Page 48 of Small Town Beast 2: Saverin's Duet

“You called Francine? You had no right.” Lorrie stuffed the jacket in the dryer with some force. “Her eyes stay poppin’ out of her head every time you walk in. How do you have her phone number?” she demanded jealously.

“It’s on the internet, Lorraine.”

“Well– I don’t want you messing with my work. It makes me look unprofessional.”

“It’s a hair salon, not the goddamned United Nations.”

“I guess I should be more like your crackhead wife, huh? What does she do for a living again?”

“I told you to stay in that cabin for a reason. There’s too much going on right now and I won’t have you— are you listening to me?”

“Nope.”

“Turn your location on.”

“No.”

“Lorraine I swear to Christ—”

The dryer now bumping along, Lorrie darted through the kitchen and stepped outside before hissing, “I’m with family right now. I’m probably gonna sleep here tonight, so save your breath trying to get me back there.”

“Family. Your Aunt Pearl’s?” he worked out quickly.

Crap.“No,” she lied.

“PEARL!” shouted Uncle Julius from inside. “I’M GONNA HEAD TO THE STORE IN A MINUTE.”

“GET TOMATOES, BABY,” Aunt Pearl hollered back. “AND SOME MORE PEROXIDE.”

“Bet,” said Absalom. Lorrie hung up the phone. That man had all the nerve. If he really did turn up here she was going to wring him out.

“Lorraine, are you outside, baby? Do you need anything from the store?”

“I’m alright Aunt Pearl, thank you.”

“Then come in and talk to us for a minute.”

No more delaying it.She braced herself and went back into the house where her aunt began barraging her with questions about where she was living and if she was seeing anybody and if she still went to church.

Twenty minutes later when the doorbell rang, Lorrie was almost grateful.

“I’m on it,” Uncle Julius wheezed, rising off the chair.

“Don’t keep ‘em waiting in the cold, Julius.”

“They won’t freeze to death for thirty seconds, Pearl.” Before running his errand Lorrie’s uncle had decided to sit and have a coke, and he’d been caught up in Lorrie’s somewhat fabricated tale about camping in the woods the night before.

RIIING.

Uncle Julius checked his watch. “Shoot, I better go to the grocery. What do you think, ladies? Tomatoes, Peroxide…Need some Newports, too.”

“Lorraine, tell your Uncle he needs to stop smoking.”

“It’s bad for you, Uncle Julius.” Lorrie swallowed. “Who’s at the door?”

“Probably that damned Eleanora Mabel. I can’t have my cigarettes but your aunt will bring that woman around every other day to raise my pressure.”

Now the person was knocking. “Were you expecting somebody, Pearl?” Uncle Julius frowned.

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