Strangely Normal by Tess Oliver Page B

absence of lunch. He pulled out a can of soda and slammed shut the door. “I thought Jude was supposed to hire another chef. I’m going to waste away to nothing.”
    Finley pushed by him with a disgusted sigh. “Not you too. By the way, where’s the dark half of the sulk and whine duo?”
    “He’s down in the garage tuning up his Harley. Just watch, as soon as that ankle monitor comes off, he’s going to fly out of here like The Flash. And he’ll leave us all to starve to death without a chef.”
    “You guys are ridiculously helpless. There’s bread and there’s cheese.” Finley opened the fridge and pulled out tomatoes and lettuce. “There are even veggies for a sandwich.”
    “Yeah, that’s great for a rabbit like you, but I need to gnaw on some flesh.”
    I looked down at Some Pig. “Cover your ears, S.P.”
    Cole scowled down at the pig. “Yeah, cover ‘em, Dude. You’re the reason bacon, the finest food on earth, was banned from this house.”
    Finley elbowed Cole out of her way at the counter. “Shit, you’re cranky.”
    “I know. My arm hurts like hell, and there’s no damn food to eat.”
    Finley lifted up a slice of bread. “Do you want a sandwich or not? Final offer.”
    “Nah, I’m going out for a burger.” He left the kitchen.
    I picked up a knife and started slicing tomatoes. “He was definitely in a bad mood.”
    “Yeah, that’s unusual for Cole. Jude is almost always brooding about something, but Cole just coasts from day to day with hardly a worry in his pretty boy head.” She spread some mayo on the bread. “I think he and Jude had an argument earlier. Cole texted me about it while you were downstairs with Jude.”
    “Do they fight a lot?”
    “Not really. They get along most of the time. Cole invited someone to the party that Jude doesn’t like, so they got into it. Sometimes Cole is just plain stupid, and sometimes Jude is just too bossy. It makes for trouble. But this time I sided with Jude, so Cole is extra pissed.” She cut the sandwich in half, and we each took our share. “Let’s eat fast. The longer I think about our little adventure, the less likely I am to try it.”
    We decided to leave Some Pig behind. It was one less worry for Finley, and he seemed just as pleased to curl up in front of the television. Finley left soap operas on for him, and we headed out in tense silence as if we were about to explore a new and forbidden planet. In a way, I guess it was like that for Finley.
    The same woman who’d passed the pool yesterday, walked by us today. “How’s it going?” she muttered as she sidled past us and on to the pool house.
    Finley didn’t answer her. She was deep in thought.
    “So where does this self-constructed fence begin?” I asked, deciding if I allowed her to dwell too long on her thoughts, she’d turn around and head back.
    “The end of the hedge, where the massive stretch of lawn begins, that’s where my world stops and the other world begins.” She stopped and took hold of my arm. “I’m not sure about this, Eden. Today already started out badly.”
    “Right. So the bad stuff is already out of the way. Let’s at least make it to the edge before you decide to turn back.”
    Finley’s mouth was drawn tight as she considered my proposal. “All right, let’s get to the end of the hedge and then we’ll see. But it’s not looking good at this point.”
    An incredibly long, perfectly trimmed hedge grew along one side of the yard. There was a pathway of bricks running parallel with it, and we walked along it in silence. The tension and fear radiating from Finley was palpable. And then I thought about back at home when Sophie or Janie had had a bad dream and couldn’t go back to sleep. I would get their minds off the nightmare by bringing up a different subject that interested them. For Janie, it was dolls, and for Sophie, it was princess stories, but I had the perfect topic for Finley. I knew that Finley’s fear was on a whole