Unscrewed by Lois Greiman

Author:Lois Greiman [Greiman, Lois]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780440336778
Publisher: Dell
Published: 2006-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

16

She may be an old flame, but she’s still smokin’.

—Michael McMullen, to the woman who would soon be his ex

MY STOMACH DROPPED. I sucked in air. The room was as silent as death, and for one hopeful second I thought I was going to faint.

“Gerald.” His mother sounded euphoric. I felt like barfing. “This is the wonderful surprise. I was not expecting you.”

He was staring at me, eyes dark with suspicion and anger. “What the hell’s going on here?”

My cheeks felt hot, my stomach was doing some complicated knot work. I tried to speak. Nothing happened. I’d rather run naked through the frickin’ Getty Center with a watermelon on my head than have him hear the words I’d just spoken.

“Gerald Rivera, you watch the language,” Rosita scolded.

I felt him pull his gaze from my face. But it didn’t do any good. I was pretty sure he’d already singed my eyebrows. “What’s she doing here?” he asked.

Mrs. Rivera had risen to her feet, and even though her head didn’t reach his chin, she was a formidable force. “I asked her to come,” she said. “Invited her.” She took a step toward him. A little of the wind seem to sail out of his sails. “Into my house. My home.”

He shuffled his feet.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

He looked at me, then away. Anger shone in the depths of his devil’s eyes, but there was something else there, too, something that had been showing in men’s eyes for as long as they had mothers. It looked a little like fear.

He drew a deep breath, settled his gaze on Rosita, and ignored me. “I need to talk to you.”

But her hackles were up. “About what?”

He didn’t shift his gaze, but I could feel his attention turn toward me. “Now’s not a good time.”

“Whatever it is you have to say, you can say it now.”

“Not with her here.”

She shook her head. “I taught you better…” she began, then slammed into a barrage of Spanish.

He countered with a tide of words just as confusing.

I stared like a besotted pumpkin.

The voices jolted to an abrupt halt, but the combatants were still glaring.

I cleared my throat.

“Well…” I gave Rosita an ingratiating smile. It hurt my face, which still felt hot. “Thank you for your hospitality, Mrs. Rivera, but I should be getting home.”

“What?”

“The hell you should.”

Both of them spoke in unison with the ringing of the doorbell.

“I’m going home,” I said, and rose to my feet. My head spun off into space. The floor jittered.

Rivera laughed. The sound echoed like a bell in my cranium. “You’re drunk off your…” He shifted his gaze to his mother, gritted his teeth. “What’d you give her, Mama?”

“Gerald, you shame me!” she scolded. “What is the matter with you? We had dinner. That is all.”

Rivera’s expression was deadpan. He can do deadpan like nobody’s business.

“We had some wine,” she said finally, and waved dismissively. The doorbell rang again. She made her way toward it, speaking over her shoulder. “Not so very much.

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