red hill - jamie mcguire

Chapter Twenty-Two
Miranda
IT WAS SITTING ON THE table like it belonged there, like a flower vase, or a pen—or a toy. Zoe was
playing Go Fish on the floor with Elleny, and there was a fully loaded 9mm Glock not five feet from
them. I picked it up and checked that the safety was on—it wasn’t.
“Are you f— whose is this” I said, holding up the handgun. “What dumbass left a loaded gun
without the safety on next to the kids”
Nathan walked into the kitchen, likely just out of curiosity, because I knew he wouldn’t be that
stupid. Scarlet came in right after, followed by Joey.
“Oh. That’s mine,” Joey said. “Well, I brought it up from downstairs. I just had to take a leak. I
was coming back to get it.”
I made a show of pointing to the safety. “What if one of the kids had gotten ahold of this You
ought to have your ass whipped!”
“I’m sorry,” he said, stunned at my anger. “I just put it down for a second. It won’t happen again.”
He picked up the gun from the table, and went outside through the laundry room.
Scarlet and Nathan traded glances.
“Thanks for saving me the trouble of a lecture,” Scarlet said. “You’re becoming quite the mama
bear.”
“Yeah,” I said, pissed off that I was still pissed off.
I went out the front door and stood on the porch, hoping some fresh air would help. It was getting
hotter. Not only did being hot make me cranky, but it also reminded me of summers here with my dad.
The dad I would never see again because his girlfriend ate him.
A gunshot rang out, and I caught Joey aiming at some cans on a fence from the corner of my eye. He
shot a few more times and then walked to the fence to reset the cans.
I walked over to him. He didn’t acknowledge me.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “That was a little harsh.”
“A little harsh I half expected your head to start spinning around and pea soup to start spewing
from your mouth.”
“Don’t be such a baby. It wasn’t that bad. Are you telling me Dana never yelled at you”
“No. As a matter of fact, she didn’t. We got along really well.”
“Well, you probably didn’t leave firearms lying around when you were with Dana.”
“Probably not. It was a stupid thing to do, I get it.”
I glanced up at the sky, recoiling from the bright sun. I wasn’t sure, but it had to be getting close to
June, if it wasn’t already. I could already feel beads of sweat forming along my hairline. God, I