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Her back tires hway, Olivia looked up the hill toward the dirt driveway leading to Uncle Julian’s house on the outskirts of Salvation, Virginia Even in the lihts, it was evident that the rain had turned the drive into a squishy, slimy mess

Great She had a good quarter-mile walk in this , not-quite-tame LA alley cat clutched to her chest, and no one was expecting her Hopefully her sisters would be happier to see her than Mother Nature, who—it turned out—was a royal bitch

Grabbing her purse and the keys with her free hand, she slammed the door shut and half slid/half skidded her way up She’dsteps before the thick mud sed her canary-yellow stiletto whole Only the top of her ankle bone poked out of the muck

It was tiirl’s inner Samuel L Jackson could fully express her frustration “Motherfucker”

The shoes that would have been worth some real money if she could find a buyer online were now impractical decoration Just what she needed more of in her life

Handsorowl noise

“Watch those claws, fur ball, or I’ll leave you out here”

The cat hissed

Olivia balanced her weight on her still-free right foot, flexed her left foot, spreading out her toes inside her Ji upward The mud released her foot with a wet slurp, but retained custody of her obnoxiously expensive shoe

As she stood with one leg up like a half-drowned, bedraggled fla of thunder snapped as left of Handso and squir his way free from the confines of Olivia’s trench coat

He perched his fat, furry ass on her shoulder for a heartbeat before using her as a launch pad to propel himself into the darkness

The force of his leap knocked Olivia off kilter She whirled her arht to stay upright in the slick ain The earth and the sky repeatedly traded places She wibbled and wobbled, clawing at the raindrops for balance before toppling forward

Faster than a lue The cold, dank mud went up her nose and into her open mouth

That

Was