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“What did you have in mind, Mia?” I asked carefully.

“I want to play a prank on her.”

“A prank?” Okay, that was a bit surprising. I hadn’t expected that.

“Yes. I’ve already talked to Alessa, and she’s in, too.”

I stared at Mia for a moment, thinking. I wasn’t sure where this fell on my spreadsheet of dealing with in-laws. The risk that the prank might backfire or embarrass me, or other family members, was awfully high. My record with these types of situations was consistently and statistically bad.

I needed time to figure out how to say no gracefully, so I stalled. “Thanks for including me, Mia, but I’ve got a lot going on right now and wouldn’t have the time to plan anything. Can I get back to you on this?”

“Oh, you wouldn’t have to plan anything. It’s already planned. It would be a walk in the forest for you.”

“Do you mean ‘a walk in the park’?”

“Park! Yes, that’s it!” She looked delighted. “You’re the best, Lexi. Anyway, Alessa and I have a plan. We want you to be included because we’re family now.”

I felt trapped. I did not want to be considered anti-fun, but it was hard to stand firm when she played the family card, because that was my vulnerability. Still, I was smart enough not to commit to anything…yet.

“I really appreciate that you guys want to include me. I’ll think about it, okay?”

Mia perked up. “Great. Let either Alessa or me know by tonight if you’re in, anddon’t tell anyone. Not even your husband. We want it to be a complete surprise.”

“Okay. I won’t tell anyone.”

When I got to our room, I found Slash at the bathroom sink, washing his hands.

“Hey, you,” I said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek and handing him a hand towel. “How did the challenge go?”

“We solved it,” he said, wiping his hands dry. “We managed to finish within the allotted time, but with less than a minute. Not a comfortable win, but a win, nonetheless. How about you guys?”

“We barely made it, too, and that was with me having to run as fast as I could with the disc to give it to the gamemaster. It reminded me I need to up my workout game.” I turned on the faucet and washed my hands, too, splashing water on my face. “The maze escape room was seriously complicated, and they gave us only two hours. I’m worried about what comes next.”

“Me, too. But good work,cara.”

I wiped my hands and face with the towel and pulled my ponytail tighter at the back of my head. “At least we’re two for two. What was your challenge?”

Slash provided a concise accounting of the events that involved removing a brass ring from a large wooden bull’s nose.

“So, there were two rings,” I said, musing it over. “That was the catch?”

“That was the catch. I should have thought of it earlier, but the knots and the complexity of the puzzle distracted me. That won’t happen next time.”

He reached behind me, releasing my hair from its ponytail. My hair fell loose around my shoulders. He tugged gently on a strand, pulling out a small twig and holding it between his fingers. “What did you guys have to do?”

I told him about the garden maze, the fountains, the stones with the Roman numerals, and how we solved the puzzle of the sundial. All the while, he combed my hair with his fingers, removing an inordinate amount of brush and sap while giving my scalp a light massage. It felt heavenly.

Finally, I finished up by telling him how my mother accidentally flashed Oscar in the maze before screaming and scaring us all to death.

“Your mother took her sweater off in the maze?” Slash repeated, his hands stilling against my scalp. “In front of Oscar?”

“Yes, to get rid of the lizard. That’s when Oscar came around the corner of the hedge and scared the crap out of her. Probably scared the crap out of the lizard, too, because it hightailed it out of there. He looked pretty mortified.”

“The lizard or Oscar?”

“I presume both, but I’m talking about Oscar. You should have seen his face. It was a color of scarlet I’d never seen. Kind of alarming, actually. But don’t worry, Mom assured him since her boobs were covered by her bra, it was no biggie.”

Slash turned around and went to sit on the bed. I joined him so we were perched side by side, our thighs touching. “I’m worried by your lack of a humorous response. You don’t think my mom talking about her boobs in front of your stepfather is going to be a problem for our family dynamics, do you?”