October Snow by Jenna Brooks Page B

it.”
    “I know we will.” Max extended her closed fist. “Fist bump.”
    Jo jumped off the counter, tossing the towel on the sink. “Uh… No .”
    They laughed for a moment, then their eyes met.
    “We will handle it, Max.”
    “Okay.”

    Jack located the apartment house easily enough: it was the only light blue Victorian in the neighborhood. He sat in his car for an hour, watching, waiting to see if she’d emerge–and becoming angrier by the minute when she didn’t.
    “You bitch. You bitch ,” he sputtered, slamming his hands on the steering wheel. Pain shot up his right arm, and he shook it off, deciding she’d be paying for that, too. He looked across the street again at her car, and thought about maybe keying it, or slashing the tires. But there were still way too many people out and about, and he filed the idea away for later.
    “See you soon, Samantha .”
    He started the car, flooring the accelerator as he pulled away, knocking over a recycling bin.
    His house was dark as he pulled up. Inside, he threw his keys across the dining room, then picked them up from where they had landed on the massive oak buffet. He reached for the lamp, noticing the deep mark in the wall where the keys had hit, and that enraged him further.
    “I spent two days painting this room, this room in this house that you had to have, bitch. ” He poured scotch into one of the heavy crystal tumblers on the buffet. Glaring at the glass he held, he rolled it back and forth in his hands. “Yeah, like I’m going to sit here and drink by myself, like every other idiot who hooked up with a slut ?” He threw the glass into the kitchen, where it shattered against the center island. “ She’s the pathetic one. Not me .”
    He knew fully well that Liz was screwing with him, that she was part of the plan to help Sam get away. Likely a big part, because she controlled everything her daughter did. The idea that he was now being discarded by the useless old hag, the one who had once been on his side, made his head throb with rage.
    He grabbed his jacket as he went out the door, deciding that if Sam was going to make trouble, then he sure as hell wasn’t going to be sleeping alone that night–but he would make a quick stop at Liz’s house on the way. Just to get the point across.

    .
    chapter 6

    D AISY WAS BARKING .
    Jo rolled over, putting a hand on her back. “Daisy, shhhh…”
    She realized that someone was knocking at the door to her apartment. Groaning, she sat up reluctantly, reaching for the sweats she had laid across the foot of her bed the night before. “Stay, Daisy.”
    The knocking intensified as she made her way to the door. “Jo! Hey! Get up!”
    She swung the door open, scratching at her head. “Geez, Max…What time is it?”
    “Eight or so. My car won’t start, and Sammy needs to go to the ER.”
    “Huh? Why?”
    “She’s sick, pretty bad. I woke up to her dry-heaving in the bathroom. Then she nearly passed out on her way back to lay down.”
    Jo grabbed a hoodie from the coat rack by the door. “She’s in your car?”
    “Yeah, I told her to stay put. What’re you doing?”
    Jo’s head popped out through the top of the sweatshirt. “Going with, what do you think I’m doing?”
    Max was shaking her head. “No, no reason for both of us to spend the morning there. Just gimme your keys. I’ll take her.”
    Jo plucked them off the hook by the door, hopping and stutter-stepping as she tried to slip her sneakers on. “Okay, but I just want to see her quick. I’ll walk you down.”
    Sam was crying softly, eyes closed, her head against the headrest and her cell in her hand. Jo leaned through the window. “Hey,” she said softly. “What happened?”
    “It’s eight-twenty in the morning, and he’s already at it.” She handed her phone to Jo without opening her eyes. “And Mom’s called me three times. Just take it. Please. Call Max if you need to reach us.”
    Slipping it into the pouch of her hoodie, Jo