Stranger Danger (Lucy McGuffin, Psychic Amateur Detective 4)

“I have something else to confess too. Travis and I are only fake-dating. I said we were going out so that you wouldn’t bug me about Young Catholic Singles.”

“Lucy was fake-dating,” says Travis. “I was dating for real.”

I whip around to face him. “But now that you’re going to join the FBI, it doesn’t make sense to date for real.”

“The FBI? Travis is joining the FBI? Does that mean you’re going to move?” Mom looks crestfallen. I can practically see all her wedding plans for me crumbling in front of her face.

“I’m not joining the FBI,” Travis says firmly. “That was Agent Billings’s idea. Not mine.” He looks at me. “I left Dallas to move to Whispering Bay to be near my dad. If I wanted big cop excitement, I would have stayed put.”

“You’re staying? For real?” How do I feel about this?

“Yep,” he says. “And that’s not all. It hasn’t been announced yet, but Zeke Grant is stepping down as chief of police. Between Mimi’s job as mayor and taking care of the two babies, they’re overwhelmed. He’s going to be a stay-at-home dad. And I’ve been offered his position.”

“That’s wonderful!” Mom claps her hands in glee. Looks like her imaginary wedding is back on.

“Now there’s no reason for the two of you to not date for real,” says Brittany. “Right?”

Travis pushes his chair back from the table. “If you all don’t mind, I’d like to speak to Lucy alone.”

“Mind?” Mom practically cackles with glee. “Yes! By all means, speak to her alone.” She motions for Travis to sit back down. “You stay. We’ll go.” She nudges my dad’s shoulder and starts barking off orders. “George, start clearing the table. Brittany, you and Will need to take out the garbage. Sebastian … find something to do. Now.” Everyone hops to do as they’re told. Even Paco starts to get up.

“Not you,” I say to my dog. “Anything you have to say to me you can say in front of Paco,” I tell Travis. With a smug look on his face, Paco settles back down at my feet.

Travis waits until everyone has made their mad rush to the kitchen and the three of us are alone. “Have you had your talk with Cunningham yet?” he asks.

I could play coy and pretend I don’t know what he’s talking about, but why? “Will and I decided that we’re better off as friends.”

He nods. “Glad that’s settled. So how about it? Want to go out next weekend?”

I pull out my new iPhone 11 (thank goodness I thought to get the first one insured) and open up my picture gallery to find the photo of Travis in drag. “First, tell me about this.”

“Halloween party. I did it on a department dare.” He grins sheepishly. “I was trying to channel Reba McEntire.”

I laugh.

Travis waits for me to answer. He doesn’t believe I’m a human lie detector or that Paco is a ghost whisperer, and for some reason I can’t figure out, it appears that I can’t lie to him anymore. He’s annoying. Opinionated. And he sees everything in black and white. But he makes my breath catch. And he comes running when I text 824 to his cell phone (hey, that’s what you get when you blind-text).

Maybe, just maybe, it might work out between us.

“Sure. Why not?”

Paco looks between us and wags his tail. I think he approves.