fireplace, and Shannon saw his face crinkle ever so slightly. No wonder. The portrait of Grandma North was a frightening thing. Shannon had always thought she looked like Cruella de Vil minus the two-tone hair and the full-length fur coat.
“It’s…lovely,” Russell said.
“It was painted by Frederick Durand,” Loucinda said. “He was one of the premier portrait artists of the mid-twentieth century. It cost Emmaline thousands to commission his work.”
If he was so damned good, Shannon thought, why couldn’t he make her smile?
But no matter what that portrait looked like, Loucinda would hang it over their fireplace until the world turned to dust. If she didn’t, she knew for a fact that Grandma North would crawl back from the grave, tell her how ungrateful she was, and make life hell for her for the rest of eternity.
They filled their plates and began to eat. Russell took a bite of Loucinda’s Monterrey Chicken and told her it was excellent. As Loucinda thanked him with the proper humility, Eve leaned over and whispered to Shannon under her breath. “He gets ten points for complimenting Mom’s cooking. If he reaches a hundred, he gets to marry you.”
Shannon glared at her sister. Will you knock it off?
“So, Russell,” Jerome said, “you haven’t been in town long, but I hear your business is booming.”
“It keeps me busy,” Russell said. “But I don’t mind hard work. That’s what it takes to build a successful practice.”
“Ten more points,” Eve whispered.
“Your clinic is very attractive,” Loucinda said. “You have lovely taste.”
“I hope it’s not too masculine,” Russell said. “It probably needs a woman’s touch.”
“Twenty points,” Eve whispered.
Shannon kicked her sister under the table.
“So why did you become a dentist instead of a heart surgeon like your father?” Jerome asked.
“I considered cardiology,” Russell said. “But I decided I didn’t want to be on call for the rest of my life.” He smiled at Shannon. “I’m more suited to being a family man.”
When Loucinda looked delightfully impressed, Eve whispered, “He gets a hundred points for that alone. Can you hear the wedding bells?”
Shannon would have loved to have given her sister another swift kick, but it was all so close to the truth she had a hard time mustering one up.
“Shannon told me you and Jerome just got back from a cruise,” Russell said.
“Yes,” Loucinda said. “The weather was perfect, and the tours were spectacular. Of course, there was always the chance of pirates.”
“Mom, you were in the Mediterranean,” Eve said. “Not off the coast of Somalia.”
“You never know these days,” Loucinda said. “The world is a dangerous place.”
Russell and her parents expanded their vacation talk, soon discovering they’d both stayed at the same exclusive boutique hotel in Miami and had dinner at the same five-star restaurant. Shannon felt strangely disconnected from all of it. In spite of the fact that she’d done her share of high-class traveling with her family as a child, she’d never felt particularly in tune with that kind of lifestyle. She took a big swig of wine, then scooped up her last bite of chicken, wishing the evening was closer to being over.
“Hey, Shannon,” Eve said. “Heard you hired Luke Dawson to be the new caretaker at the sanctuary.”
Shannon froze, her fork hovering over her plate. It took about five seconds for her to thaw enough to look at her mother, whose eyes were wide with shock and whose fork was similarly stuck midair. Russell looked back and forth between them, clearly wondering what might be causing the floating flatware. Eve, of course, was still eating with the zeal of a lumberjack. The only thing that stopped Shannon from killing her sister right then and there was the overabundance of witnesses to the crime.
“Excuse me?” Loucinda said. “You hired Luke Dawson?”
“Yeah,” Shannon said, trying to sound as unconcerned as she could. “It’s only temporary. For three months or so.”
Loucinda’s face slowly took on a red tinge, and for a moment, Shannon seriously thought she might have choked on something.
“I heard he was in town for his father’s funeral a week or two ago,” Loucinda said, “but I thought he was long gone by now.”
“He came back.” Shannon stuck the bite of chicken in her mouth and swallowed, nearly choking herself.
“But I don’t understand,” Loucinda said in that tone of voice that suggested she’d rather be shouting than speaking rationally. “Why in the world would you hire Luke Dawson?”
“Who’s Luke Dawson?” Russell asked.
“He used to live here,” Eve said. “He raised holy hell in high school. Most