Page 69 of It Runs in the Family

Mary Ellen’s nose scrunched in confusion. “Who cares? Maybe they belong to the employees.”

But as far as I could tell the only employee on duty was the bartender. Last I’d heard, they didn’t serve food.

Ava pushed me into the bench seat and lowered down next to me. Her sister sat across from us.

“Why are you so paranoid?” Mary Ellen asked.

A shiver ran down my spine. “I don’t have a good feeling about this place.”

Ava looked around, then her face brightened. “Oh, I know why. It’s because there aren’t any windows. You never did like being enclosed.”

She was right. When I was around five, my mother had a boyfriend who didn’t like kids, so she’d lock me in the small pantry when he was around. I’d hated being in rooms without windows ever since.

“They don’t wait on you here,” Ava said, “so I’ll go order our drinks. What do you girls want?”

“Coors Light,” Mary Ellen said, resting her back against the booth wall.

Ava lifted her brow at me expectantly.

“Uh… same.” I didn’t particularly feel like drinking a beer at two-thirty in the afternoon in a dank bar, but when in Rome…

“You guys really hang out here?” I asked, glancing around the bar as Ava walked up to the counter.

Mary Ellen winked. “Sure, we like to spread the love.”

I froze. “When you say ‘spread the love’…?”

She laughed. “You should see your face!” Shaking her head, she leaned in close. “We’re not here to pick up a guy. Gross.” She gestured toward the bar. “Those two guys have to be close to a hundred.”

“More like sixty, but I get the point.”

She sat back again and released a sigh. “We actually like to come here and plan out our week.”

I blinked in surprise. “Say what?”

“You know, dinner planning, appointments.” She grinned. “The weekend.”

“I figured you just let the weekend happen.”

“We do, but we have to pencil it into our planner.” She reached into her large purse and pulled out a ringed planner and set it on the table along with a pack of colored pens. Flipping the pages open to the current week, she picked up the pink pen and wrote HAVE FUN across Friday and Saturday in bold, curvy letters. “There you have it,” she said smugly. “Weekend all planned out.”

“You started without me,” Ava said in accusatory tone as she set three beer mugs on the table, then sat next to me.

“I just showed Iris how we plan the weekend.”

Ava glanced at the page and nodded. “Looks good so far.”

“So why am I here?” I asked.

“We helped you escape from Aunt Millie,” Mary Ellen said.

“No, you escaped from Aunt Millie and your mother. I came along for the ride.” Then I grudgingly added, “And ran away from Billy.”

“We won’t let Billy hurt you, Iris,” Ava said patting my hand. “Which is why you should come stay with us.”

My mouth parted in surprise. “You two are gonna protect me from Billy?”

“We’re not as innocent as we look either,” Mary Ellen said, lifting her chin in defiance. “We’ve learned some self-defense moves.”