“No? You didn’t totally drool over tall dark hunka-hunka whipping together some rather nice rope work on the spot?”
“Frogs,” I said. “I noticed frogs.”
She was grinning at me. With her face covered in sand, her hair all over the place, and the wet rucksack of a shirt over her shoulder, she looked so much like she did when we were kids, I couldn’t help but grin back.
“You heard from Delaney yet?” I asked.
“No, but she should be back by now.”
“Let’s track her down and get her input on this. Where’s Kelby?” I trudged across the sand, sinking almost to my ankle with each step. It was hard going. Funny how adrenaline and life and death made running through sand seem like an easy task.
“Bertie needed some heavy lifting for the parade float, and Kelby volunteered to stay and help get it done.”
“She’s supposed to be doing on-the-job training.”
“Dealing with the only Valkyrie in townison-the-job training.”
“It’s also you getting out of helping Bertie.”
“Me?” She lifted her soggy shirt. “You may notice I am carrying around a wet slimy sack of wet slimy frogs?”
“And?”
“And do you really think I would choose this over working with Bertie?”
I took three more steps side by side with her before answering. “Yes.”
She laughed and knocked her shoulder into mine. “It’s good to have sisters.”
I smiled, because I couldn’t agree more.
Chapter 16
The frogs were a conundrum.We’d taken them back to the station and quickly realized there wasn’t room for them there. We didn’t want to take them to Ryder and Delaney’s place, both because of Ryder’s dog and because of Delaney’s dragon pig.
Jean’s place was too tiny for all of us, and Hatter and Shoe declared “frogged-up people were a step above their pay grade.”
So I offered my house.
The unicorn and demon were not there when we arrived. I knew I should go find them, but they would have to wait until after we un-frogged the good citizens of Ordinary.
Jean immediately headed back to the main bathroom with the frogs.
“Make yourself at home,” I said, waving everyone toward the living room. “I’ll put on coffee.”
“Make it strong,” Ryder said as he steered Delaney toward the comfortable couch.
I put on the kettle, started a pot of coffee—extra strong—and arranged the last batch of cookies I’d made a couple days ago on a platter. To the side, I added meat and cheeses and a bowl of grapes. I grabbed a box of crackers, tucked it under my arm, and carried out the food.
“You okay?” I asked Delaney.
She was tucked next to Ryder, his arm thrown over her shoulders to hold her there. They looked good together.
Ryder’s eyes slid sideways and down, and I followed his line of sight. Delaney appeared to have checked out, an eerily blank expression smoothing her face.
He rubbed his palm on the outside of her shoulder, up and down, up and down. “Delaney,” he said.
She blinked and seemed to surface and become aware of her surroundings again. “What?”
