“Dang. I was hoping there would be some interesting pictures on the roll.”
Ronnie scoffed. “You trying to stir up trouble again?”
“You’re one to talk.”
“I can’t control the shit Lyle keeps getting me into.”
“I’m not talking about your ex. I’m talking about Grady’s.”
Ronnie crossed her arms. “What about Elizabeth? What have you heard? That bitch better not be bringing Grady lunch anymore.”
“Kate said you’re challenging her to some fight.”
“What? I haven’t even seen Grady’s ex since that night Katie gave her a good soaking at The Shaft.”
“You think there’ll be bikinis and mud involved?” Chester asked, grinning at Coop’s uncle.
“It ain’t worth watchin’ otherwise,” Harvey replied.
Claire threatened the two clowns with her drill before turning back to Ronnie. “Ask Kate about it. I’m just repeating what she told me last night.”
“Why would you believe Katie? Her marbles are scattered far and wide over the desert floor.”
Claire grinned at Natalie. “I told you Kate is crazy.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t specify why. The range of possibilities is vast when it comes to your little sister these days.”
“Are you selling tickets for this fight?” Chester asked.
“There isn’t going to be a fight,” Ronnie told him. “But if there were, you’d be in my corner giving me pointers, not in the stands.”
Chester winked at her. “I’ll wear bells, Rocky.” He leaned over to Harvey. “Ronnie is one hell of a scrapper.”
“I think Natalie and Claire have me beat,” Ronnie told them. She sat on the edge of the porch next to where Claire was installing the railing. “Are Mac and you really buying The Shaft?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Are you going to need a bookkeeper?”
“Yep, and a waitress. Maybe something else before it’s all said and done, too.” Claire stuck a screw on the end of her drill bit. “Don’t think for a minute that you’re getting out of working your ass off when Butch is no longer the owner. Besides, Kate’s a short-timer with that baby coming this spring.”
“What am I?” Kate asked, stepping out onto the deck with a bowl of ice cream in her hand.
“Not crazy,” Chester said and pulled two cigars out from his shirt pocket, offering one to Harvey.
“You’re a kiss ass, Chester,” Claire said to the wiseacre.
Kate smiled. “Thank you, Chester, but I’m still not naming my first child after you.”
“Worth a shot,” he muttered around the cigar, fishing his lighter out of his cargo pants.
Claire glanced at Ronnie. “You’ll have a job as long as you want one. A place to live is another story, though. Ruby’s place is going to be tight. You sure you wouldn’t rather bunk with Grady than Jessica?”
She sighed, nodding. “I can’t move in with Grady.”
“Why not?” Kate sat next to Ronnie at the edge of the deck. She spooned mint chocolate chip ice cream into her mouth. “Does he have cop cooties?”
“Cute. You act more and more like Natalie every day.”
“Lucky her.” Natalie stuck her tongue out at Ronnie.
“What’s your problem with living with Grady?” Claire asked. “You sleep at his place most nights now.”
“That’s different.” Ronnie chewed on her lower lip. “Moving in together is big. Seems too fast. Besides, I need to make sure I’m not just clinging to him because he makes a nice and stable buoy while I’m weathering Lyle’s shit storms.”
“You think you’re just using him?” Kate asked.
Ronnie shrugged. “Most likely not, but I want to be sure. He deserves a good woman. I’m not certain where I land on that scale.”
“You’re not using him,” Natalie said, her focus on the circuit box.
“How do you know?” Kate took another spoonful of ice cream.
“Because that’s Claire’s and my style, not Ronnie’s.”
“Hey!” Claire said, aiming a mock glare at her cousin.
“Even so,” Ronnie said. “If I move in with Grady, there’s no turning back. I can’t move out without it being a big problem.”
“She’s trying to keep an escape hatch open,” Chester said, blowing out a cloud of smoke.
Harvey grunted. “Makes sense. I always like to know there’s a way out, in case ya get wasps in yer outhouse.”
Claire was wary of outhouse wasps herself. “Did you tell Grady any of this stuff when he offered his place?”
“Of course not. I said I wanted to think about it.”
“Chicken shit,” Kate said. “Life’s more fun if you just dive in, clothes and all.”
“I don’t have any clothes,” Ronnie said. “Or anything else for that matter, thanks to the Winnebago fire.”
“You’re like a phoenix rising from the ashes,” Chester said, waxing poetically as he puffed on his cigar. “Father Time will quell all doubts.”
“Who are you and what have you done with Chester?” Claire asked.
“I’ve been reading a book of quotes someone left in the latrine. I’m going to use some of the tear-jerking ones on the women around here to see if that softens ’em up.”
Harvey snickered. “So long as they don’t soften you up, too, if ya get my meanin’.”
“If they do, I’ll just swallow another pocket rocket pill.” Chester hooted and took another puff from his cigar.
“Don’t listen to Kate,” Natalie said to Ronnie. “She’ll drag you into the middle of a gunfight and hand you a measly Taser gun.”
Kate laughed loud enough to scare off a pair of scrub jays. “What a ride this last week has been.” Then she sobered too quickly for Claire’s comfort. “We have a problem, you guys.”
“What now?” Claire lowered her drill, her gut tightening.
“It’s about Gramps’s Winnebago,” she said in a low voice, frowning back at the house.
“If you’re worrying about Gramps and Ruby hearing you, they are in Yuccaville getting groceries now that you’ve been banned from making grocery runs by the rest of us.”
“What about the Winnebago?” Natalie asked, her tone tight. She must still be pissed about Coop almost becoming a crispy critter that night.
“I know who started the fire.”
“What? How?” Ronnie asked. “Grady said the fire marshal hasn’t given his official report yet on how the fire was started.”
“I figured it was the diamond killer,” Claire added.
“Who?” Natalie pressed.
Kate grimaced. “Mom.”
“What?!” Claire and Ronnie said in unison.
“Aunt Deborah
