Page 8 of Road Queens
Proof you can’t go back,Amanda thought. Five years was too long. The gap was unbridgeable, even if Cassandra hadn’t been arrested. No point in prolonging any of it.
So! They’d go back to their lives. Amanda would resume the campaign to get Edward Gorey to come for a signing (the man’s deathwould notstop her), Sidney would get banned from another hockey practice and fume about her soon-to-be ex-husband, and Cassandra would try yet again to undo her childhood, which would end in blood and pain. Or whatever else she’d been up to for five years.
Done. Over. And the time to move on? Now.
“Sidney drove her minivan here!” she yelped for no reason.
Cassandra blinked. “But it’s beautiful outside.”
“I know! But she sold her bike!”
Sidney rubbed her temples. “Fuck’s saaaaake ...”
“And she paid for parking!” Amanda tattled.
“For shame, Amanda. We should always abide by traffic ordinances,” Cassandra said with a straight face. “I fully endorse Sidney’s lawful action.”
“Die screaming. Both of you.”
“A minivan,” Amanda added. “Full of hockey junk. She just needs the Karen Kut, and the transformation will be complete. It’s awful.”
“Yes, it’s almost as bad as being pinched for murder,” Sidney snapped.
Ah, yes. The felonious elephant in the room.
“Way to bring down the room, Sid.”
“We are in the cop shop, Amanda!” In her agitation, Sidney was waving her arms like an irked windmill. And for the first time, Amanda realized Sidney was wearing a shirt Cass had crocheted for her five years ago. It fit like a dream because Cass’s crocheted gifts were the opposite of prêt-à-porter.
Did Sidney grab that shirt on purpose? Or naw?
Meanwhile, Sid was still yowling. “The room was already down! Our friend—”
“Estranged friend,” Amanda put in. Actually, “former” was more accurate, but she decided to be tactful in front of the cops.
“Ouch.” From Cassandra.
“—is in the clutches of—uh—”
“Detective Beane,” Jawman said, because Cassandra wasn’t going to introduce them.
“Yes!” Sidney pointed, and looked great while doing so because the red ribbed top brought out her small beady eyes. Probably just a coincidence, then. “Him!”
Cassandra held up her hands like she was soothing a mad beast so it wouldn’t trample her. “Here’s the thing. Sean was telling—”
“Wait, what?” Sidney turned to Lawman Jawman: “Your name’s really Sean Beane?”
“Sure.”
Sidney zeroed in on him while Amanda pinched her lip so she wouldn’t giggle. Amanda looked into his blue, blue eyes and had the odd sensation she’d seen them before. Which made no sense; if she had ever metthisspecimen, she would have remembered.
“You never thought about changing it?” Sidney asked.
The cop grinned, which made him look even cuter. Which was irritating. Amanda had zero time for a crush. Or even a date.
“Why? I’m not the one who keeps getting killed off in movies and TV shows. If anything, he should changehisname. Maybe things will turn around for him.”
“Maybe.” To Cassandra: “I knew this had the potential to be surreal, but not to this extent.”
