Page 45 of Slumming It

Quickly, I said, "Sorry. Can you repeat that last thing. I think I lost you for a minute."

She paused. "Emily?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Is something wrong?"She didn't sound happy anymore. Mostly, she sounded worried, which these days was her natural state.

Damn it.I tried to sound casual. "No. Why do you ask?"

"No reason." And yet, her tone grew more suspicious as she asked, "Are you outside?"

"Uh, yeah. How'd you know?"

"I think I heard the wind."

This made sense. The windwaspicking up. Or maybe it just felt more windy because I'd stood motionless for way too long. I picked up the pace, which would've been a whole lot easier if I weren't wearing those stupid high heels. "I just stepped out for some air, that's all."

"Oh." Again, she paused. "But you sound cold. Youarewearing a coat, aren't you?"

I wish."Oh, Mom," I laughed. "It's only September. I'm fine."Liar, liar, pants on fire.And speaking of pants, those stupid shorts were riding so high up my ass they practically felt like a thong.

I reached back and yanked the denim away from my crack as I envisioned burning the shorts – and yeah, maybe the shirt, too – on a raging bonfire.

On the phone, my mom asked, "Are you sure?"

"Definitely," I lied, desperate now to change the subject. "But you asked me a question, right? I mean before the phone cut out? Could you repeat it?"

She paused for another tense moment before saying in a distracted sort of way, "I just asked if you could believe your brothers pulled this off."

I wasn't following. "Pulledwhatoff?"

"The vacation," she said. "They were the ones who made it happen."

"Really?" I stopped walking. "So they bought you a vacation?"

If true, this was a total shock. My brothers were terrific, but it's not liketheywere swimming in cash either. And even if they had been able to swing it, why hadn't they asked me and Vivian to chip in?

Was it because we had no money?

It made sense, and yet, I was still a little hurt. If only they'd asked, we would've contributedsomethingto the cause. One way or another, we would've found a way.

On the phone, my mom replied, "That's the best part. They didn'thaveto buy it. It's part of a new contract that included free rooms."

I frowned in confusion. "You mean a painting contract?"

"Yeah, a big one. And I mean,reallybig."

My brothers were professional painters – not the artistic kind, theotherkind that specialized in home improvement. They also did their share of drywalling and woodwork, taking after my dad who'd been a carpenter for more than three decades now.

If my brothers had gotten a big contract, this was excellent news – and not only because my parents were getting a free vacation. The last I'd heard, business had been so slow that my oldest brother Dean had talked about traveling downstate in search of work.

Livonia was definitely downstate. As my mind churned with the ramifications, I reluctantly asked, "So…are they in Livonia, too?" I gave a hard swallow. "All of them?"

"Oh, yeah," my mom said with a renewed smile in her voice. "The job came up really sudden, too."

Itmusthave, considering that I lived on my parents' property and this was the first I'd heard of it. "How sudden?"

"Reallysudden. Dean got the news just yesterday. And they had to start this morning because the hotel's usual painters backed out last-minute."