Chapter 26
CATE IS SCARED WITLESS as the shower curtain screeches open.
“Don’t tell me you started without me!” says the jovial old man standing just outside the tub.
Not a mist. No red eyes. Not at all what she was expecting.
She knows this ruddy face, those twinkling eyes, that life-affirming belly. It's Ed—old Ed from the hardware store. What the hell is he doing in Jay-Jay's bathroom while she's taking a shower?
Cate can't contain her fear any longer. She screams. She screams bloody murder.
When she screams, he screams too. Shrieks like a banshee. Clearly, he means her no harm, because he turns on his heels and darts from the room, stammering, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I thought you were... I’m sorry!”
Ed's embarrassment makes Cate bold. The cold in her bones is replaced by
