Red Herring ✔️

41. Kiss of Death

8 Days to Halloween

"I cannot believe I put him through that," Mazie muttered around a mouthful of warm chocolate chip pancakes. After a rough night, Felecia awoke early to make the breakfast of a lifetime in hopes of soothing all the aches in Mazie's heart with gooey syrup, salty breakfast sausages, cheesy eggs, and crispy bacon.

"You already told me that he offered to come over after your mom invited him," Felecia countered, flipping the last of the pancakes on the griddle on the other side of the island.

Mazie washed down her bite with a swig of her sweet morning coffee. "It was bad. You know it was, Fe. There's no getting around that."

Nodding her head like she understood, Fe sighed heavily. As much as the attention was focused on Mazie, Fe still took some solid hits and it showed this morning because her hair was stuffed in a lopsided bun and she hadn't yet smiled once despite how sweet and cute Chandler was being. The kids sensed that their mom wasn't in the best of moods and mostly kept to themselves during their breakfast. "At least my mother didn't leave in tears and everyone managed at least one smile by the end of the night."

"Because of Christian."

"Whether or not they behaved because of his presence, it ended up not totally sucking. One argument is something we can put behind us. Besides, Christian charmed BOTH your mother and my mother and that is a feat all in itself. You should be proud of that man of yours."

Mazie groaned. "Don't call him that."

Fe giggled. "Why not?"

"Because...I don't know. He's not mine." Even if she was, could she admit it? Letting him into her family and her hectic life seemed like more work than benefits. He would go running for the hills as soon as he got a taste of a huge family function. In comparison, last night was nothing.

"Really?" Felecia inquired. "Your mom said you were making out in each other's arms in his driveway."

The headache that kept her from sleeping resumed with full fledged resilience. "Oh my god. We didn't even kiss."

"He was holding you and you had your legs wrapped around him," Felecia continued, completely ignoring Mazie's defense.

"I fell out of the truck!" She insisted.

Felecia turned off the skillet and removed the last four pancakes to a plate. She built her own breakfast and poured a cup of black coffee. Finishing the baking proceedings, Felecia rounded the island and slid onto a stool beside Mazie. "I'd be mortified if my mom saw that. Oh, actually she did walk in on Rob and I having sex. She cried."

Mazie winced. She didn't need to picture that in her head. "When did that happen?"

"Last year."

"You were married...." Mazie pointed out.

"Exactly," Felecia stated emphatically as if it were obvious her mother would always cry when her daughters engaged in sexual activity.

Mazie stabbed her fork aggressively into her eggs. "Well I cried when I found out my mother was in town and you didn't tell me."

Felecia grimaced. "I found out that morning. They surprised me too. Thank God I had time to whip up something good for dinner or I never would have heard the end of it."

"You could have shot me a text at school! Call the school and ask to speak to me. Send me a telegram. Call in air support...something!" Mazie yelled. As she lay in bed last night not sleeping, she made a mental list of all the things that happened that night that made her mad. It was a long list, most of which would never come to life. But she sorted through her feelings and knew she had to have a discussion with Felecia so that she didn't hold anything against her.