Swinging the front door shut, I walk past the parlor and smile with wide eyes that probably make me look insane. Lark gives Kenzie a weird look before she shakes her head and goes back to her book.
As always, my eyes find Arlo, who smirks at me before returning to his own reading.
Clomping down the hall, I join the others in the kitchen. Five bottles of wine sit on the counter, and there’s one in the hands of a half lit Paris, who’s still bouncing around to the music in her head.
“How are we going to do this?” Kenzie questions.
“Oh!” Autumn slides to the pantry on her socks before tossing things on the floor to get to the bottom of whatever hides in the chest there. “Ah-ha!” She whips out a little board.
“Is that what I think it is?” Bloom gasps in outrage. “Those are portals to hell.” She whispers the word as though saying it alone will transport her to such a place.
“My mom used to use it all the time.” Autumn eyes it like it’s just another object and not a witch board.
“We should see if we can speak to the dead.” Paris hiccups, but there’s sadness in her eyes, and I can’t help but wonder if she’s drinking so much because she wants to connect with her husband or if she doesn’t.
I clap my hands and pull out the chicken dip Saffron made and set it on the counter with chips. “Food first, shenanigans later.”
“That is the weirdest word.” Paris hops on a stool to get to the chips, wiggling between Kenzie and Autumn.
“I like to say it.” Bloom pours herself a drink. “Shenanigans.”
“Ever try to spell it?” Autumn shovels a scooped chip in her mouth. “She-the-nan-I-gains.”
“You’re drunk, go home,” Kenzie mutters.
“I am not,” Autumn slurs like a drunk. “Gimme your breathalyzer.”
Without skipping a beat, Kenzie pulls out her breathalyzer and hands it over. “It’s a good thing we are staying here.”
“You guys walked anyway,” I point out.
Autumn’s face turns beet red as she blows and blows.
With a sigh, Kenzie flips it around. “Try again.” She gives the rest of us an eye roll.
“Ha!” Autumn shoves it under her nose. “One, I blew a zero point zero. Two, I am not drunk, like I told you. And three, this is my home, you red devil.”
“Means nothing. You pre-gamed, and I know you have something up your sleeves to torture us.” Kenzie flutters her perfectly manicured hands.
“I want you four to lift my chub up and off a grave.” Paris wiggles her sunglasses at us before letting them drop back on her face.
“Don’t think we won’t try,” Autumn retorts.
“I’m first.” Paris raises her bottle to the ceiling before marching out into the cold sans jacket.
“Paris, coat.” Kenzie takes a dainty bite of her chip before looking around. “Are we doing this now?”
“Yep.”
A screech echoes through the kitchen, startling the five of us as Bloom jumps onto the table, blubbering. Paris skids back inside before falling to a heap on the floor. Autumn cackles like an uncontrollable loon, and Kenzie doesn’t even look fazed as she continues to eat a chip and sip her wine.
“What?” I walk around the island to see what Bloom is pointing at, only to find my little beastie, his tail fluffing up with his red nose in the air as he stomps the ground. “Cooper, not nice,” I scold him. “We don’t spray friends.” He stomps again,trying to look intimidating, but to me, he just looks too darn cute.
Autumn laughs harder as Arlo skids into the kitchen. “What happened?”
I lift Cooper and snuggle his stinky self into my chest. “Just Cooper startling the guests.” I look up at him, holding back my laugh. “Guess I should have warned them.”
Arlo points a finger at me, his jaw opening and closing like a fish out of water. Reaching out, I shut his jaw with a smile as Cooper settles against my chest, his tail no longer fluffing to intimidate everyone.
