Page 54 of Hacking the Holidays
I tried supporting her with my left arm while keeping my right hand firmly planted over my back pocket.
“Let me help you with that.” Rose appeared out of nowhere and tried to wedge herself between us with the force of someone breaking up a bar fight.
“Excuse me!” Beverly tightened her grip on me while trying her hardest to push Rose away with her other hand. “What are you doing?”
I was thinking the same thing.
“Just lending a hand,” Rose said, maintaining her grip on my waist for leverage while doing her best to maneuver Beverly away from me.
I fought hard to keep my balance while not letting Beverly or myself fall to the floor. I felt like I was in some kind of action movie where the hero had to defuse a bomb while fighting off an attacker.
“Let go!” Beverly tried to twist free. “I don’t need your help!”
“I think you do,” Rose said.
I stood there tangled in between them, watching this unfold with the growing realization that I had become therope in the world’s strangest tug-of-war. Was Rose jealous? Over-protective? Having some kind of episode?
Finally, I freed myself from the middle of their struggle. Rose was now trying to guide Beverly toward a chair while Beverly kept attempting to get back to me. They moved in awkward circles, bumping into each other like two players trying to guard the same basketball.
“Sit!” Rose said, grabbing Beverly by the shoulders and slamming her into the chair.
Beverly shoved Rose’s hands away. “You are completely insane.”
“And you’re about as subtle as a car alarm,” Rose shot back.
“Do you two know each other?” I asked.
“No,” they said simultaneously, still locked in an intense stare-down.
“Never met,” Rose added.
“Total strangers,” Beverly confirmed.
Right. Because this was exactly how strangers behaved—like two dogs who’d just spotted the same bone.
Except the bone was me.
Which was both flattering and deeply uncomfortable.
Rose took a step back and gestured toward Beverly with both hands, like a game show host revealing a prize. “Look at that. Your dizziness magically went away. It’s a miracle.”
Beverly’s face went crimson. “I—you—this—” She seemed incapable of forming a coherent sentence.
“You’re welcome,” Rose said cheerfully.
“I don’t need this abuse—I’m leaving.” Beverly got upfrom the chair and headed for the door, then glanced back at me. “Maybe I’ll bump into you again, Sam, when your friend isn’t having a psychotic episode!”
The door slammed behind her with enough force to make the bell jingle violently. Every customer in the bagel shop was staring at us.
Rose grabbed the chair and casually walked back to our table like it was no big deal, like she hadn’t just engaged in public combat. She sat quietly, picked up her sandwich, and took a bite.
Another casual morning in Leavenworth.
Nothing to see here.
I returned to my seat slowly, trying to process what I’d just witnessed. My brain felt like it was still buffering because I had no clue.
Rose chewed slowly, gazing out the window like she was admiring the view, then she sipped her coffee.
