Hot Mess Read Online Free

anytime, Sophie."
    "Cool." Her braids bobbed, as she bent over her plate to eat.
    "I don't suppose you finished your homework before she came over, did you?"
    Sophia shook her head. "Nope, but I don't have that much tonight. Just one worksheet in math. It's easy."
    "Well, after you finish your dinner, you can work on it, while I get everything cleaned up in here. Okay?"
    "'Kay." Sophia gobbled up the rest of her lasagna, as if she actually wanted to do math worksheets and kissed her mom on the cheek before running to her room to work on it.
    Rachel loaded the dishwasher, wiped down the countertops with antibacterial wipes, and looked around the kitchen. Everything was spotless and germ-free, just the way she liked it. She was compulsive about keeping germs out of her house, and as much as she had improved in her compulsion, she was still a stickler for antibacterial stuff. She had the wipes, the hand sanitizer, and she used Lysol on every surface in her house at least once a week. It made her feel better.
    Going into her room, her jewelry box was on her bed where the girls had finished playing with it this afternoon. Idly opening it, she saw that they had just thrown everything in, willy-nilly, with absolutely no organization to it whatsoever. She didn't really mind. It just made it difficult to find stuff when she actually had a notion to wear jewelry. So she sat on the edge of her bed to sort out the box.
    After untangling the necklaces, matching the earrings back up, and sorting through the bracelets, she was putting the rings back in the slots on the edge of the box, when she noticed one missing. It wasn't a particularly fine piece, none of it was, but it had belonged to her grandmother. It had been her Mothers' ring. She had five children, and the ring had birthstones for all five kids: a garnet, a sapphire, two topazes, and a pearl. Truthfully, Rachel didn’t believe any of the stones were real, and she knew the ring itself was only made of silver, but that didn’t make it any less sentimental. Her grandma's second husband had given her the ring after they married, and he took on all five of her children as his own. It was a statement of faith in their life together. And her grandma had given her the ring before she died. It didn't fit her, so she didn't wear it much, because she was too afraid to lose it.
    She went to Sophia's room and knocked on the door. "Sophie?" Opening the door, she saw her daughter laying across her bed, math worksheet in front of her, pencil in her mouth, headphones in her ear, obviously listening to some garbage that Rachel didn't like to hear out loud in her house.
    Tapping her on the shoulder, Rachel got her attention. "Sophie? Were you guys playing with Meemaw's ring?"
    She nodded. "Amanda was wearing it, but we put everything back. I promise." Sophia's eyes were wide, and pleading.
    "Of course you did. It's not in the box now though. The ring must be in here somewhere. Will you help me look for it?"
    Nodding, the little girl slid off the bed to help Rachel look for the ring.
    Sophia was a neat child. In Rachel's house she had to be. She had been raised to put everything in its place when she was finished, and on the weekends she had an active role in the weekly disinfecting. So she knew that picking up regularly was easier than doing it all on Saturday before she could play or watch movies.
    They searched the floor of her room thoroughly, as well as the bed and shelves and toy box. When it seemed that the ring was nowhere to be found, Rachel stood, sighing heavily.
    "Well, maybe Amanda accidentally took it home with her. It might have somehow slipped into her pocket. I'll go over and ask her father. You finish your math and get in the tub. I'll be right back."
    Rachel didn't really believe that the girl had accidentally taken it home. She knew how little girls could be with shiny things. A couple of years ago, Sophia had "borrowed" a crystal baby Jesus from a manger scene in a shop