Free Amy Maxwell & the 7 Deadly Sins (The Amy Maxwell Series Book 2) by Heather Balog Page A

today. This is not fair! “Tell her I’m not home,” I attempt to mouth to my daughter, but it’s no use because she has already thrust the phone into my hand.
    Ughhhhhhhhhhh! I reluctantly place the phone against my ear, expecting to be admonished by my sister because she heard what I mumbled to Lexie. Beth has supersonic hearing. I think she might have been a dog in a former life.
    “Hello, Beth,” I say while gritting my teeth.
    “Oh hi, Amy,” my sister remarks in a muted tone. She sounds unsure of herself. If I didn’t know better and had to gander a guess, I would even say she sounded drunk . But not happy drunk. The drunk you end up when you’ve been happy drunk and now you know you’re going to throw up in the bushes in front of your house kind of drunk. Not that I would know what that was like or anything. But at any rate, I’ve never heard Beth sound like that. Oh, except for the time she called me to tell me our Nana had died. Holy crap, did someone die?
    “Is everything ok?” I ask with concern. “You’ve already torture…er, called me today.”
    “Yes, yes,” Beth remarks breathlessly. “I just want to remind you about the forth.”
    I wrinkle up my brow as I head over to the cabinet in the kitchen to retrieve a Band-Aid. We have to hide them from Lexie in the kitchen, otherwise she uses them all. I now see Colt trying to also sneak a snack, but I’m too distracted by my conversation with Beth to scold him.
    The forth what? Did she say forth or force ? Is this a Star Wars reference? Because I have no patience for Star Wars. I have no idea what she is talking about, but I can’t let on. “What about it?” I am attempting to trap the phone between my shoulder and chin while I wrap a Band-Aid around my thumb. The phone slips right and plunk! Right into the dishwater.
    “God damn it! Shit! Crap!” I screech as I quickly scoop it out of the water. Since when does anyone in this house fill up a dishpan and leave it in the sink like they’re going to do dishes? Then I realize that I was the one who left the dishpan in the sink. Three days ago.
    “Sorry! Sorry!” I try to dry the phone on my pant leg while muttering my apologies, even though the receiver is close to my knee. Old bat ears will probably hear it anyway.
    “What in heaven’s name is going on there?” Beth remarks with a nervous chuckle.
    “Nothing, I just dropped the phone,” I explain.
    “Oh, well then, I guess that’s alright.” Well thank you, your majesty. “What do you need now, Beth?” I ask with one eye on the clock. Gosh darn, it’s too late to defrost the pot roast for dinner…I guess we will have to order Thai food.
    “I just wanted to remind you about the forth,” she repeats. Oh yes, we’re back to that . “Don’t forget to pick Jillian up. I texted you the address and you didn’t answer me.”
    Oh! The fourth ! Not the forth ! “Didn’t you just tell me about that a half hour ago?” Really, did she think I would forget it that quickly? Ok, so maybe I did forget, but how does she know that? Is she clairvoyant?
    “Well, you were in your car if I recall. Now you’re home and you can write it on your calendar,” Beth remarks.
    I stare at the dry erase calendar that is hanging precariously on the wall. Half of the appointments have been smudged off and the other half are written in such small handwriting that I may need a hieroglyphics expert to decipher them.
    “I’m logging it into my head right now,” I tell her and proceed to make beeping noises for fun. Beth is not amused.
    “Write it down, Amy. You can’t forget!” Her voice is nearly frantic. Geez Louise, is she for real?
    “Sure thing, Beth,” I reply with a hint of snarkiness. How rude! She thinks I can’t remember to pick up her precious princess unless I write it down?
    “I’ve got to go cook dinner now,” I lie while depressing the end button. I can still hear her shouting something indecipherable at me. I’m quite certain