Sharon quickly turned to Jaye. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
Jaye slowly shook her head. "I'm fine." She paused for a moment to catch her breath. "When did you --," she started.
But Sharon was out the door, heading to the car she had backed into. Jaye looked at the open door, looked into the backseat and then reached between the front seats. A tiny, warm tongue slopped across her hand. Cringing, she jerked her hand back.
Jaye opened the door on her side, stepped out and called, "Sharon? Is everyone okay?"
Voices stopped, and Sharon answered, "Stay in the car. Everything's fine."
Shutting the door behind her, Jaye walked around to the rear of the SUV. She noticed the smashed headlight of a BMW. She grimaced at the crumpled metal that hugged the corner of the SUV's fender. The fact Sharon's vehicle, at least to her view, seemed to have suffered virtually no damage was not lost on her.
"Holy shit, Sherry. That's your sister?"
Jaye looked up at the sound of the voice. The same bleached pixie hairdo. The same fancy business suit, though more than a bit water-stained. Staring at her from across the hood of the bashed BMW was the handsy blonde from The Barrel.
Sharon rolled her eyes upward. "I told you to stay in the car."
"You hit me because of her? What, did she twist your arm to do it? Jesus, Sherry, I didn't think you'd pull something like that."
Opening her mouth, Sharon began to mumble, "I didn't do it because of her" just as Jaye drowned her out with, "Who the hell is Sherry?"
"Just be quiet and get back in the front, Jaye. I can handle this."
The shorthaired blonde, who had been glaring at Jaye, turned to Sharon. "Handle this? Is that all I am? Something to handle? I'm not even a person?"
"Linny, please, that's not what I meant."
Jaye pointed at Linny. "Don't talk to my sister like that, lady."
"Jaye," Sharon screamed. "For the love of god, just once, would you shut the hell up and do what someone asks? Get inside. This doesn't concern you."
Jaye and the blonde turned to stare at Sharon. In the sketchy light of the parking lot, her face looked more pale than normal. In fact, it almost looked luminescent. Sharon put her hand out to Linny, who grasped it and stepped forward to give support.
"Sherry?" said Linny as she braced herself to hold up the taller woman.
Jaye hopped on to the BMW's hood, slid across and dropped next to her sister. "Sharon? You okay?"
She nodded. "Just stressed." She took a deep breath. A hint of color came back to her face.
"I'm sorry. I'll just get back in the car," said Jaye.
Jaye's jacket pocket squirmed and a little orange head popped out. "Stand your ground."
Jaye froze even though she knew no one else heard the voice. She watched as the grabby blonde put her arm around Sharon's waist and look at the taller woman with concern and a furrowed brow. With a deeply puzzled look on her face, she looked down at the wax lion's head. The critter merely looked back. "Stand your ground." Then it disappeared inside her pocket again.
"What the hell?"
"Hey, hey," said Linny, snapping her fingers. "Earth to psycho. You wanna pay more attention to your sister here? Pull your head out."
Jaye glanced at Sharon, whose color had returned and was getting redder by the second, coupled with an expression of mounting annoyance and embarrassment. Then Jaye turned to Linny. "My mistake. I guess I thought the only person asking for attention here was you."
The blonde's jaw dropped a bit. She gave Sharon a look that screamed, Are you going to let her get away with that?
Sharon shook her head and looked at Linny. "Your problem is with me, and I already told you we'd take care of this – I will take care of this," she said, motioning to the crumpled BMW. "Can we just go on about our business? The two of us can discuss this more tomorrow."
"Fine," said Linny, her tone softening as she stroked Sharon's arm. "But she is going to take care of my blouse and jacket." She looked at Jaye. "And they aren't cheap."
Jaye looked to Sharon, who made a small smile and cut her eyes towards Linny, begging her sister to make nice. And she did feel tired and hungry. Putting Linny in her place would just drag things out, and Sharon's almost collapse needed to be taken into consideration. I'll just go along, she thought.
"Stand your ground."
Oh, God, Jaye thought. Not again, not this, not here, not now.
And for the first time in nearly a month, she froze at the animal's guidance. Just stood there looking at Linny. Stand her ground? What ground did she have? Sharon acting weird and oddly familial. Linny groping the one person Jaye would consider actively seeking therapy just to be with. Her own acts of water revenge and savage retching. Now yet another inanimate animal, which hours earlier verbally badgered her into the path of a speeding bus, now demanded her to pay heed to its commands, to stand her ground.
What the hell did that even mean?
Jaye took a deep breath, looked Linny in the eye, and said, "Okay. And I probably owe you a drink for ruining yours earlier. I'm really sorry about all of that." The words almost hurt to say, and it took all of her strength to make herself sound sincere. But at least the choice is mine, she thought.
Sharon almost snapped her own neck turning her head to look at Jaye.
