Page 94 of The Matchmaker Club
Charlie looked over at my grandmother, who was smiling at him. “It’s just…ah… been a long time.”
My grandmother giggled and looked over at her guests. “Well, my friends, as Bette Davis once said.Buckle your seatbelts. It’s gonna be a bumpy night.”
My heart did a freefall into my stomach.
I got up and walked over to Lucas and whispered in his ear. “Meet in the kitchen.”
I poured myself a glass of wine and took a long sip.
“Well,thisshould get interesting.”
I let out a sarcastic laugh and took another gulp before setting the glass down on the counter. “Oh, it will. So, um, we will have babysitting duty.”
“What do we do?”
I rubbed at my eyes. “First, collect all the car keys. No one drives. We’ll just have a movie marathon. That should keep them occupied for a while.”
He rubbed out the tension in my shoulder. “Hey, we can do this.”
“Yeah. It will be fine. They’ll ride it out. No problem.” I grabbed my wine. “There’s just six of them we have to watch.”
* * *
The movie idea was a complete failure. None of them could sit still. They wanted to be outside. Before we knew it, Javier and my grandmother disappeared. Lucas said he’d keep an eye on the others while I looked for them in the house.
The sound of laughter and giggles echoed from the parlor. Javier and my grandmother were sitting on the floor against the sofa with boxes full ofWeekly World Newsbetween them and papers scattered around the floor.
My grandmother picked up one of the tabloids from the box. “Oh, this is a really good one.” She snickered through her nose and handed it to him.
Javier picked it up and squinted his eyes as he read. “Severed Leg Hops To Hospital.” They both burst out laughing, and Javier continued through spurts of giggles. “Accident victim’s runaway limb is reattached in seven-hour operation.” They leaned into each other laughing hysterically.
Oh. My. Gawd.
“How are you guys feeling?” I asked. “Want to play a game or something?”
Javier looked up at me, his face brightening. “Heeeeey, you.”
“Hey to you too.”
He held up a paper. “Did you know a surgeon cut off this lady’s head and sewed it back on?” He rolled his head back and laughed.
My grandmother hit him on the arm. “Stop, I’m about to bust a gut.”
Headlights beamed into the parlor window. I peeked out to see a man climbing out and pulling up his belt higher around his waist.
Shit. Frank!
“Adam & Ed. Gay Couple Were First Humans,” my grandmother said.
Javier grabbed the paper. “I knew it!”
“You guys, stop! Frank is here.”
“What?”
I widened my eyes at her. “Cop. Frank. Here. Now.”
“Tell him to get lost.” My grandmother went back to digging through her box.
