Page 34 of The Triple Threat

“What?” Dad asked, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Because if it was Norv Turner, I’ll kick his ass real hard.”

Mom sighed and rubbed Dad’s back. “Sweetheart, you need to let that go. Norv did what he had to do for his career.”

“Fucking traitor,” Dad muttered. “Y’all do not go from the Cowboys to the Redskins, no matter what. Damn right he got fired in the end.”

“Whatever,” I said a little impatiently. “But no, he didn’t get him to dress up as Norv Turner.”

“What then?” Dad asked, his breathing calming down.

“A… one of those things that Hunter has on his ranch.” I whimpered. “He tricked him into dressing as a ugh… cow. I had a panic attack, almost passed out and made a real show for everyone. I was humiliated, Daddy.”

I pouted and fluttered my lashes, knowing my dad would take the bait.

Three, two, one… he pulled his phone from his pocket and stabbed at it. “The little dick. He knows that’s unacceptable.”

Mom pulled me into a hug and kissed my temple. “He’s a horrible brother, and I’m sorry I ever saddled you with him, baby.”

I pulled away and looked up at her with a frown.

“But he was born first.”

“Semantics baby, semantics.”

“Carter,” Dad yelled down the phone. “What sort of trick was that to play on your sister, you little douche canoe.”

Ah shit, I really did love my parents.

* * *

Bronte and I were walking around the shopping mall, aimlessly wandering from store to store, neither of us having any idea why we’d even gone there.

I’d called her after my breakfast, half expecting her to ream my ass for leaving her at the party, but she’d been cool about it. Apparently, she’d found ‘something to play with’. When I asked who, she gave me a rough description of some guy who had gone to the party with a friend of a friend of Alaska Michaels. She said he was hot and had the most amazing fingers and tongue and that was when I’d groaned and said, ‘let’s go shopping’.

“Let’s go to the cosmetics section. I need concealer,” Bronte said around a huge yawn.

“No what you need is an early night and less partying.”

“Shit you sound like my mom. Seriously though, I do need some. Apart from the dark circles around my eyes, I’m getting the biggest break out.”

I studied her clear skin carefully and knew by the little jut of her chin there was no point in arguing with her.

“Mac has a sale on.”

I led the way past through the perfumery section of the store and when we came upon the Dior counter my heart did a little skip. The special offer scent of the day was Miss Dior and I could only think about Hunter’s face when he told me about Jefferson buying it to remind him of Sondra.

“Wait up.”

Bronte glanced at me over her shoulder. “Catch me up, I’m gonna go pee.”

As she wandered away, I moved closer to the counter and picked up the tester bottle, holding it to my nose. It did smell like Hunter’s mom, which was weird because I’d never realized before that I knew her smell. But, as I inhaled, memories of her hugging me at get togethers, or her coming over to our house and laughing uproariously with my mom and Darcy, flooded my memory banks. They made me happy and a little bit sad too. No wonder Jefferson and Hunter chased their own memories by spraying her scent.

“Can I help you at all,” the overly made-up assistant asked as she approached me with a bottle, pointing at me like it was a gun.

“Just having a little trip down memory lane.” I sprayed some onto each of my wrists and smiled at her.

“Would you like to buy some? We have a special today.”

I shook my head. That was the last thing I would ever do. This was Jefferson and Hunter’s way of remembering the woman they’d lost, and it wasn’t something I would ever take away from them.