Page 3 of Hidden Ties

Placing the heavy bags on the counter, she started putting the groceries away.

She grabbed two handfuls of MoonPies and shoved them into her snack drawer, leaving it open. To save time, she decided to just tilt the rest of the bag’s contents into the drawer before shoving it closed with athudfrom her hip.

Quickly, she put away her almond milk in the fridge before opening the freezer and stacking all the frozen dinner meals she had purchased neatly inside.

She closed the freezer, folded up her reusable bags, and put them away. Then she finally took a blue Powerade out of fridge before she went back to her snack drawer to stare down at her assorted treats.

“Decisions, decisions …”

Choosing a banana-flavored MoonPie, she carried both into her room to make herself comfy at her computer. She put on her bulky pink headset and returned to the game she had been playing before going on her grocery run.

“You there, Valkyrie?” a guy immediately asked.

“I’m here,” she answered Justice on the mic.

“You get your MoonPies?” he joked as he skillfully gunned her down in the game.

“You know it. If you had bought the house next to me when I told you to, I could have tossed you one out the window.”

Male laughter sounded through of the headset.

“He must be there. You only say that when he’s there for the weekend.”

“Just saw him,” she confirmed, taking out one of his men in a blaze of glory.

“Has his date showed yet?”

“Nope. Usually, his entertainment for the night doesn’t show until closer to seven.”

“You got his timetable down pat. You stalking him? That’s a punishable offense, you know.”

“Don’t have to.” She shifted her eyes from her game to look out the window toward the house next door. “I can kinda see his front door from where my computer is.”

The room she sat in was at the front of her house, while the window she sat in front of faced the side his house. Her house also had a bit of a smaller front lawn, which allowed her to view more of the front of his house, including his driveway. From what she could tell, his home had a strange configuration, where the front door indented into the home, giving her a sideview of his front door. From a window on the side of his house, she had tried her best to see through the blinds, and her best guess was it was his living room.

“You could try putting the computer facingawayfrom that direction.”

“I wish. My house is old as hell. This is the only outlet that won’t trip the breaker from my setup.”

“You could also put your setup in another room …” Justice suggested.

Valerie rolled her eyes. “Geez, I should have thought about that.”

Taking out two more of his men, she successfully took a dive off a building to land on another high rise. “All of the outlets in this house are fire hazards. When I sell this game, I plan to rewire this shithole.”

“Have you heard back from Game Hookup?”

“Not yet.” Pressing a button on her controller, she blew a bubble. Once it was large enough, she stepped inside to float down to the ground. “You think that’s a good sign or a bad sign?” she asked.

“Dunno. I guess you’ll have to wait and see.”

“I wait much longer, I’m not going to be able to buy my MoonPies. I’ve already had to switch from Little Debbies to Great Value.”

“I bet that hurt.”

Grimacing as Justice destroyed half her team, she ran into the closest building to restock her weapons. “I still have my team.”

“I meant giving up your Little Debbies.”