Adam cleared his throat and set his cards on the table. "So, have you had all the scans for the baby? Ultrasounds and stuff? They know nothing is wrong with it?"
Lucian gave him a frustrated look. "What kind of question is that?"
It was a rude question. "Why would there be anything wrong with our baby?"
He held up his hands as the other guys around the table glared at him. "No, guys, I'm sorry. My uh," he stammered, "cousin recently had complications. They didn't get the right scans and could've prevented it."
Lucian nodded, but still gave Adam the narrow eye. "Okay, man, okay. Maybe enough questions though. That's a good way to freak an expectant mom out.”
Adam apologized again, and I watched them play. I wasn't allowed to play after I won every hand for three months in a row. I was sure they'd let me win, but they swore they hadn't, and that I was just that hard to read. After some begging, they let me play just one hand per night, which I always won.
I tried to jump up when the oven dinged that the pickles were done, but it was more like a creaky hobble out of the chair as my hips protested.
Lucian put his hand on my back. "I'm okay," I said before Adam tried to help me, too. "Just getting achy sitting on the wooden chair."
"You don't have to stay down here and tend to us," Lucian's buddy from high school, Robert, said. "Go relax, we can see to ourselves."
"I think I will." I'd never left one of the poker games early, but if anyone was allowed a nap it was me. Thinking of that gigantic owl was making it harder to sleep, when I didn’t have to pee, of course. "I'll get these pickles out and then go have a late nap."
As soon as I walked into the kitchen, I saw it. The back-porch flood light had tripped, showing me that damn owl was on our porch rail again. I'd had enough.
Like I told Adam, I didn't mind the owl being around. He was a gorgeous bird. But if I wanted to walk out onto my back porch and enjoy the evening, I should've been able to.
I'd been anticipating him showing up again. "I've got your number, you big asshole," I whispered.
On the counter next to the back door, I'd put a giant air horn. I'd just open the door and stick my arm out, blasting the horn to scare the owl. Maybe then he'd be content to stick closer to the barn and stop watching me in the kitchen.
His eyes followed me across the kitchen until I couldn't see him from my angle by the door. I turned the deadbolt on the back door and peered out the glass to make sure he wasn't close to the door. He was still in his spot on the railing. Good.
Inching the door open, I stuck my arm out and pressed down the top of the air horn, but nothing happened.
I jerked my arm in and inspected the canister, glancing frequently out the window to make sure the winged beast hadn't moved closer. He hadn't, and I realized I'd left the tab on the can. I pulled it off and tried again, sticking my hand out the door.
Pressing the nozzle of the horn, I squealed as it went off, louder than I'd expected.
Yanking my arm inside, I slammed the door shut to the sound of scraping chairs from the dining room. Lucian and Adam ran through the door first. "What the hell?" Lucian roared. "Are you okay?"
I grinned triumphantly as I looked out the window. The owl was gone. I hadn't seen it leave, but my angle had been bad with my arm out the door. "It worked. He left."
"Who?" Adam took the air horn from my hand and set it on the counter across the kitchen.
"The owl!"
Lucian and Adam stared at me like I'd grown an extra head while the other guys filed back into the dining room snickering. "You could've warned us," Lucian said.
Adam came into the kitchen and raised his nose in the air, sniffing. Crap. The oven. The pickles were still inside. "Let me get this."
I handed him a plate for them, and within minutes, he and Lucian walked out with a plate full of oven-fried pickles. They were only a touch extra crispy, nobody would know the difference.
Their irritation did nothing to squash my triumph at getting my back porch back. I cracked the door open and peered out into the night. No sign of the owl.
With a deep breath and stretch, I stepped outside, just because I could. I left the door open, though, I wasn't stupid. If the owl showed one feather, I'd be back inside in a flash.
I was looking up and not at the grass below the deck, when out of nowhere a deep, booming bark was the only warning I had before a massive dog launched itself out of the yard and up onto the deck.
A terrified scream curdled out of my throat as the dog, bigger than any I'd ever seen, lunged for me. I backpedaled into the kitchen, but the beast headbutted me in the chest. I went flying, still screaming my head off and expecting to land hard against the far wall, but something softer stopped me.
Adam wrapped his arms around me and absorbed the impact of the wall as we both continued to stumble. I blinked and one moment the dog was there, drooling with his huge fangs out and the next he was gone. "Whoa, there," Adam said. "I was coming back in here for more beer and heard you scream. What happened?" I looked around, expecting Lucian to come. That he had heard my scream as well, but he hadn’t gotten there yet.
