Resist Him If You Can

C h a p t e r - 2

0 2

d a d d y

"This girl is on fi-yah!" Rachel screeches into my ear in her scratchy, ear-splitting voice.

"Rach! Rach!" I yell into the phone, clenching my fist tightly.

She stops her shrilling and mumbles a soft, innocent 'What?'

"Remember when you called me at work and said you had an emergency?" I inquire with a wide smile, faking sweetness in my voice.

"Yeaahh?" She mumbles, drawing out the single word in question.

"You singing Girl On Fire doesn't sound like a freaking emergency!" I grumble into the phone, throwing my hands in the air.

She giggles humorlessly and whispers softly, "Oh. I may have gone a little bit off topic."

"Ya think!" I grumble, rolling my eyes.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me, Missy!" She reprimands and I could feel her narrowing her eyes at me.

I immediately stiffen and whisper in a hushed voice, totally spooked, "How did you know I was rolling my eyes at you?"

"That's not the point." She shrugs it off. "Anyway, where were we?"

"Um... I was working while you were being an off-key Alicia Keys." I murmur dryly and stare casually at my nails.

"Uh no. Before that?" She asks, wondering out loud.

"Um... I dunno. You screeching into my ears kinda brainwashed me." I mumble, rubbing my forehead and wincing in pain.

"Oh hush now! Ooh! I remember!" She says giddily and continues, "So you know how tedious being a housewife is, right? I mean, you have to wake up early, prepare breakfast, bath the kids, look after them, cook lunch and dinner, do the laundry and the dishes, clean the house and other blabbity blah stuff. You know how hard it is, right?" She asks innocently and I could feel her blinking her big brown eyes at me.

"Oo-kay?" I say awkwardly, not knowing how to reply to that.

"So, if I made a teeny-tiny-eenie-weenie mistake, it's not a big deal, right?" She whispers softly with hints of guilt laced in her voice.

"Rach? What did you do?" I ask sternly using my mother-voice, knowing that a mistake made by Rachel Buchanan can never be a fudging teeny-tiny one.

"Um... It wasn't all my fault." She whispers softly.

"Rach?"

"Okay, maybe it was my fault." She whispers again, ignoring me.