Page 34 of After 5

White shards of ceramic sprinkled across the floor, and the back door stood open. I moved toward the open door and kicked something. The empty can of whipped cream rolled across the tile. I bent over and picked up the can, sat down at the table, and cried.

Chapter 6

“Jen! Jen! Wake up!” A frantic voice called out to me.

I blinked my eyes open. A fuzzy image blocked my line of vision. A face. Someone had her face in front of mine.

“Ma?” I asked.

“No, it’s me, Gertie.”

I blinked again, and Gertie’s freckles became clearer. A look of relief crossed her face when I lifted my head off the table. She was kneeling next to me.

Brodie stood behind her staring down at me.

“What in the bejeesus happened to you?” she asked me.

“Thwat do you mean?” My heavy, fat tongue caused my words to slur.

Gertie snapped orders at Brodie. “Wet a cloth with cold water.” Gertie helped me sit upright, then something wet and cold smacked me across the face.

“I thook medidine,” I explained as she wiped the cold cloth over my face.

“And then what? Decided to face plant into the cheesecake?” Brodie asked.

I looked down. There was a perfect outline of my face in the center of the cheesecake. Sometime after Caiyan left, I opened the cake. Then I remembered what happened, and the tears stung my eyes.

“Caiyan thopped by.”

“He did?” Gertie asked.

“That explains the whipped cream,” Brodie chuckled.

Gertie gave him the stink eye, and he stopped laughing. Brodie thrust a glass of water at me, and after I took a long drink my tongue moved freely.

“He has to marry Mahlia,” I said, and the waterworks turned on again.

Gertie shot Brodie a concerned glance.

Brodie shrugged. “He hasn’t been communicating with me.”

I set the water glass down on the table, sniffed, and blew my nose into the washrag. “Why does he have to marry the bitch from hell?”

“Yeah,” Gertie said. “Why would he do that?”

We both looked at Brodie.

“Like I said, the bloke hasn’t kept me in the loop on this one, but I do know one thing. If the dingoes are playing hardball, he’d agree, but wouldn’t go through with it.” He paused. “Unless it was important.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” I dropped my face into the washrag and wished I could wash away the heartache.

* * *

“Your ma called,”Gertie stuck her head in my bedroom. “She’s coming over with a surprise.”

The sun streamed in through the French door in my room.

“What time is it?”

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