23 Griffin Way, Thursday

[justlike_a_girl]

Dani was in the living room with a stack of bills, her checkbook and a calculator. She was frowning as she did the math. Her winnings from the bets she'd placed on the Triple Crown races really hadn't put her that far ahead once she subtracted the cost of the subsequent shopping spree. To add to that, her business operating expenses had increased even though she was short an employee now that Kris had left.

The only thing that was more irritating than her money woes was that funny smell that had lingered in the house since last Friday. Dani frowned even more as she got another whiff of it and made a note to buy some potpourri.

[For the guy that lives there.]

Comments

[stayingfrosty.livejournal.com]

Price himself wandered into the living room after his time spent at the shooting range. He nodded to Dani and greeted her. "Good afternoon," he said. "Feeling well?"

[justlike_a_girl]

"I've been better," Dani snapped. "Do you smell that? The odor has been driving my nuts all week! I have no idea what it is."

[stayingfrosty.livejournal.com]

Price looked a little embarassed for a moment. "Right, was wondering if you'd noticed that. Don't suppose you know how to get that sort of smell out of a room, would you?"

[justlike_a_girl]

"Open the windows and bring in a fan? I tried room spray but it doesn't seem to cover it up enough," said Dani. "What is that smell, anyway? It reminds me of the time I caught two stable hands sharing a funny cigarette in the barn. I told Daddy to fire both of them before they started a fire."

[stayingfrosty.livejournal.com]

"Funny cigarette, right," Price said, raising an eyebrow. "Promise, I'll get the whole place aired out as soon as possible. Won't happen again."

Yes, he was avoiding the question.

[justlike_a_girl]

Dani raised an eyebrow. "Were you smoking in the house?" she asked.

[stayingfrosty.livejournal.com]

"I wasn't myself at the time," Price said. "I may smoke, but I know to keep it outside and definitely not bloody marijuana."

[justlike_a_girl]

"You were smoking marijuana in my house?" asked Dani angrily. "What were you thinking?"

[stayingfrosty.livejournal.com]

"Did I mention the part where I wasn't myself?" Price said, trying to keep calm. "I mean that quite literally, miss."

[justlike_a_girl]

"That seems to happen a lot in this town," said Dani with a groan. "This isn't going to happen again, is it?"

[stayingfrosty.livejournal.com]

"If it does, you have every right to make me pay for any carpet cleaning of the like," Price said. "I'll accept the responsibility, but I'd appreciate not having to take the blame."

[justlike_a_girl]

Well, that didn't give her much to argue about. It wasn't at all like fighting with Daddy or Matt, who would both argue until they were blue in the face.

"I'll deduct the cleaning costs from your security deposit," she finally said.

[stayingfrosty.livejournal.com]

"Fair enough," Price said. "So you were perfectly normal last Friday?"

[justlike_a_girl]

"Not entirely," said Dani, wincing again. "There's the little part where I donated my entire bank account and then some to a whole bunch of charities. You, uh, might want to turn off the lights when you leave a room so the electrical bill is a little lower."

[stayingfrosty.livejournal.com]

"...Oops," Price said. "You need to borrow a fiver any time, let me know."

[justlike_a_girl]

"I'll keep that in mind," said Dani, though she'd rather eat a live scorpion than borrow money. She'd faced worse times when Daddy was in jail, and Dani was certain that she'd find a way to get out of this mess, too.

[stayingfrosty.livejournal.com]

"So you were giving away gobs of money, and I was trying to give peace a chance," Peter said, chuckling. "We'd have made a lovely pair."