“We’re not to get involved,” Battie commanded while walking our drinks toward me. After he gave me mine and folded in beside me, he looked at Prue. “Any of us. I’ll repeat, your stalking is done.”
“Fine by me,” she replied and looked at me. “The curator from the V and A is coming on Tuesday anyway. I’m going to be busy.”
“I cannot wait to hear what they have to say,” I enthused.
“Me either,” Prue agreed.
I took a sip of my drink and said to Battle. “This is yummy, honey. Thank you.”
“My pleasure, darling,” he murmured into his G&T.
“I forgot to inquire,” Tempie said. “Did you call your sister?”
I nodded. “Wednesday night.”
“All good on the home front?” Prue asked.
“Yes.” I smiled big. “And Lenny and Al are thinking of bringing the kids over to visit in June or July.”
“That would be so lovely for you!” Prue clapped. “And we’ll get to meet them.” She sat back in the sofa. “It’s been forever since we’ve had kids in the house.” Her brows shot down. “Wait, except for when I was a kid, I don’t know if we’ve ever had kids in the house.”
“I’d love for them to see the house,” I remarked.
“See?” Tempie asked.
“Yes. See. If you’re all groovy with me giving them a tour,” I answered.
Battle entered the conversation. “I believe that would be necessary for them to navigate it and find the parlor for drinks, Vivienne.”
“Oh, they won’t stay here,” I said breezily.
And got one set of surprised (Prue), one set of amused (Tempie) and one set of annoyed (Battle) eyes aimed at me.
“What?” I asked.
“We’re not having this discussion again,” Battle said.
And I got it.
“Battle, I don’t think they’ll be comfortable with staying here.”
“Then you best be very convincing, darling,” he purred.
“You and I are very new,” I pointed out. “That’s a lot to ask for all involved.”
“You and I are very solid,” he returned. “It would be insulting if they stayed elsewhere. You know we have more than enough space.”
Since I wasn’t going to bicker about this in front of his sisters, I said, “Okay, I can float the idea by them. But if they’re not into it, you have to be okay with them getting a BnB or something.”
“That would be the you-convincing-them part,” Battle retorted smoothly.
Changing my mind about bickering, I was about to open my mouth to say something when the vibe in the room tilted on its axis.
Battle felt it and we both looked between Tempie and Prue.
Prue was staring at the door with her mouth agape.
Tempie was following her sister’s gaze to the door, and when it got there, I didn’t think she could get paler than her naturally paler than pale, but she did when her gaze hit whatever was at the door.
