

Luna raced out of the house like it was a burning building, drinking in clean, ferret-free oxygen. She reached for her inhaler and sucked down the medicine. Griff had taken out the EpiPen, waited for Luna to give him a sign. She held up her hand to hold him off.

“You okay?” Griff said.

Luna nodded. Her breathing improved. She took another hit on the inhaler. She and her mother exchanged a glance. Luna shook her head slightly. Belinda nodded her understanding and went back into the house. When she reemerged, Belinda was ferret-free.

“Sorry, honey,” Belinda said. “I thought you might have outgrown it. I was allergic to cats when I was a kid.”

“It’s okay, Mom. Good to see you. Good meeting Beau.”

“It’s so good to see you,” Belinda said.

No one said anything for a while. Griff and Belinda watched Luna breathe.

Then Belinda said, “Are you happy?”

Mother and daughter were standing three feet apart.

“Yes,” Luna said. “You?”

“Very. You want to try coming back tomorrow?” Belinda asked. “I could do some vacuuming and maybe if you only stayed in the living room…We rarely let the kids in there.”

“Better not,” Luna said.

“Okay. I understand,” Belinda said, relieved.

“We could meet somewhere,” Griff said. “There’s usually a few Chinese restaurants open.”

Both women ignored Griff’s suggestion.

“We gotta go, Mom.”

Belinda took a hesitant step closer to Luna, like she was about to hug her. Griff couldn’t figure out whether it was for show or not.

“I would hug you, but I don’t want to make it worse,” Belinda said.

“It’s okay,” Luna said.

“Well, I just feel terrible,” said Belinda.

“Don’t, Mom. We’re going to Niagara Falls tomorrow.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful. That’s wonderful. Have you been, Griff?”

“No,” he said.

“You will love it.”

They all stood there smiling and cringing inside. Belinda’s body slowly turned back toward her house, as if by gravitational pull.

“You should probably go back in and help Beau with…” Luna said, giving her mother an out.

“Yes,” Belinda said. “Thanks for making the drive. Nice meeting you, Griff.”

“Uh-huh,” Griff said.

He was so stunned by the turn of events that he couldn’t summon his usual pleasantries.

“Love you, Mom,” Luna said. Her voice cracked just a bit, but she recovered. “See you soon.”

“Yes, dear,” Belinda said. “See you soon.”

Griff drove while Luna drank his bourbon and hung her head out the window, trying to clear the ferret dander from her respiratory system. They stopped at the first chain motel they could find. Luna jumped out of the car and raced to the motel office so she could pay for the room before Griff staked his claim on the bill. Griff unloaded the car, because Luna’s breathing was still heavy. She’d packed two suitcases, which had seemed odd when he loaded the car, even odder at the moment.