Page 55 of You Chive Me Crazy

Especially since I’m sure he saw where my eyes went.

I needed to lie down again.

“Hey—get a room!” another familiar voice said. “Oh wait, you already have one.” He laughed.

I turned and gasped. “Rolando!” I pulled away from Lucas and threw my arms around his best friend, who I hadn’t seen in years. “What are you doing here?”

He glanced at Lucas. “You didn’t tell her I was here?”

“No! Not a word!” I said. “Why didn’t you tell me, Filo?”

“Okay, everybody just settle down—un-bunch your panties,” Lucas said, turning to Rolando. “It’s not like I had a lot of time to tell her. You just got here.”

Rolando placed his hands on his hips. “You had plenty of time, but instead of paying attention to the hands on the clock, you opted for hands all over Zoe.”

“I know! Isn’t he handsy?” I grabbed Rolando’s arm. “You should have seen him last night.”

His face lit up, and he waggled his eyebrows. “What happened?”

“He was buck naked and—”

Lucas held up his hand. “I’m not listening.”

Rolando hooked his arm around mine and flashed me a devious smile. “Oh, but I completely am. Tell meeverything.”

We turned and headed for the Inn, leaving Lucas to himself. Rolando and I both laughed hysterically on the way to the house as I gave him the details of the episode with the towel.

For dinner, everybody sat in our usual chairs. Hank and Harmony wore matching clothes again, as expected. His sweatshirt said, “I’m her stud muffin.” Her sweatshirt said, “I’m his cupcake.” Honestly, where did they find this stuff?

After introductions were made, Rolando sat in the chair that Damian usually sat in, right next to Savannah. There was a glimmer of something in Savannah’s eyes when he took the chair next to her. She gave him a brilliant smile. Now wouldn’t that be nice if those two got together?

I stifled a laugh, wondering how that was going to play out when Damian arrived for dinner. He would be foolish to mess with Rolando.

Marty came in with two pizzas, placing them in the middle of the table. Then he went back to the kitchen and returned with two more.

“Only four pizzas?” I smirked, then inhaled the wonderful aroma of the fresh cheese, tomato sauce, and various toppings. “What is everyone else going to eat?”

Lucas chuckled. “Zoe’s a pizza-eating machine. She can put away more slices than anyone I know, including me. And she gets the cutest hiccups when she eats pepperoni. Reminds me of a sweet little chipmunk.”

Okay, he completely lost me with the chipmunk reference, but it felt as if the grin on his face was meant as a challenge.

How had Lucas even remembered my hiccups? That was such a small thing, and so many years ago. We had only eaten pizza together one time, with some friends from the culinary institute, well over ten years ago. We hadn’t even been sitting at the same table.

“You’re in for a treat, then.” Marty beamed. “This is the one night a week when we order out. It’s from a local place, Saucy Mama’s Pizzeria. Dig in.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” I said, reaching over to grab a slice of pepperoni pizza, then taking the first bite.

And then it happened.

The hiccups.

I tried to stifle them, but they kept coming, one after another.

“Right on schedule, little chipmunk,” Lucas said, chuckling and taking a sip of his beer.

I shot him a playful glare, adding a hint of an indignant mocking tone for good measure. “I resent that. I’m a sophisticated pizza aficionado. And newsflash: chipmunks don’t eat pizza.”

“Well then . . . they are certainly missing out,” Lucas deadpanned.