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“Something’s been diggin’ in that old cemetery on the back end of my property again, too. At first I thought some mountain goats had broken through the fence, but it’s still up.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t be staying out there alone for a while,” I said. “At least until Coop figures out what’s going on.”
“There’s room in my basement,” Aunt Zoe offered.
“Nah. I’ll be fine. Bessie is good company. Besides,” he winked, “I wouldn’t want to upset the good thing I got goin’ on next door, and whatever whangdoodle was up there is long gone.”
“Whangdoodle?” Aunt Zoe and I asked in harmony.
“That’s what my pappy used to call the crazy kooks who’d wander too far from Slagton.”
“I thought that town was abandoned decades ago,” Aunt Zoe said. “After that big mining accident.”
“Nope. There are quite a few stragglers still holding out, living in the surrounding hills.”
The back screen door opened.
“Natalie’s here,” Addy shouted as she galloped inside. She skidded to a stop at the sight of me sitting at the table. “Oh, hi, Mom. What’s wrong with your eyebrows?”
“I’m trying a new look.” It was called almost-burned-alive. “What do you think?”
“You should stick with your old look. How was your date with Wolfgang?”
I glanced at Aunt Zoe, who said, “After Harvey called me last night, I let the kids know that you were fine and had just lost track of time.”
“Thanks.” I’d need to explain the truth to Addy and Layne sometime soon, but not until I could talk about it without trembling. I turned to Addy. “I’ve had better dates.”
“Oh.” Her smile dimmed a few watts. “Are you going to see him again?”
Only in my nightmares. “Probably not.”
“That’s too bad. He seemed really nice.”
Yes, he had. I’d been blinded by his ultra-white teeth. I fluffed her hair. “There are a lot more nice guys out there.”
“Like Doc?” she asked, her eyes twinkling.
“Like Doc what?” Natalie walk-rolled into the kitchen, her cast resting on a little cart with handle bars. She stopped next to the table, extracted an iced latte from her tote bag, and handed it to me. “I figured you might need this.”
“You’re an angel.” I sipped from the straw and shuddered as cold, sugared caffeine poured down my throat. I pointed at the cart. “Where’d you get that contraption?”
“It’s myspecial giftfrom Doc.”
“He gave you that?” Not the most romantic gift. Very practical, very generous, but a bit odd. Kind of like Doc himself. Maybe I’d ask him about it sometime.
“Isn’t he the most thoughtful guy?”
I swallowed my gag and changed the subject. “How are your parents?”
“Jeez, Vi. You look like you’re wearing a turtleneck.” Natalie leaned over and unsnapped the top three snaps on my dress, exposing an eyeful of cleavage. “There, that’s better. My parents are fine, but Mom’s worried about you.”
Natalie’s mother had taken me under her wing when I was a fledgling. Yet another reason I needed to keep my talons off Doc. Disappointing my pseudo-mother would be almost as bad as making my best friend cry.
Harvey held out his chair for Natalie, which she fell into with a sigh. “How sweet is it that Doc rescued you?”
The hair on the back of my neck bristled at her cooing tone. Doc was my white knight battling the fire-breathing dragon in my fairy tale—not hers.
“What does she mean Doc rescued you?” Addy asked. “From what?”
