Page 10 of The Kiss Keeper
Extended family.
Oh, no!
Leslie and Lara’s stupid smug faces flashed in Nat’s mind.
Tera cringed. “Oh my, God! You must be thinking about your family.”
Nat waved her off. “Most of them are great.”
“But?” Tera threw out.
Natalie sighed. “But I have two cousins who I’ve never really gotten along with that are going to be there, too.”
Tera’s eyes went wide. “Wait! Are these the podiatrist sisters who each married a podiatrist? The ones where both the guys asked to see your feet before they married your cousins?”
Natalie cocked her head to the side. “How do you know about that?”
“Happy hour, like three months ago. You know, the one with the bottomless margaritas,” Tera replied.
Nat’s stomach was back in knots. “Oh, that’s right! And that’s why I barely drink. I’m a complete lightweight,” she replied, remembering the tequila haze, and the next morning spent nursing an epic hangover.
Tera grinned. “And you’re a huge drunk-talker! So, it’s true? You have to spend a week with your two evil podiatrist step-cousins and their creepy foot fetish husbands?”
Natalie sighed. “Sadly, they’re blood-related cousins, not step-cousins. And yes, they’ll all be there. At least, I don’t have to room with them like when we were kids at summer camp. My grandparents are putting us up in the individual rental cabins on the property.”
Tera glanced down at her feet. “I hope you’ve got several pairs of closed-toe shoes in that suitcase.”
Nat wiggled her exposed toes. “I’m way ahead of you. Besides those heels, these are the only sandals I’m bringing. I’ve got three pairs of closed-toe shoes in my suitcase. And I only plan on wearing sandals with a super-long maxi dress to keep my little piggies hidden away.”
The women broke into laughter as Nat did another piggy wiggle demonstration when a knock at the door startled them.
“Hey! The lime sherbet punch is almost gone! I wanted to make sure you got some, Miss Callahan,” came a friendly male voice.
Jack Leeman, the school’s golden-haired gym teacher, stood in her doorway, grinning at her like a puppy dog.
“Miss Callahanand I will be down in a second, Jack,” Tera answered, biting back a very un-puppy-doggish grin.
The man nodded and headed down the hall, like a golden retriever who’d gotten athat’s a good boypat on the head.
Tera came to her side. “You could always have Jack if things with Jake didn’t work out.”
“You’re terrible,” Natalie replied, setting her purse and art tote on the roller bag. She’d need to leave for the airport right after the faculty celebration.
“Well, he might be your type, too,” Tera said, her tone growing mischievous, as they headed toward the lounge. “When you look at all the letters in their names, Jack is pretty close to Jake. But Jack has a short vowelAsound while Jake has a nicelongvowel. Do you like your vowels like you like your Jakes, Miss Callahan? Hard and long?”
“Hard and long! Those are two excellent words to describe our Miss Callahan.”
The women gasped as the school’s principal, Mr. Lutz, poked his head out of the staff workroom.
Natalie stiffened—and not in the long and hard way, but the nervous and humiliated one.
She pasted on a smile. “Sorry, sir, we were just…”
“We were discussing long and short vowel lessons and how to incorporate art into teaching the concept,” Tera offered, swooping in.
“You both are always putting your students first,” the man replied, ushering them into the packed room.
“Thank you, Mr. Lutz,” Natalie said as Tera made a beeline for the punch bowl.
