Page 35 of Excitable Boy
Chapter Ten
Tony’s sneakers were still wet the next morning, so he threw them into a plastic bag and wore the flip-flops he’d tucked into the suitcase just in case. They checked out of the hotel and took an Uber to the rental car place.
All they had available for a one-way rental was an older vehicle that had seen better days, a four-door Chevy that looked like it’d been used for a backyard driving range target.
“Hail damage,” the clerk told them. “They want it down in Florida to send to an auction there. We can give you ten dollars off the regular rate.”
“Does the AC work?” Tony asked.
“I think so.”
“Sold,” Tony wearily said as he slapped his bank card down.
The clerk took it, then looked uncomfortable after swiping it. “Um, I’m sorry, but this card’s been decl—”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Tony muttered even as Shayla started giggling next to him. He dug out his Amex and slapped it down. “There.”
Fuck it, he’d pay it off when they got home, and hopefully this guy wasn’t running a skimmer on his ancient credit card machine.
Home never looked so fucking good as it did when they pulled into their driveway late that afternoon. Tony shut the car off and looked at Shayla and started laughing.
She smiled, then started laughing with him, both of them sitting there and fuckinghowling.
“I never thought I’d ever have to callredfor a vacation, Sir,” she finally gasped as they started getting themselves under control. “That was too much excitement.”
“Yeah, I’m an excitable boy, but I like my excitement a little less exciting. We still have twelve days to ourselves. What would you like to do?”
“You mean besides shopping for a new car?”
He sighed. “Yeah,that.” Because they’d still have to do that. They were back to square one on that front.
“I say we open a GrubHub account and not leave the dang house,” she suggested.
“That, my dear pet, is a fantastic fucking idea. Go unlock the house, please. I’ll start unloading our things.”
“Yes, Sir.”
He slipped his flip-flops on, then popped the trunk latch before he climbed out. He walked around to the rear of the car and opened the trunk.
When will this fucking curse go away?
He grabbed the large suitcase handle and hauled it out, but halfway the handle broke, and before he could grab it with his other hand, it came down hard on the top of his left foot, wheel-first, making him howl with pain.
“Goddammit! Motherfucker!”
Shayla turned. “What happened?”
He hopped on one foot, finally leaning against the side of the CRV and rubbing his foot as she hurried over. “Get the house unlocked, please,” he said, trying to flex his wounded foot.
“What’d you do?”
He pointed at the suitcase. “The handle broke and the wheel landed right on top of my foot.”
She winced. “Let me help you inside, Sir. You might have broken it.”
It was already swelling. “Goddammit.” He tried to put weight on it, wincing and realizing that, no, he really couldn’t.
“Okay, Sir,” Shay said, her voice growing firm. “Let me help you, get some ice on it, and get it elevated.Iwill unload the car. Come on.” She got his arm around her and although he hated leaning on her, he managed to hobble inside to the couch, where he lay down and she grabbed throw pillows to elevate his foot.
