Page 164 of One Good Crash

I stared at Allie for a long moment. I wanted to snicker. "Okay, now Iknowyou're joking."

"Alright, fine," Allie muttered. "She didn't say the lobster thing, but shewaspretty mad. And shedidrip off the sling."

Now,thatI could see.

I gave Allie a sympathetic look. "I'm really sorry you got stuck dealing with her."

"Don't be. I'm not."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. You would've been way too nice."

"Hey, I wasn't too nice at the party. You remember, right?" Allie hadn't been there, but Ihadtold her all about it.

"Yeah, but knowing you, you were still nicer than she deserved."

I wasn’t sure I agreed, but that wasn't terribly important in the big scheme of things. I asked, "Anything else?"

"Oh yeah. She said you'd better call her." Allie rolled her eyes. "Or else."

"Or else what?"

"Who knows, who cares? If it were me, I wouldn’t call her at all."

That sounded like a perfect plan to me. After everything she'd done, Tabitha didn't deserve a call back.

See? I wasn't nearly as nice as Allie thought.

Besides, I had a different call to make. That call was to Jax, who definitely deserved a warning about my mom's hotel charges.

But as it turned out, he already knew.

Into the phone, I said, "Really? When did you find out?"

"Tuesday."

"And you never said anything? Why?"

"Because it's not a big deal."

"It is to me," I said. "I mean, don't you feel cheated?"

"Hell no."

"But—"

"Hey, today's the last day, so forget it."

It took me a moment to realize what he meant. A whole week had passed since that ugly scene with my mom. This meant that her stay was officially over.

I asked, "But what if she doesn't leave?"

"Then I'll deal with it. So don't worry, alright?"

I promised to try, but I wasn't sure that I'd be able to.

Sure enough, worry haunted me for the rest of the evening.