Page 139 of The Body in the Backyard

Betty linked fingers with her wife. “A year after Griffin tried to license his sperm to us, we adopted a brother and sister out of foster care. The minute we saw them, we knew it all happened for a reason. Those kids were meant to be ours.”

“We’re thrilled to be parents to our babies. But I would like to reiterate that we legit do not have the money to pay for a hit man. And even if we did, if I wanted to ruin Griffin’s life, I wouldn’t kill him. I’d kidnap him and do laser hair removal on his scalp and eyebrows,” Tyra said wistfully.

“You’re muddying thewe’re innocentwaters, babe,” Betty warned her.

Tyra winced. “Sorry.”

“Okay. So there you have it. You can subpoena our finances and our phone records, but that’s just going to be a waste of your time and ours, and the hassle will just piss us off more than having to waste our one date night a month on tracking you guys down,” Betty said.

“I appreciate you talking to us. And my apologies for my elderly business partner,” Nick said.

“She gets a little aggressively overzealous,” Riley explained.

Betty waved away the apology. “Believe me. We understand. We have Mrs. Sapperstein next door. She’s eighty-six and tried to open a marijuana dispensary in her garage.”

Nick leaned across the table. “Listen to me very carefully. Whatever you do, donotlet her move in with you.”

“Aunt Riley! Esmeralda just throwed up in the foam pit!” Janet yelled.

“You didn’t callBrian until after we pulled into the parking lot,” Riley said, breaking the silence in the vehicle and broaching the subject that had bothered her since before Esmeralda had spewed her dinner everywhere.

They had dropped off their little vomit queen eight minutes late and had to listen to Nick’s sister’s rant about timeliness and responsibility, which made them half an hour late dropping off Wander’s daughters.

“That was a big risk,” she continued.

“It was a minimal risk,” he countered. “I pulled inafteryour vision.”

She looked at him and frowned. “You made a potentially life-threatening decision based entirely on my blurry psychic vision?”

“You’re good at what you do. I trust your visions like I trust Brian’s backdoor research, Josie’s knife-throwing skills, and my right cross. If we were in real danger, you would have felt it, and you would have told me.”

Riley felt a little glow in her belly that had nothing to do with the Cheesy Gordita Crunch. “You don’t think it’s weird…or that I’m weird?”

“You’re the most powerful psychic in a long line of psychics. What kind of guy would I be if I didn’t respect that?”

Griffin Gentry, Riley realized. That was what kind.

“Six tacos,” she said, changing the subject. “I thought your sister was going to set you on fire when you told her Esmeralda had thrown up six tacos in the foam pit.”

“Heh. Kid’s definitely got the Santiago appetite.” Nick’s half smile was illuminated in the glow of the dashboard.

“We were doing really well up until that point,” she mused.

“Are you kidding? We kicked ass tonight. I got high fivesandhugs from all three of your nieces,” Nick pointed out. “They barely said a word to—what’s that big shiny dome at Epcot called?”

“Spaceship Earth?” Riley supplied.

“That’s the one. They barely said a word to Spaceship Earth when we dropped them off.”

“To be fair and accurate, two of the three of them were asleep. Do you believe we are in a competition for the affection of children?” Gabe asked from the back seat of Nick’s SUV.

“Of course not,” Riley said.

“Yes,” Nick countered.

“Besides your wonderful girlfriend, your life must be very meaningless,” Gabe observed.

“Anyway, as I was saying before Spaceship Earth Loser of Children’s Affection interrupted, I think we did great. All four kids are still alive, and they all said it was the best night ever.”