"Golden Texas Tea" (pg 7)

Azalea paused for a moment while she cleared her throat and said, "Yes, I did. So will you?"

Not quite ignoring the thrown insult, Malibu said, "This will make us even, right? You'll compensate me for my time, right? Finally, you'll let me hang out at your house while you're gone?"

Realizing that she was calling her out on the insult, Azalea simply said, "Yes to all of your questions. Now, I have a few more errands to run, so I'll be calling later to let you know the time you'll need be at the house. Ciao for now."

Flipping the cover down, Azalea re-started the car and headed home to pack her suitcases. Along the way, she dialed her travel agent so that he could book her flight and car rental. A few minutes later, the agent said he should have something for her in about an hour.

Arriving home, she parked the car and headed inside. Hearing the wall clock chime, she looked up and realized that the children would be home in about five minutes.

'Shit! Got no time to prepare for this, so I'll have to do this on the fly!" thought Azalea as she started panicking at the thought of the children becoming upset with her for doing this trip on a whim. If they became upset with her, they would revert back to calling her 'Miss Azalea' again.

"Step-mother, we're home from school!" yelled Jey.

"Children, I'm in the master bedroom! Could the both of you come upstairs for a minute?"

Jey whispered to his sister, "This doesn't sound good. Be prepared to follow my lead." Out loud, he said, "We'll be upstairs in a minute!"

A few minutes later, both of them were upstairs in the bedroom, waiting to hear what Azalea wanted and throwing hostile looks at her.

"Children..." she said tentatively, "Please forgive me for this incredibly short notice that I'm about to give you."

"How short?" said Jey, whose body language was becoming more hostile by the second.