Page 44 of Love vs The Ooze Monster!
“Our place.”
Hazel eyes flicked his way and she smiled. “Use my car to take it all back toourplace.” She corrected.
He grunted with satisfaction. “I didn’t even know you had a car.”
“I told you, I inherited everything of Lew’s. Most of it got sold to finance my takeover of Volstead, like he wanted. But Lewlovedhis cars. And trucks. He collected every kind of vehicle you can imagine. I have the rest of them in a storage place, but the Rolls was his favorite. I just couldn’t bring myself to lock it away.”
Boyd’s eyes widened. “You have Lew’s Rolls Royce? Here?”
“Yes, of course. It’s in the garage out back. It’s made for a chauffeur, but Lew liked to drive it himself. I don’t. It’s so big, I just leave it safely parked.”
“I’ll drive it.” He volunteered swiftly.
Mabel blinked over at him. “You will?”
“Yes! Absolutely. That car is a thing of beauty.”
She shrugged, like his excitement baffled her. “You can have it, if you’d like. Lew would be thrilled to see that monstrosity going to someone who appreciated it.”
The day was just rolling hard sixes for Boyd Cassiday!
“Doll, you are the best partner in the world.” He told her with great feeling and headed for the backdoor. “I’m going to bring the car around, right now. I can’t wait.”
“Oh for goodness sake…” She followed him out into the garden. “You really are just like Lew, at times.”
Boyd took that as a compliment. “We’ll load up my amazing new Silver Ghost and get the hell outta here, before Mrs. Patten comes back. Then, we’ll go home and plot how to douse the monster in vinegar and baking soda. Then, at promptly eleven o’clock, we’re having sex.That’sthe new schedule.”
“Since when do you care so much about schedules?”
“Since they get me Rolls Royces and sex.” He headed down the pathway of neatly tended flowerbeds. “Hey, how do you feel about having sexinthe Rolls Royce? We’ll combine my true passions into one heady experience.”
Mabel rolled her eyes. “Can we please focus more on the ooze creature and less on the…” She trailed off, her gaze on the garden. “Boyd?”
“Yeah?”
“These flowers are orange.”
He quickly backtracked to stare down at the plant she was pointing at. It was a creepy looking bush, with inverted blossoms hanging from some of the branches. Wispy tendrils trailed down from their trumpet-y openings, giving the orange flowers the appearance of jellyfish.
“Last night, Sylvester picked a flower up off the floor of the funeral home and put it in his lapel. You remember?”
“Your step-cousin’s fashion choices don’t really stick out in my mind.”
“Well, he did. And it was orange. Just like these.” Her lips firmed. “This must be what Norris spiked his moonshine with.”
He glanced her way. “Any idea what it is?”
“No.” Mabel watched the bush, as if it might spring at them like a stalking leopard. “All the plants out here are supposed to be edible, though. Mrs. Patten uses them for her noxious teas. Norris must not have realized that this one was quite so dangerous.”
“Maybe it only monsterfies people when it’s mixed with formaldehyde.”
“Well, whatever happened, we need to destroy these flowers before it happens, again. One gooey, orange beast is quite enough.”
“Vinegar and baking soda?” He suggested.
“Just what I was thinking. There’s a bit of it, in the kitchen.” She turned on her heel and headed back into the house. “We don’t need much to kill one damn plant.”
It was just adorable when she cursed.
