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on Poppy, I wasn’t that seductive over the phone,” He laughed.             
                  “No, you weren’t.  Your mom wasn’t up for the girls’ night.  She went to bed early.”
                  “I’m so worried about her.  What about Hellie?” He closed the door behind me.
                  “She pouted because she had to go home alone.” 
                  “She’ll live,” he joked, “But I’m glad you came home because apparently I need some practice.” 
                  “Practice what—number crunching?”
                  He came up behind me and laid soft kisses along the base of my neck. 
                  “No smartass, practice getting you to drop everything when I use my sexy voice over the phone.”
                  “Ah, well, it worked but Nellie ruined the moment.  Her screeching in the grocery store is like one of those ring wraiths on Lord of the Rings.”
                  He laughed against the back of my neck, “Nerd points.”
                  “How can I ever compete with a girls’ night?” His hands moved under my shirt along my waistline.               
                  “We can think of something.”
                  “Mmmhmm, I think we can.”

Chapter 8
    Mad
    I dreamed about the beach last night.  And not the Gulf of Mexico beaches either.  Maybe it’s because California is on my list of places to go.  That must be it.
     
                  I woke the next morning with a massive pounding in my head.  Nixon slept like the dead and every morning I had to drag him, out of the bed until his feet hit the floor.  When those knobby toes hit the floor, it was like someone stuck him in the ass with a gallon sized syringe of adrenaline.  He was ready to go and nothing was stopping him. 
                  I went to the payphone as Nixon threw all of our bags in the back of the SUV and called Reed.  It was still way early for her, but that couldn’t be helped.
                  “Hello?” She said groggily.
                  “Ruby, Nebraska and I’m fine.”
                  “Ok,” She said and hung up.
                  I got in Nixon’s vehicle without a word and I could see him smiling and shaking his head from my peripheral.  I ignored him and stuck my earbuds in my ears while he drove. 
                  He reached over and yanked the one in my left ear out.
                  “So, I’ve got some questions,” he said.
                  “Who said you were allowed questions?” I replied, pleased with my smartassery.
                  “If I’m driving your smug self all around the country then I get to ask questions that I’ve been dying to ask.”
                  “Go on, gossip girl, ask away,” I waved my hand at him but it didn’t faze him half as much as I wanted.
                  “So, how long have you known?” He cringed as he asked it but obviously he’d been curious for quite some time.
                  “Since I was nine.” I was determined to play court witness with him, answer the questions as simply as possible.
                  “And your mom was sick?” He turned his blinker on and merged into traffic.
                  “Yeah, her name was Sela.  She had diabetes, had since she was a kid. Of course, it didn’t help that she got pregnant with me.” I shrugged, Nixon was my cousin on my Dad’s side, which is why he didn’t know anything about my mom, aunt, whatever.  His dad was Chase’s brother Winston.
                  He chewed on his bottom lip for a minute before continuing, “So you were five months old and Aunt Syl adopted you after your mom died?”