A New Enemy (Enemies 1)

Cold drinks and meat, my responsibility. Sophia was bringing sides.

I’d thrown together some apple and cherry crumble and rhubarb lemonade too, though. Pops had too much of everything in the orchard, and we didn’t wanna waste anything. By the end of summer every year, I had the pantry full of preserves, the freezer stacked with pies, and the door of the fridge loaded with lemonade.

Leaving the kitchen, I made sure I wasn’t stepping on a tiny fur ball somewhere. I could count on Mischa and Echo to sound the alarm if she ventured out on the porch, but the rest was on me.

I found Lily attack-jumping around her favorite toy on the living room floor. Teddy had made it at the Quad, and it was the best thing since sliced bread. He’d built a yarn pom-pom around an actual cat toy, a piece of silicone that rustled like plastic when bitten into. She could spend the whole day with it.

“Let’s get some sun, li’l tiger.” I slipped my hand underneath her and picked her up—and immediately got a paw to my face. It made me grin. “Thank fuck your claws retract these days.”

She really was my little tiger, though the stripes morphed into leopard spots across her belly and back. Bengal, I’d been told her breed was. Or at least partly. The purebred ones were evidently expensive as hell and therefore more unlikely to end up in a shelter like her mother had.

I turned up the volume on the music before heading outside, where I set her down on the floorboards. I watched her at first, curious to see if she’d notice the changes we’d made since last time. She jumped closer to the edge, and I smirked as her little paw went up to the poultry netting. Casey had been right. I didn’t need to rebuild the whole porch—or put up a better railing, rather. The green plastic net worked perfect. Plus, I could staple it into place, and it blended with the background of beach grass, morning glory, and rose bushes better.

Checking my watch, I decided I might as well get started. They’d be here any minute.

I took a swig of my beer and went over to the grill. And that was about all I managed before the boys started barking. A beat later, I heard Soph’s voice.

“Honey, we’re home!”

I grinned and flicked on the lighter, holding it to the briquettes in the grill. “Out on the porch!”

“Hi, my sweet babies.” She was busy greeting Mischa and Echo. “Don’t worry, I brought you treats too. And I’m not talkin’ about my brother. He’s no treat.”

Dylan was the first one to poke his head out. “Hey, man.”

I glanced over at him and smiled, surprised to see him in casual clothes. “Hey, yourself. Look at you, I thought your shirt and tie had to be surgically removed.”

He chuckled and stepped farther out, then quickly glanced around at the floor. “Is she here? I don’t wanna hear a crunch under my feet.”

I let out a laugh and pointed my beer toward the railing near the couch. “She’s inspecting the new net.”

“Ah. Soph mentioned you were gonna put one up.” He squatted down next to the table and held out his hand for Lily. “I shouldn’t have asked her about it, though,” he added. “All I got was a rambling about what a shame it was that you and Casey never worked out.”

I snorted. Some things just weren’t meant to be. Casey was the only ex of mine I still wanted in my life, and the sweet spot was called friendship. Besides, he’d found his happily ever after. Last I heard, they were gearing up for a third kid and looking into surrogacy.

As long as he could put his skills as a landscape architect to use and recommend safety solutions for my kitten here and there, I was golden.

“Hey!” Sophia waddled out with a happy but tired smile on her face. “I turned on the oven and put the potato salad in the fridge.”

“Cool.” I hoped she’d be using the oven for her garlic bread. It was fantastic. She came over to me and puckered her lips, and I kissed her just before I noticed the faint bruise over her sternum. “What the hell happened here?”

“Huh? Oh.” She blushed—actually blushed—and got uncomfortable. “It’s possible I made a huge mistake this morning.” She glanced toward the door and leaned back a bit as if to see if someone was nearby. The only two candidates would be Teddy and Blake, and I wondered why they weren’t here yet. “After I picked up Teddy here this morning, we went straight to therapy. And, like, I knew he wasn’t going to be in a good mood afterward, but I figured, you know, we’d be on our way to get Blake—maybe it would be okay to talk.”