Page 27 of My Anchor (Trio Series 1)

“Drop it !” Burning my tongue on the hot spinach and artichoke dip I drop the spoon I was using to sample the goods onto the floor.

“Damn Shane you scared the hell out of me!” I tell her bending down to grab my discarded fork then throwing it into the sink.

“I told you to stay away from it, you little shit, it’s too hot.” Well, ain't that the truth.

We are having a party tonight and Shana made her awesome dip along with a bunch of other things, potato salad, some kind of jello thing and the boys are coming over to grill meat or something. And by boys, I mean Lee, Rick, and Dez. Cristal has no idea Dez is going to be here but I ran into him the other day and asked him to come. It’s not a huge party just the six of us. Shana’s idea, I guess it’s her way of making me introduce Lee to her since Cristal has already met him.

“You ready for this? Any second thoughts?” Arranging the food once again on the counter she looks over at me with that I-dear-you-to-back-out look.

“Nope I'm ready, I can’t wait for you to meet him. And I also kind of invited someone else too.” I tell her with a smirk.

“Oh no, what did you do Linnie? I swear if you invited Alex I will kick your ass.” Oh, Alex, forgot about that little fiasco, should have asked him to come over, that would have been the cherry on top for sure.

Alex, age 24, ridiculously gorgeous and completely anti-commitment. While he and Shana were together, all of three months, he managed to stay faithful to her. Still wasn't good enough for Shana though I guess because she dumped him and said nothing else of it afterward no matter how many times I tried to pry it out of her. This was back home and I heard it through the grapevine he was living here now, I do believe miss diva chef also heard the rumor.

“Heard he was in town,is that true?” Goading her really isn't the best thing to do but I'm bored and well she did cause me to burn my tongue.

“Don't even start Linnie, I'm not in the mood to go down that road with you tonight. Just leave it be, we broke up, end of story. Leave. It.” She punctuates the ‘t’ a little too hard and a drop of spit lands on my nose, classy.

“Gross Shane say it don't spray it.” I laugh whipping my nose of her unwanted saliva. She just laughs and goes to pick up her phone that is now ringing out the Jaws music alerting us that it is her mother calling.

“Hello, mother.” She says answering her phone in a sing-song voice. I can slightly hear her mom on the other side of the phone but I do make out the words ‘disaster’ and ‘help’ oh great what tragedy has Rita cooked up this time.

“Mom you need to slow down” pause “well what am I supposed to do about it?” pause with more screeching on the other end “I have guests coming over tonight I can’t just” her mom interrupts with more screeching and for what seems like forever rattles on until Shana, like always, concedes. “I will be over there as soon as I can okay?” without even saying goodbye the line is dead and Shana has that damned defeated look on her face that only her mother can give to her.

“What does she want you to do now?” she just stands there for a minute unmoving then looks over at me. Putting on the damn it’s-all-good smile on her face.

“Some tragic thing with the damn wedding and something about Kyle, I don't know. She is freaking out I guess and wants me there for god knows what. So I guess the entertaining falls on you.”

“It’s all good do what you gotta do.” I lie to her. Her mom always has done this shit to her over and over again.

“Sorry we will have to do it again, I can’t wait to meet this Lee guy.” She tells me while grabbing her purse and car keys. “See you later Linnie.” I slightly catch the hint of tears in her eyes but don't say anything. She deals with things in her own way and when she gets home tonight she will vent it all out then it will be over. That’s just how she works.

“Love you,” I call out to the now shut door. Well, now I guess I can sample that dip without interruption this time.

Three hours later everyone is here, well everyone except Lee that is. I'm starting to get worried he is going to stand me up again. He is now almost three hours late and I haven't gotten a call or a text telling me he wasn't coming or would be late. I really don't think he would stand me up like this again. At least I hope not.

“I can’t freaking believe you invited him, Linnie,” Cristal says breaking me from my thoughts of Lee. When Dez came through the door he immediately locked eyes with Cristal and her to him. She quickly disappeared after that busying herself in the kitchen with the food while the guys went outside to set up the barbecue.

“Oh don't be so dramatic I saw the way you looked at him when he came through the door.”

“He has a girlfriend or something, I'm not interested in complicated or really anything at all. Besides, I know his type. He uses until he is bored then moves on to the next one and I don't want to be in that long line of women for him.” She huffs out.

“Well, you just got me pegged don't you little girl.” Dex’s roughed up accent comes from the side of the kitchen. Damn she has it coming now.

“She’s all yours Dezzy,” I tell him ignoring the look he gives my for the name and pat his shoulder. I walk out to the back yard. It is not big by any means but it’s very nice. There are privacy fences up for all the units and we all have a decent place to have a grill for all of our outdoor cooking. Which we never ever do, but for some reason or another Shana decided that we needed a grill. This will be the first time it gets used.

“How is everything?” I ask Rick who is attempting to set up the grill. He has been at it since he got here, on time I might add.

“Fine, I guess. This really isn't my strong suit, setting things up, hell I might just end up blowing us all to smithereens. Haven't ever used a propane grill before.”

“Have you even used a charcoal grill before?” I ask him skeptically.

“Well… no. Where did Dez go? I asked him to get a wrench or something.” Laughing loudly I squat down next to him and try to assert my professional opinion.

“I really couldn't tell you if we have a wrench or something, and he is in there telling Cris what’s what and hopefully getting through to her.” This makes him laugh.

“You playing matchmaker Linnie?” I just smile and cock my head to the side. “Damn meddler, you are, you know that?”

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