Killer Reunion by G. A. McKevett

It’s ’cause you’re so sweet and love me so much.”
    He growled.
    She reached for the door handle and started to pull it.
    â€œNo!” He reached across her and grabbed her arm. “You are not getting out of this car, Savannah. You are not going out in this storm.”
    She pulled the handle. The door swung open a couple of inches. The cold rain blew in and pelted against her side, stinging her bare skin.
    He’s right , whispered an inner voice. She recognized the voice immediately. It was her higher spiritual self speaking. Your husband is being sensible . . . for once. Follow his sound advice.
    Then the other voice spoke. And it didn’t whisper. It was loud and obnoxious. Are you kidding? This is Dirk you’re dealing with , it said. If you admit he’s right now, you’ll never hear the end of it. In for a penny, in for a pound. For Pete’s sake, just bite the bullet and do it.
    She steeled herself and flung the door open.
    â€œI am not going to get out of this car and tromp around in the pouring down rain to protect you, Savannah,” he shouted. “I’m not. You are on your own.”
    Grabbing her purse from the floorboard, she got out her Beretta and flashed it under his nose. “You didn’t hear me requesting backup, now did you? If I chance to run into any marauding bobcats or rabid raccoons, I’ll dispense with ’em all by my lonesome. That goes for copperheads and rattlers, too. So don’t get your pecker stuck in your zipper over me.”
    As she hurled her reluctant body out of the car and into the chilling rain, again attired in only her lingerie and Marietta’s hooker heels, she heard her husband say, “Okay, but if you slip and fall off that cliff and break your neck, don’t you come running back to me. . . .”
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    â€œWe shall never speak of this night again. Never. Ever. Understood?” Savannah said as she sat in the passenger seat of the rental car, shivering, her teeth chattering, water streaming off her hair, her bare feet and legs covered with mud up to her knees. She was holding her purse in her left hand and one of Marietta’s sandals in her right.
    Only one.
    Dirk stopped the car in front of Granny’s house and turned off the engine. Chuckling gleefully, he said, “Right. Get real. You know I’m going to torture you with this every day for the rest of our lives. No way this gets brushed under the rug.”
    She thought it over. Readjusted her expectations.
    â€œOkay, I’ll make you a deal. You don’t tell Granny one word of what actually happened tonight—none of it,” she said, “and you’ll live to see the morning light.”
    â€œYou got it, kid.”
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    They found Gran wide awake and sitting in her comfy chair, reading her Bible. On the side table next to her was a crumpled tabloid newspaper. Granny considered both to be infallible sources of all things true.
    â€œWhat in tarnation happened to you?” she said as she caught sight of her oldest granddaughter and her grandson-in-law. “Considerin’ the lateness of the hour, I was halfway through plannin’ your funerals, but I didn’t reckon it’d be as bad as all this !” She waved a hand, indicating Savannah’s sodden attire, dripping hair, and mud-caked legs.
    â€œI’m so sorry, Granny,” Savannah replied, lingering on the doormat. “We had a bit of car trouble and—”
    â€œDon’t go giving me that hooey. You never could lie worth a plug nickel, gal, so don’t even bother.”
    Gran raised one delicate eyebrow as she took in every detail of the twosome’s appearance. “ Okay ,” she said once her evaluation was finished. “After the reunion shindig, you went up to Lookout Point for some hanky-panky, got caught in the rain and stuck in the mud.”
    Dirk turned to Savannah. “How’d she know where we