“Gotcha.”

“Out.”

He disconnected.

* * * * *

I had a morning from hell, phone ringing off the hook, kids all over me wanting dirt on my now famous takedown of the furry pimp and his whores, word as usual travelling fast, the two skanks obviously had been talking; appointments stacked up, I didn’t have a chance to breathe.

May had been busy in the kitchen and I didn’t have the opportunity to corner her to ask her opinion about Nick’s “teasing and jacking Vance around” concerns.

I escaped at lunch, doing a run at Chipotle for Andy and me. I stormed through the doors at King’s carrying a bag full of two fat, foil-wrapped burritos.

“Hey Sugar!” Daisy called.

My head swung toward the couches and I saw Daisy sitting with Clarice. They both were wearing identical, fluffy, ice-blue, angora, v-neck sweaters, black (Clarice) and white (Daisy) cle**age bursting forth in abundance.

“Please tell me you paid for those,” I said, walking up to Daisy and Clarice.

“I quit shop-liftin’ when I was thirteen. It lost its allure after a three month stint in juvie. Gettin’ Clarice here to turn over a new leaf. That right Clarice?” Daisy turned to Clarice.

“Unh-hunh,” Clarice answered.

I wondered about Daisy’s ability to be a mentor to a sixteen year old runaway. I didn’t know that much about Daisy but with what I did know, I decided she’d probably be a kickass mentor.

I looked at Daisy. “I need a powwow,” I told her.

Daisy and Clarice stared at me.

“What kind of powwow?” Daisy asked.

“Apparently Vance and I aren’t broken up. There was a misunderstanding. He was giving me space. He’s sleeping at my house right now.”

Daisy’s eyes got huge. Then they got bright. Then she jumped up from the couch and grabbed onto my forearms with both of her hands and jumped up and down, her enormous head of teased-out platinum blonde hair bouncing with every jump (I didn’t look at her cle**age and luckily she didn’t either or there might have been blackened eyes).

“Yee-ha!” she screamed.

I didn’t jump with her as I was a head crackin’ mamma jamma and as such didn’t jump around like a girlie-freak. Daisy didn’t seem to mind.

Still, I couldn’t help but smile.

“This is so great,” she shouted then let me go and turned to Clarice. “Isn’t this great?”

“Fuck yeah,” Clarice said, smiling broadly at me. All the kids knew Vance and I were together and also likely knew Vance and I’d split up. Sniff had been in the building.

“Don’t say f**k,” I said to Clarice and turned to Daisy. “I need a powwow. Can you get the girls together after work?”

“What’s the subject?”

I kept my eyes trained on Daisy not wanting Clarice in on the Is Jules A Slut or A Tease? If So, Discuss, Powwow.

“Long story. I’ll explain at the powwow. Tell me where, I’ll tell May.”

“You betcha, Sugar,” Daisy said and pulled out her cell phone and started stabbing at the buttons with her long, lethally-pointed fingernail.

Okay, one down, one to go.

I gave Andy his burrito and took mine into the empty yellow room with my cell. I sat down at the table and peeled back the paper and foil on my burrito. Then I scrolled down to Vance’s number and hit the green button.

It rang five times (I counted) then he answered, “Yeah?”

“Hey, it’s Jules.”

He was quiet for a second then he said softly, sounding like it was through a smile, “You know, Princess, I have your number programmed in my phone.”

This made me freak out but again in a good way.

“It’s rude just to launch in and talk,” I told him, not letting on to my good freak out. “You should always identify yourself.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Did I wake you?” I asked this even though he sounded awake and alert. Then again he always sounded awake and alert.

“You caught me in the shower.”

Oh my God.

Major Good Freak Out.

I cleared visions of Vance na**d in my shower out of my mind. I was so good at doing this I completely blanked my mind and forgot why I was calling.

“Jules?”

“Um… yeah.”

Pull yourself together, Jules.

“I’m meeting the girls after work,” I told him.

“When are you gonna be done? I’ll make dinner.”

This was too much. I could barely process Vance sleeping in my bed and he’d done it before. I’d even slept in his bed. The shower, dinner, I couldn’t hack it.

“Jules?”

“What?”

“Are we done talkin’?”

“No.”

“Then maybe you should talk.”

God, I was such an idiot.

“You cook?” I asked.

“No,” Vance answered.

I blinked at my burrito. “Didn’t you just say you were making dinner?”

“There’s a tray of what looks like incinerated brownies on your stove. I’m guessin’ we’d do better to take our chances with me.”

He was probably right. Still, it was slightly embarrassing.

I made a mental note to throw out the brownie tray. “Nick normally cooks. Maybe we should bum a meal off him.”

“I like Nick, Princess, but I been away for three days, you just let your guard down and told me you’re off with the girls for part of the night. That’s about all I’m willin’ to share.”

Uh-oh.

“Um…”

“That doesn’t sound like a good ‘um’.”

Throughout our conversation he’d sounded mellow, relaxed, in a good mood, amused. Now, he did not.

“I kinda promised to go ride-along with Luke tonight.”

Silence.

“Vance?”

“How ‘kinda’?”

“Kind of, definitely, kinda.”

The phone came away from his mouth but I still heard him swear. Then his voice was back in my ear. “I thought we agreed you’d call him.”

“We did.”

“You need to call him.”

“I did.”

Silence for a beat then, “Did you actually speak to him?”

“Yes.”

“So tell me how did your tellin’ him to back off translate into a ride-along?”

Yes, I was right. Vance had definitely lost his mellow, relaxed, amused, good mood.