“Y’all still out here talkin’ in the heat?” Mama calls from behind the screen door to the trailer. I didn’t even hear her open the door. “You’re gonna melt into a puddle out there!”
“They’re not comin’ back in,” I call back to her before anyone else can say otherwise.
I swear I can see Mama poutin’ behind the screen. “Medley, manners!”
“It’s alright,” Alder says with a cool smile. “We do need to head back. But we just wanted to talk to Medley about taking the job down at the bar. We feel partially responsible for her termination, and we feel that she would be a great addition to our place of business.”
“Medley, I think you should consider it!” Mama calls, her voice carryin’ across the yard.
I shoot Alder a glare for tryin’ to get my mama on his side. “Yeah, well, thank you for the offer, but I’m gonna politely decline,” I say.
“Why?” All four of them ask.
“Well, aside from the fact that it would be an annoyin’ commute, these two just told me that I’m some kind of demon spawn from Hell,” I deadpan. “So I’m gonna have to pass, but thank y’all for stoppin’ by,” I end with a cheerfully fake smile.
Flint and Alder gape at me. Silence reigns for a beat. Two beats.
“What’s that, Heavenly Bell?” Mama calls. “You say somethin’ about demons?”
Alder and Flint are still too shocked at me blurtin’ out the truth, so they just continue to blink at me. I guess they expected me to hide this from my parents. Probably thought I’d lie about the fact that they’re demons and I may or may not be one too. Well, they’ve just had a rude awakenin’, because while I may try to protect my parents, I wouldn’t keep somethin’ like this from them.
“Yes, ma’am,” I call back. “They claim to be demons too, so I’m gonna have to decline their terms of employment. I think I’d rather have a job at the corner market instead of Hell,” I snark.
“Oh...well. Alright then. Come in for lunch. I made gumbo.”
I don’t know how it’s possible, but Flint and Alder just look even more bewildered at my mama’s response.
“You want me to shoot ’em, honey girl?” Daddy offers.
“No, that’s alright, Daddy. I’m not sure buckshot would do much to a demon, but thank you,” I say sweetly.
He turns his gaze on the gawkers. “Well, you heard her. She says no to the job. You two best head out now.”
Flint shakes his head in bewilderment, runnin’ a hand through his black hair as he looks over at Alder.
“That’s it?” Alder asks me with confusion. “We tell you you’re a demon and you just...send us on our way?”
“Yep,” I reply. I need to process this on my own. “You two drive safe now. I got somewhere to be later.”
I turn and start walkin’ back to the trailer, Daddy right beside me. I hear Alder curse out a disbelievin’ What the fuck? behind me.
“That didn’t go the way you said it was gonna go,” Flint mutters to him.
“Shut up,” the yellow-haired demon mutters.
My lip twitches as I make my way up the porch, and I’m almost to the screen door when a lavender hand stops me, fingers gently graspin’ my wrist. I gasp and look up, because damn he moved quick, and his touch...it sends tingles all up and down my spine.
“Here,” Alder says, passin’ me a card. “So you can call us. If you change your mind or have any...problems.”
My finger skates over the black embossed letters on the card, and I nod. “Okay,” I say, my voice a little breathless at our connection. I like his touch. I find myself wantin’ to lean into him, to egg him on to touch me more, but I manage to hold back. This intense attraction I have to the two of them is disconcertin’.
Alder hesitates for a moment while I look down at him from my spot on the elevated porch, all too aware of my daddy glarin’ at where he’s still holdin’ onto my wrist. My eyes drop to his purple lips, and I wait with bated breath to see what he’s gonna do next.
But like he’s just now becomin’ aware that he’s still touchin’ me too, Alder quickly drops his hold and steps back with a resigned nod. “Don’t hesitate to call, Medley.”
I have to suppress a shiver at the way he says my name—intimate, like he’s savorin’ it. After one more look, his butterscotch gaze searin’ into me, he turns and walks away, and a little disappointment settles in my stomach at his retreatin’ back. Flint gives me a simple wave, the letdown clear on his face as the pair of them head off to that fancy gray SUV.
The three of us watch as they get in and drive away, and then I turn and look at Mama through the screen door with a brow arched and arms crossed. “You told me I was dropped off at your doorstep by an angel,” I say dryly.
True to her gumption, Mama just shrugs. “Well, demons are just fallen angels, ain’t they?” she counters.
Now I’m the one gapin’. “Really, Mama?” I counter. “That’s what you have to say about all this?”
She shrugs and shoves open the screen door, and Daddy and I both walk inside to the blessed A/C. “You think they’re lyin’?” she asks me.
I bite my lip in thought, but a resoundin’ no blares through my mind. “It’s crazy, right?” I say instead.
Mama tilts her head at me, her frizzy red hair held up with both humidity and hairspray. “I told you time and time again how we found you.”
My eyes bug out. “I thought all that left on the doorstep by an angel talk was just somethin’ you said to me when I was little to make me feel better about bein’ adopted!”
Mama and Daddy both scoff like that’s ridiculous. “Course not. You know
