“Time to eat,” Aunt Zoe called from the top of the steps.
Both kids scrambled up the stairs.
Natalie walked over and shut off the Beach Boys. “She knows about the dark,” she said quietly.
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Maybe it’s a different dark.”
“She’s your kid, Vi. A chip off the old block, who’s next in line to kill.” She shooed Elvis back into her pen and closed the gate after her. “I don’t think it’s a different dark.”
I didn’t either. “Shit.”
“She’s going to be hell on wheels in her teen years.”
“Probably.”
Natalie came over and hip-bumped me. “Just like her momma.”
I bumped her back. “I wasn’t hell on wheels. You were. I was just an innocent bystander you dragged into your debauchery.”
“Is that smoke coming out of your ass or are your pants on fire?”
“You’re the one with smoke in your … you have … I mean …”
“Jeez! Stop, please.” She made a pained face. “You are truly a sad sack of suckerhood tonight.”
“Kiss my grits, law-dog lover.” I playfully pushed her toward the chicken cage.
She laughed. “Last one to the table has to tell your aunt that someone invited Reid to join us tonight.”
I gasped. “You didn’t!”
“Oh, hell yeah. You aren’t the only one wearing cupid wings around here.”
We raced up the steps, laughing and pulling at each other, bursting into the kitchen with Natalie in the lead.
“Violet Lynn,” Aunt Zoe chastised as she dished soup into bowls and handed them around the table where the kids, Harvey, and Doc all sat, along with Cornelius, who must have arrived while I was down in the basement. “How many times have I told you not to run up and down those stairs?” She did a double take when she looked at my shirt, but didn’t say anything.
I couldn’t remember how many times she had warned me about the stairs. She’d been saying it since I was younger than Addy and Layne.
“Nat,” she said, “will you grab the pitcher of lemonade from the fridge?”
“You’re like a heifer in a corn crib,” Harvey told me, slicing off pieces from one of the two loaves of sourdough that sat next to him on a cutting board.
I dropped a loud kiss on my aunt’s cheek before sliding onto the chair next to Doc, who squeezed my leg under the table. I pointed at the grinning old buzzard across the table. “I told you to stop calling me a cow.”
“Can I say you look as pretty as a red heifer in a flowerbed?”
“Red heifers are real lookers,” Doc said, his eyes creased with laughter.
“Zip it, Candy Cane.”
“How about hungry as a heifer in a bare pasture?” Harvey threw out.
“My grandfather used to say that, only he used ‘hungry as a billy goat’ instead,” Cornelius said, looking at me. “Violet is more of a sheep, though, with that hair.”
I aimed my spoon at him. “Don’t start with my hair, Pied Piper.” Back to Harvey, I said, “Keep it up and I’ll arrange to have one of your gold teeth yanked out the next time we visit Zelda’s dentist ‘friend.’ ”
“Watch it, boys.” Natalie set the lemonade pitcher on the table. “Violet is as excited as a calf in new clover tonight.”
I wrinkled my nose at her. “Had to get another bovine reference in, didn’t you?”
She blew me a kiss and slid onto the seat between Cornelius and Layne. “Hey, Corny.” She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Word on the street is that your noggin’ is overflowing with freakiness these days.”
He gave her one of his crooked smiles. “I’m chock-full of surprises.”
“I like surprises,” Addy said, dipping a piece of bread into her soup. “Which reminds me, Mom. Kelly wants to get me a baby bearded lizard next month for my birthday.”
“Absolutely not.” I didn’t even pause to think about that. Doc and I didn’t need a lizard joining us in bed, along with a chicken and whatever else the damned cat brought me as a “gift.”
She stuck out her lower lip. “Why not?”
“Elvis will eat it,” Layne answered for me. “It’ll be like a big nightcrawler.”
“No, she won’t. Lizards are too big for her to eat.”
“Fine, then Bogart will.” Layne slurped his soup.
“Bogart is a vegetarian, remember?”
“Here’s a novel idea,” I interrupted. “How about we don’t talk about eating worms or lizards during supper?” I looked at my son. “And please stop slurping your soup.”
“But you didn’t even think about letting me have a lizard,” Addy complained. “Doc, you like lizards, don’t you?”
The doorbell rang, saving Doc having to take sides.
Natalie grinned at me. “You lost the race, slowpoke.”
Which meant I had to tell my aunt who was most likely standing at the door. I cringed and stood. “I’ll get that.”
Aunt Zoe glanced up at me as she settled into her chair and put her napkin on her lap. “Did you invite Coop?”
“Yep, but I don’t think that’s Cooper.”
“Then who is …” Her gaze hardened. “Violet Lynn.”
“Natalie invited Reid for supper,” I tattled and ran out of the room.
“That wasn’t our agreement,” Natalie called after me.
Reid was waiting on the porch with a bottle of wine. “Hey, Sparky.” He gave me a sideways hug as he passed. “I heard you kicked some devil-ass today.”
I held the wine while he took off his coat, happy to see his blue eyes and warm smile. “Gamay,” I read on the label. “The good stuff.”
“Only the best for Zo.” He draped his coat on the back of a dining room chair, looking downright dashing in his black sweater and jeans. He smelled even better—but not as good as Harvey’s soup.
“Come on, Romeo.” I led the way into the kitchen. “Look who made it, everyone.”
My kids cheered, which made Reid smile wider.
Aunt Zoe scowled, then started dishing up a bowl for Reid. “Have a seat, Martin. But don’t be getting any ideas.”
“Ideas about what, Zo?” he asked, his eyes traveling over her as he took the bowl of soup she held out. “I’m
