Joel took a banana from the kitchen counter, opened it, ate it and spat it out. "Blech!" he exclaimed as he threw it in the trash. "These were good yesterday."
"They still are," Abby said as she took a bite of her own.
Joel jumped and turned around. "You!"
"Yes, me."
Abby frowned at her father. "Are you okay?"
"Sure. I, uh, I look okay don't I?"
Abby further furrowed her brow. Joel seemed on edge, but that had become his default state since Sheila undied. Could be a missing corpse, could be another nervous breakdown, could just be a difficult client. As he withered under her stare, Abby concluded that if she asked what was going on, he wouldn't give her a straight answer. So she said, "Yeah, you look fine. Hey, can you drive me and Eric to school? Lisa's car broke down so she has to take Dan's and she already left..."
At the mention of Dan, Joel thought, 'The first kill was mine. How did I do that? Was I somehow already infected then? Or did I do it on moral grounds, so I couldn't look down on Sheila? Did I look down on her? Am I looking down on myself...?'
"I'll drive you," Sheila said. "I have to do a couple of errands anyway."
"If that includes Rite Aid, could you pick up some maxi-pads? The thin ones, please. I had to use one of yours this morning, it feels like a pillow."
"That's cotton, it's supposed to feel like that," Sheila said. "I've been using those since I was your age. Not as regularly now, though. Pre-menopause, the doctor said."
"When did he say that?" Abby asked.
"A few months ago, maybe."
"So not within the last month."
"No, I suppose not." A thought spread across Sheila's face. "You know, I should have had my period by now. Do you think all the stress we've had this month delayed it?"
"You bleed black goo now, Mom."
"You think that affected my cycle?"
The doorbell rang. Abby crossed the living room to answer. It was Eric.
"So can your parents give us a ride?" he asked.
"Yeah." Then Abby lowered her voice. "Does my dad look weird to you right now?"
Eric looked over her shoulder, accidentally caught Joel's eye, and waved to him. He shrugged at Abby. "On the verge of a nervous breakdown, but when isn't he?"
"I think my parents screwed up and are hiding something."
"Aren't they always?"
YOU ARE READING
Santa Clarita Diet Season 4
Fanfiction[CW: Spoilers] If Netflix won't give us a fourth season, I will. Picking up where the show left off, we'll explore Joel Hammond's unlife and how it affects his relationships with Sheila, Abby, Eric, Lisa and Rick. Joel/Sheila, Joel/Lisa because he...
