I get back to cutting Gavin’s hair and I don’t make small talk, too inside my head to bother.
But Gavin seems to want to talk. “Does this mean you forgive me then?”
And all that anger at his lie surfaces again. The reminder that he’s not who I thought he was makes my whole body tense. My fingers slip and the scissors nick his ear.
“Ouch!” he yells and stands, covering his ear.
When he pulls his hand away, blood coats his palm. He shakes his head, giving me a look like I’m batshit crazy.
“Gavin, I’m sorry! My scissors just slipped. That’s never happened before.”
Allie, Fisher, and the twins are returning at that moment and Allie rushes to Gavin’s side.
“Are you okay?” she asks. “I’m a nurse.”
He shakes his head. “You Greenes are nuts.” He removes his hand, and blood drips from his ear to the floor.
“You’ll be okay,” Allie says.
Gavin rushes away from her as though he just found out she’s a serial killer the police have been searching for. “I’ll take someone else’s opinion, thank you.”
Gavin goes into his office next door as Fisher catches up with Allie. They both set their eyes on me.
“What? The scissors slipped.”
Fisher points at me. “If I have to arrest you tonight, I’m warning you right now, you’re rotting in jail until tomorrow. I better not be disturbed tonight.”
“Oh, that’s right! Congratulations, guys. Let me see!” I walk over to congratulate them and see the ring.
They look at me as if I’m delusional and maybe I am, but honestly, the scissors slipped. At least that’s the story I’m sticking with.
Later that day, I come downstairs at home to find Mandi baking in the kitchen while Nikki’s radio show is on.
“Can you please turn it off?” I say, grabbing an orange juice and sitting on the other side of the breakfast bar.
Mandi doesn’t answer, just gives me a look.
“Why are you baking?” I ask.
She blows one of her red strands out of her eyes. “Francois said he could bake better than me, so I’m challenging him.”
“Can we please just call him Frank?” I grumble.
Mandi’s chef at the inn is so arrogant, he insists everyone call him Francois. But really his name is Frank, and he’s from Alaska. He’s just a brilliant chef who never trained professionally.
“Shh… his radar will go off knowing there’s a disturbance in the force and I’ll have to listen to him complain about it for a solid week.”
I sip my orange juice while I listen to Nikki’s retelling of the scene I was a part of yesterday.
“And then she cut his ear. Rumor has it he went screaming home like a little boy,” Nikki says.
Mandi eyes me over the cup of flour she’s leveling.
“I’d be screaming too. It’s kind of scary, you know?” Chip, her sidekick, chimes in.
“Oh, Posey’s not scary. She’s just spiteful.” Nikki laughs. “I think it’s because she likes him and he hurt her. Why are men so stupid sometimes?”
“Do you really want me to answer that?” Chip asks.
“No, Chip, I mean, when was your last date? I think we should do a new segment following you on a dating app.” Nikki does have some great ideas. “We can see who you match with and when you go on dates, you can report back to us in the morning.”
“Never gonna happen.”
“You’re a mean man, Chip. Anyway, back to my sister,” Nikki says.
“You owe me. You said double or nothing after you were wrong about Fisher.” Chip has a point.
Mandi and I look at each other and laugh.
“First of all, they’re engaged now. So I was a few months off.” I can picture Nikki rolling her eyes.
Mandi rations out each ingredient and I finish my orange juice, unsure why I’m enduring this torture.
“That’s why it’s a bet, Nikki. You can’t say, ‘Well, the horse won three races after I bet on him to win, so I get the money.’ And I guarantee you right now, Posey and Gavin are never going to get together.”
Nikki scoffs. “This is why you need to go on a dating app. You know nothing about women.”
“She threw a milkshake in his face and now she’s causing him bodily injury. What could I possibly be missing?”
“Sometimes I think you live in the Dark Ages,” Nikki says. “To everyone else out there, keep your eye on these two. We’re in for a fun mayoral campaign because one thing I know for sure is that my sister plays dirty. You should’ve seen her play Monopoly when we were kids—ruthless.”
Mandi laughs so hard she spills the vanilla extract in her batter.
“Too much vanilla flavoring never hurt anyone,” I say, dipping my finger in. I lick the batter off, but I can barely swallow it, it’s so thick. Hopefully the extra vanilla helps.
“Very true.” She pours in a little more.
“Posey Ida Greene!” my mom yells from behind me, and I startle. I didn’t even hear her come in.
“Pig,” Mandi says, laughing.
I pick up a pinch of flour and toss it at her face.
Yes, not only was I tormented to have a grandma middle name like Ida, but my initials spell pig. I’ll let you imagine what that was like growing up.
“Hey, I need my eyes to see.” Mandi wipes the flour from her face, but there’s still residue in the crease of her nose. “You know why she’s here.”
My mom walks into the kitchen. I’m surprised it’s taken her this long to hear the news actually. And I’m sure I have Nikki and her damn show to thank for it.
Mandi turns down the volume since Nikki and Chip are moving on to other happenings that aren’t as juicy as me cutting Gavin’s ear. People act like I turned him into Van Gogh. Jeez.
“Hi, Mom,” Mandi says with a big smile and wave.
Mom looks at Mandi with confusion because Mandi’s not one to bake. Usually everything is left to Frank at the inn.
Shaking her head, Mom turns her attention to me. Her hands rest on her hips. “Well?”
“What?” I feign ignorance.
“You cut his ear? I thought we had a conversation about this.”
I stand from the breakfast stool, mostly to get away from her scathing look. “It was an accident. I wouldn’t cut someone on purpose. It could ruin my business.”
Not really. Maybe if it was Fran. She might hurt my business with all her reporting on Sunrise Bay social media page.
“I’m the acting mayor right now. I’m not sure how clear I need to make this. You don’t have to like him, but you do have to be cordial. There will be a lot of events we’re both going to be at, and if you can’t control yourself around him, then I’ll have to find myself a new campaign manager.”
“Good luck with that,” Mandi says under her breath.
“Excuse me?” Mom asks.
Mandi’s head flies up. “Did I say that out loud?”
“Yes, you did.” I pat her on the back. But I want to help my mom achieve her goal, to see her smile on that platform when she wins and know I had something to do with her happiness. “I’ll go apologize… again.”