Page 35 of Protecting What's Mine

“I’ll make you brownies, Dr. Mack,” Ava announced, making Mack feel like an asshole.

“Ava here is a baking fiend,” Harper explained. “Most of her treats are edible,” she told Mack as she gathered her tote, keys, and daughters.

They walked together toward the lobby.

“Seven p.m. Friday. Our house. Aldo has the address. Bring a side dish or a dessert in case the brownies don’t pan out.”

“I like ice cream sandwiches,” Sadie announced.

“See you Friday,” Ava said, strutting out of the room and linking fingers with her sister. “Mama, can we have ice cream since we’re sick?”

“Kiddo, if ice cream sounds good to you right now, you can absolutely have ice cream. Oh! What beautiful flowers,” she exclaimed, spotting the arrangement on the desk.

“They’re for Dr. Mack from Chief Reed,” Tuesday announced cheerfully.

“Well, isn’t that interesting?” Harper beamed suspiciously.

13

Mack eased up to the curb in front of the big, three-story brick house. She cut the engine and grabbed the covered bowl of potato salad she’d made and the box of ice cream sandwiches she’d impulse-bought at Val’s Groceries. Climbing the porch steps, she admired the overflowing flower boxes and the comfortable furniture.

There was a doll facedown on a blanket and a couple of kids’ bikes propped against the porch.

The whole thing screamed “Home sweet home.”

A message the welcome mat reiterated word for word.

A small, friendly backyard BBQ. Who the hell was she?

Mack pressed the doorbell and waited while a chorus of barks and kids’ voices exploded on the other side of the door.

The door opened, and Mack grinned when she recognized Captain Lucas Garrison. There was a boy on his back, a smiling pit bull wriggling at his feet, and a chorus of chaos behind him.

“Dr. O’Neil,” he said with a grin that had never been that quick on deployment. “Welcome to chaos.”

“Thanks for having me,” she said.

“This is Henry, who’s way too big for piggyback rides,” Luke said as the kid choking the life out of him grinned. “And that’s Lola.”

“Ah, the skunked dog,” Mack said, reaching down to let Lola sniff her.

Lola sniffed delicately and then unleashed her Gene Simmons tongue.

“Come on back. The rest of the crew is in the backyard.”

Crew was apparently a loose term for half of the town of Benevolence.

Harper and a dark-haired fashionista Mack recognized as Gloria Moretta were organizing the food table and yelling at an entire army of kids. Aldo was manning the grill with sunglasses, a cold beer, and tongs that looked beefy enough to flip a cow.

There was another couple—he was tall and blond, she a leggy brunette—canoodling around the fire pit instead of actually lighting the fire.

“Get a room if you’re making us more grandkids,” a woman with a silvery pixie cut called from the lawn chair where she was supervising Aldo’s grilling process. The canoodling couple broke apart sheepishly.

There were dogs. Two more in addition to the now skunk-free Lola. Both non-Lolas were small. The wiry one had only one eye, but it didn’t seem to slow him down as he zoomed around the fenced-in yard. The other one was so small it looked like Lola could mistake it for a snack. But they seemed to recognize each other as peers rather than predator and snack.

“Wow,” Mack said, taking in the chaos.

“You’re telling me.” Luke grinned. He dumped Henry in the grass and led Mack over to meet his parents, the perky Claire and the stoic Charlie. The canoodling couple, Sophie and her husband Ty, the sheriff, introduced themselves. Sophie was pretty and vivacious in a way that made Mack think the woman had never once lacked an ounce of self-confidence. Her husband was clearly crazy about her and their two kids, who were buzzing around the backyard with the rest of the pack.