Read Online The Cakes of Wrath by Jacklyn Brady - Free Book Online Page B

wall. Okay, so maybe Edie was right. I wasn’t sure what to do with someone who was so obviously under the influence. I didn’t have time to babysit her, but I couldn’t just let her wander around Zydeco on her own and I wouldn’t feel right sending her out onto the street. She might be used to trolling the neighborhood in this condition, but I could almost hear Aunt Yolanda paraphrasing from the Bible in my ear, “Shut your ears to someone in need and God won’t hear you when you’re asking for help.”
    That wasn’t a risk I was willing to take. I just hoped God wouldn’t notice how much I resented having to devote attention to the woman in obvious need when I had so many other things I should be doing. I couldn’t smell alcohol over her flowery cologne, so I had to assume she’d taken some kind of narcotic. In that case, would coffee help or just make things worse? Would it sober her up, or just wind her up?
    I steered her toward a chair in the break room and put on a pot of coffee just in case.
    She propped her chin in her hand and watched me. “You’re nice, Rita.”
    I turned, surprised, and rummaged up a smile. “Thanks.”
    â€œI’m real sorry about what happened to you last night.”
    â€œThanks. Me, too. I haven’t had a chance to check on Moose. He didn’t get hurt, did he?”
    Destiny shook her head. “Naw. He’s like a rock.” She laughed softly and repeated, “Like a rock. Dumb as one, too, sometimes.”
    I blinked a couple of times as I tried to convince myself I’d heard wrong. “I’m sorry? I missed that.”
    Destiny grinned up at me. “Hey, I love the man. He’s got a heart as big as . . . something really big. But sometimes he’s one beer short of a six-pack, if you know what I mean.”
    Yeah? I’ll bet I knew where the other five had gone. Moose had been nothing but nice to me, and my hackles rose in his defense. “That’s a horrible thing to say,” I told her. “He seems like a great guy.”
    Her arm wobbled and dropped to the table. Her head landed beside it, and she grinned up at me from behind a curtain of hair. “You want him? Go ahead.”
    â€œThat’s not what I meant!” I sat beside her and decided to stop dancing around the big pink elephant in the room. “What are you on, Destiny?”
    She lifted her head and stared at me. “What do you mean?”
    â€œI mean it’s pretty obvious you’re either drunk or high. Your words are slurred, you can barely sit up, and you’re talking crazy. What did you take?”
    Very slowly and carefully, she rose to her feet and glared down at me with as much dignity as she could muster. Which wasn’t much. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I took something for a headache, that’s all.”
    â€œYeah. Okay.” Some headache. I stood to face her. “I know you were excited about helping with the collection this afternoon, but you can’t do the work in this condition. I’m going to take you back to the Chopper Shop now. Maybe you can help out on another project.”
    I reached for her arm, but she jerked away from me so fast she almost lost her balance again. “I’m fine. You just don’t want me here.”
    There might have been some truth in that, but not the way she meant it. “I’d be happy to have you be part of the team, but clearly you’re not feeling well today.” Okay, so I fudged a little on the “happy to have you” part. But the rest was entirely truthful.
    â€œI knew you wouldn’t let me do this,” she wailed. “I told Moose you were just like the others.” She stumbled toward the door, ran into a table, and clutched a chair for support. “Remember when I said you were nice? Well, you’re not. You’re like all the rest of the assholes