Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Alice

"And now we wait a little bit longer," Meg called from the bathroom. We had set up the air fryer in the bathroom, and Meg had finally put her banana bread in. "I'm not sure how long it will take in there, so I erred on the shorter side. I think it needs another five minutes or so."

"I still can't believe you just made banana bread in your hotel room," I laughed.

Meg sure was something else. Once the room had cleared for King's pinstriping seminar, we headed up to Meg's room while the guys headed off to another meeting. Today was the last day for meetings, and tomorrow was an exhibition with booths and demonstrations from companies and products for body shops.

"I need coffee," Nikki groaned from the couch. "I don't know why, but my ass is dragging."

"Because you didn't get a coffee this morning," I called. "We came down thinking we were going to caffeinate, but instead, we ran into Meg and Lennox."

Nikki pointed at Meg. "You are to blame, but I still like you."

"Girl, I have learned after all of these years that nothing can and will stand in the way of my daily coffee." I opened the mini fridge and motioned inside. "I now travel with my creamer, no matter what. And I also always have a special tool with me."

"Mayo," Nikki guessed.

Lennox wrinkled her nose. "My god, if you have been putting mayo in my coffee all of these years, we are going to have a talk."

Meg laughed and shook her head. "That would be a negative. My secret tool is this." Meg reached into her purse and pulled out something, but I wasn't sure what she pulled out.

"What the what?" Lennox squawked. She slapped her hands over her eyes. "Why in the hell are you holding up your vibrator?"

I leaned forward and squinted at the little doohickey she was holding. "If that is your vibrator, you've got a vagina made of steel because I'm pretty sure that thing would tear me the hell up." I cringed and leaned back. "Yeah, I'm not one to yuck someone's yum, but that's a no for me."

Meg pressed a button, and the end of the thing whirled around like a tornado. "No," she laughed. "It's a frother."

Lennox put her fingers in her ears. "I do not want to know what you named it. You are Jonas' mom, and you're like my mom."

Meg rolled her eyes and let go of the button. "You guys are ridiculous." She grabbed a coffee cup, pulled the creamer out of the fridge, and poured a generous glug into the cup. She put the creamer back into the fridge and slammed the fridge shut. "Watch and be amazed." She held the cup of creamer in one hand, and in the other, she turned on the frother.

She slowly moved the frother up and dunked it into the cup.

And that is when it clicked.

It was a mini electric whisk.

Man, were we idiots!

Nikki let out a loud laugh and elbowed Lennox, who still had her fingers cramped into her ears, and her eyes slammed shut.

Lennox cracked open one eye, and her jaw dropped open.

Meg cocked her head to the side. "I'm assuming you guys know what this actually is now, right?"

"I did think frother was a weird name for your vibrator," I confessed.

"Can you imagine using that as a…" Nikki bugged out her eyes and tipped her chin to her crotch.

"You guys are too much," Meg laughed. "Who wants a latte?" she asked.

Nikki's hand shot up. "Me first since I am ten seconds away from passing out."

Lennox and I both wanted one, too, so Meg became a barista and whipped up the creamer while the coffee brewed.

Nikki sniffed the air. "Uh, does anyone else smell something burning?" she asked.

I shook my head. "I don't smell anything." I laid back on the bed and stretched my arms over my head. "What do you think they are going to serve at the dinner tonight?" I pondered.

"It's a pizza party," Meg called. "So I am going to assume that they are going to have pizza," she laughed. She finished the first latte and handed it to Nikki.

Nikki took a sip and sighed. "I am never going to be able to go back to my crap coffee at home after this."

Meg started the next cup of coffee and poured another generous glug of cream into the cup. "Girl, just get yourself a frother off Amazon, and you'll be good to go. Before you know it, you'll be buying all the flavored syrups and even whipped cream."

Meg finished the lattes for us and then flopped onto the bed next to me.

"This taste amazing," Lennox sighed, "but now I'm smelling something burning, too."

"I don't smell it now," Nikki laughed. "I'm sure it's nothing."

"How many grandkids do you have?" I asked Meg.

"My son, Remy, has two with his wife. I'm still waiting on Jonas to make me a grandma for the third time." She glanced at Lennox. "Any day now."

Lenox gave a thumbs up. "We are practicing."

Meg laughed. "That's fine. I guess I can wait a little bit longer."

"Guys," Nikki called.

"What?" I laughed.

She jumped up from the couch. "Something is burning."

"The banana bread!" Meg hollered.