Eva, were helping with the redesign and construction of the house. I had flirted outrageously with both of them, but neither took the bait. Owen wouldn’t even speak to me. The ginger-haired giant just looked at me with his greenish-blue eyes and kept silent. I asked questions, flipped my hair, laughed, pulled at my earlobe. No response from either of them. It was embarrassing.
“Oh, I’d better leave then. I don’t want to get in the middle of family night. Tell your mom I’ll call her later.”
“You will not. Come on out back and sit your butt down. Connor’s cooking steaks, and we have extra.” Beverly came through the back door and pulled a bag of marinating meat from the fridge. “Abby decided this morning she wanted to be vegetarian. A few days at the beach and she is ‘in love’ with some boy she and Autumn met there.” She used her fingers to make air quotes. “He claims to be vegetarian, therefore she needs to be vegetarian too.”
One look at the bloody plastic bag and an unpleasant wave ran through my middle. Jeez, not now! I swallowed several times. “I’ll be in the way.”
“You’ve never been in the way. Besides, didn’t you break up with Peter? No date night for you tonight.”
“Um… yes, about a month ago.”
“I think you said he works as a clerk in the courthouse archives.” She pulled the steaks out and dropped them on a platter. “Tax records, births, deaths. People are just dying to work with him, eh?”
I didn’t attempt to rebut her lame joke with one of my own. I was trying to deal with the wet, sloppy sound the meat made when it hit the large dish. She looked at me with concern. “You okay? You look a little green.”
“The pollen is thick right now. That’s all.”
Mattie ran by with Jacob chasing him. Both were screaming like banshees.
“Give it back!”
“It’s mine!”
“No, it’s not!”
“It is too!”
Muttface, the family dog, followed, barking his head off. Bev lifted the loaded platter high in the air and let the two bodies streak past her. She was an old hand at this and didn’t blink an eye. “You have other plans tonight? Clubbing at Saddle ’n’ Spurs?”
Saliva filled my mouth, and I nearly choked on it. My head pounded with the noise.
“No. I’m not going clubbing anytime soon.” Probably never again.
She put the platter down on the counter and opened the fridge to pull out a big bowl of green salad and a smaller one of potato salad. “Boys, if you’re gonna fight over… whatever it is you’re fighting over, I’ll take it away from both of you. Go outside and take the dog with you.”
“But, Mom!”
“No buts. Out.”
“I need—”
“You heard me.”
Mattie surfed across the kitchen floor. “Do I hafta put shoes on?”
“Might be a good idea, since Muttface leaves doggie bombs in the backyard.”
“What if I stay on the deck?”
Bev pulled an aluminum-covered casserole dish from the oven. “What are the chances that will happen?”
Mattie regarded her for a moment and sprinted to find his shoes.
“No peeing off the deck either!” she called after him while pulling off the foil with a rattle. Steam rose from the bubbling mac and cheese. “I caught them last week trying to see who could squirt further. I thought Mattie would poop himself, as hard as he was straining.”
Girl. I should definitely have a girl. There’s no way I can handle a boy.
“I’m not eating anything but the green salad, Mom.” Abby sauntered into the kitchen in a long skirt, loose T-shirt, and bare feet. A long braid hung down her back, and no makeup showed on her face. The distraction helped. Normally, she never graced anyone with her presence unless she was fully coiffed, made up, and dressed to the nines. The girl had made a one-eighty turn with this new natural hippie chick look.
Beverly pulled a spoon from a drawer and started to stir the thick pasta concoction. “Mac and cheese and the potato salad are vegetarian, aren’t they?”
Abby huffed and expertly rolled her eyes. “Mom, how many times to I have to repeat myself. It’s vegan. Not vegetarian. No animal products at all. It’s inhumane.”
“Says the girl who spent yesterday scarfing down cheese pizza at the pool.”
“Mom! You just don’t get it.” Abby stomped off.
Boy. Definitely a boy.
Mattie, now clad in his sneakers, ran through the kitchen with Muttface at his heels and slammed open the back screen door. The sound exploded in my head.
“Don’t break my house,