Page 61 of EverGreene
“I didn’t want to come empty-handed, so I brought some chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies with those chocolate candies in the middle.”
“Perfect. I didn’t know you baked. You never seemed like the Martha Stewart type to me.”
“Oh, I’m not,” she replied, laughing. “You’ll find that half the batch of the chocolate chips is a tad on the, shall we say, well-done side. Vinny wanted to watchAnimal Planet, and I was trying to find the channel for him.”
I took out the Tupperware containers, finding no lies detected with the half-edible, half-charcoal baked goods packaged inside.
“Do you have a son?” my mom asked, intrusive as always.
“What?” Ever took off her boots, glancing up at mom with wide eyes. “Oh, no. No. Well, not a human one, anyway. Vinny is my turtle.”
“And he watches television?”
“She’s a very well-educated reptile,” I said, suddenly feeling very defensive toward Ever’s shellbaby. Ever cocked her head, seemingly confused. “I mean, look who her mom is, after all.”
“Vinny’s a boy, but otherwise, I would agree with you.”
Shit. Time to backpedal like hell.
“Of course,heis. My apologies to Vinny.”
Nix raised an eyebrow at me as if to say,And you were worried about me fucking up.
“That is just adorable,” Mom said, clapping her hands together, marking the first and only time I’ve ever been happy to have my mom interject herself into a conversation between me and a girl. “Now, let’s eat while it’s still Thanksgiving.
“So, Ever, where are you from?”Mom asked between bites of mashed potatoes.
Norman, Oklahoma.
Ever took a sip of her water, clearing her throat. “Oklahoma, near Oklahoma City.”
“Oh, tornado alley. Have you been through one?”
Jesus, Mom.
“Yes, actually. A couple of them.”
“A couple of them? I would have been out of there after one.” My mom laughed at her own joke, eliciting a polite smile from Ever. “Why did you move up here?”
I set my fork down, glaring at Mom, hoping she would take a hint. Spoiler alert: no hints were taken.
Ever, god bless her, didn’t flinch. “It’s a long story, but I guess the bottom line is that I needed a fresh start somewhere else. Anywhere else. And at that point, I didn’t care, eventhough I probably should have taken climate into consideration.”
“How did you end up here?” Nix asked, ignoring me glaring at him from across the table.
“I threw a dart at a map and ended up here.”
What? Well, that was certainly new information.
“Is that right?” Mom asked, stunned. “And you would have moved anywhere that dart landed?”
Ever nodded. “I mean, within reason. If it would have landed in the next county over or somewhere in Arkansas, I would have done a redo.”
“What’s wrong with Arkansas?” Nix asked, chuckling.
“Have you seen Arkansas?” Ever had a gleam in her eye that I hadn’t seen in a while. A letting-her-guard-down-to-allow-the-real-Ever-to-come-out kind of gleam that if Nix were a smart man, would scare the living shit out of him, as he was about to be ripped a new one if he dared enter into a battle of wits with Ever Moore.
“I have, actually. It’s nice. In parts.”
