Chapter 15 #2
The roar that came from the direction of the studio startled them all. Amy had appeared, wearing a painter’s smock and fuzzy jacket and looking wild with fury. Duchess had come out, too, and was sniffing her way toward the stairs, her tail wagging furiously.
“There you are!” one of the women said. “What a nice place you’ve got here, honey.”
Amy turned a wild-eyed gaze to Harrison and Hillary, and then back to the ladies. “What are you doing here?”
“Elaine was right. This place is beautiful and huge.”
Amy gasped. “Elaine?” she very nearly shouted, marching up the steps to confront her mother. “Julie’s mother Elaine?”
“Well obviously. I don’t know any other Elaines.”
“Yes you do, Barb. Remember Elaine from the church potluck?” one of the other ladies said, prompting another one to say, “Oh, the potluck.” All four laughed again, in on the private joke.
“Mother,” Amy said, her voice lower and full of authority. “I have this house booked for two weeks, remember? So that I can paint. Everyone in the family was on board with my two-week break, remember?”
“Of course I remember,” said Amy’s mom. She had short gray hair, topped with the slow-blinking reindeer antlers.
She wore chino capris with her sweatshirt.
She looked like a dozen women on any given Saturday at a supermarket.
Except for the antlers, obviously. “But I ran into Elaine and she told me how big this place was. Who knew? And she said since Julie had already lent it to you, we ought to come out and take advantage. They are going to put it on a B-and-B site, and we won’t be able to afford to come then.
Anyway, Elaine assured me there would be no problem, that you would still have your privacy and then some.
That’s the first thing I asked, isn’t it, June? ”
“It is,” said the shortest and roundest of the women.
“June was with me. And, you know, the Bossy Posse had been looking for a little getaway. We’re not that far from Denison. We’ll probably do a little shopping. And you don’t want to be alone at Christmas.”
“It’s not Christmas.”
“The Christmas season, then.”
“Mom, I do want to be alone,” Amy said, her voice barely controlled. “I need peace and quiet. I need time to myself. Away from my family.”
“Oh, I know, I know,” her mother said eagerly, nodding. “That’s why Elaine said this was such a perfect solution for us both. Because there is a separate studio, so really, you don’t even need to see us until the evening.”
Amy’s expression suggested she was looking for a brick wall where she might plant her fist.
“But Elaine did not tell me about this fine young man,” her mother said, gesturing to Harrison. “And his friend.”
“You did not just say that,” Amy said.
“Say what?” her mother asked.
“Amy, I’m so glad you finally put a few pounds on,” said one of the women. “I thought you looked too thin during your divorce.”
Everyone looked at the thinnest of the Bossy-Posse-Girl’s-Trip women. She blinked green eyes around at them. “Well? She was skeleton thin.”
Amy sighed.
“You look great!” agreed another one of the women.
She had come down the stairs to where Harrison and Hillary were silently watching everything unfold.
She kicked a shoe off and stuck her toe in the pool.
“Oh dear, it’s freezing. We’ll have to turn on the heat. Elaine told you how, didn’t she, Barb?”
“Melissa, you’ll get frostbite.” Amy’s mother came down the stairs, too. Now that she was a little closer, Harrison could see the resemblance. “Are you going to tell us who your friends are?” Barb asked as she gave Harrison a thorough once-over with her red-and-green blinking antlers.
“Harrison,” Amy said reluctantly. “Harrison Neely.”
“I certainly didn’t know you had a friend like Harrison Neely,” Amy’s mother said.
“He’s not my…There was a mix-up at booking, that’s all.”
He was not her friend? This was just a mix-up? He knew she was avoiding explanation, but this was not just a mix-up for him.
“Samantha had already listed this place on the apps, but Julie didn’t know she had. Sam booked Harrison for the same time Julie lent the place to me.”
“Well, that Sam was always the go-getter. What did you do about the double-booking?” Barb asked, looking over her shoulder at her daughter.
Amy shrugged in a manner that seemed a little guilty to Harrison. “We decided to split the place. Because it’s so big.”
Barb looked back at Harrison. “Well, well. Hello, Harrison. I’m Barb, Amy’s mother!” She extended her hand.
Harrison shook it because what else was he going to do? “Nice to meet you, Barb.” Except that it wasn’t nice to meet her. It might possibly be the worst thing in the world to happen right now.
“And this must be your daughter,” Barb said, shifting her gaze to Hillary.
“What? No, no,” Harrison said quickly. His daughter? Did he look that old? How old was Hillary, anyway?
“I’m his strength conditioning coach,” Hillary said, and one of the women snorted so loudly it was probably heard across the lake. “Hillary Green.” She extended her hand to be shaken.
“Hello, Hillary,” Barb said. She returned her gaze to Harrison, her eyes slightly narrowed. As if she suspected him of nefarious conduct, something along the lines of robbing the cradle.
Harrison really wished she’d turn the antlers off. It was hard to think with them blinking at him. “Well,” Harrison said. “I guess the food-delivery mystery has been solved.”
“Oh good, it came!” Barb said. “Did you hear that, Carol? I told you not to worry.” She glanced back at Harrison. “She was concerned because we’ve never used that delivery service. You hear about people stealing food right off your porch all the time.”
That was not something Harrison had ever heard.
“Who’s ready for the pool?” June asked.
“That water is freezing,” Hillary said. “It will take forever to heat.”
“You’d be surprised,” said another of the women who had yet to talk. “My sister has a heated pool, and it heats right up, like a spa. Where do we turn it on?”
“No, wait,” Amy said, holding her hands out as if she thought they were going to rush the pool. “You can’t stay here, Mother!”
“Amy,” her mother said cheerfully. “There is more than enough room. Look at this place, it’s a mansion! And Elaine said the extra bedrooms are all upstairs.” She waggled her brows at her daughter.
Amy looked mortified. Harrison felt mortified. He felt like he’d been caught in the back seat of his ’78 Camaro with Cathy Schwartz his sophomore year all over again.
“I found the pool house!” one of the women—Melissa, he thought—shouted from somewhere around the side of the house.
“There’s a pool house?” said the one he assumed was Carol, who, along with June, toddled off to see, leaving Barb and Amy in a face-off, and Harrison and Hillary watching the entire show.
“Mom,” Amy snapped, her tone more urgent. “What part of break did you not get? I need time away from my family.”
“Well, I don’t blame you. Those boys run you ragged.”
“I think I’m going to join the hunt for the pool house,” Hillary whispered, and skipped around the pool, hurrying off in the direction of the women.
Harrison didn’t have the chance to call her back or grab onto her shirt and follow her, so was left standing awkwardly, watching mother and daughter have it out.
“I mean you, too, Mom!” Amy insisted. “And Dad! And why aren’t you talking to him? He doesn’t know where you are, and he’s calling me, even though Kevin is right there, and why can’t you let me have this?”
“Your father would know where I was if he listened,” Barb said with a sniff. “Oh, honey, don’t worry! It will all be fine. You won’t even know the Bossy Posse is here.”
Harrison didn’t know about Amy, but he doubted he would actually sleep again, because there was no way he wouldn’t be aware every moment that four elderly women were tromping around this house in matching sweatshirts and blinking antlers. He looked at Amy.
She looked as sick as he felt.