“Let’s go handle the interloper. Should I blowtorch him with my dragon breath?” Uriel asked as he opened the door.
An extra lock had been added to the ones he already had in place. Uriel patted the lock and thanked his magic before following Joe outside.
“How does he do it?” Joe grumbled as he walked down the steps to the sidewalk.
“Do what?”
“Get the sidewalks perfectly clean without me ever seeing him doing it.”
“Oh sweet summer child,” Uriel teased.
“I’m regretting ever saying that to you.”
“As you should. Also, heated sidewalks.”
“What?”
“Yep. Geothermal.”
“You’re making that up.”
“Am not.”
“Are too.”
“Fine, ask Oberon. Or go to town hall and look at the archives from…actually, I can’t remember what year it was now. Ask Edgar. He’ll know.”
“You’re really trying to tell me that the entire town has geothermal heated sidewalks.”
“No, I never said the entire town.”
Joe flung his hands in the air about the time they heard the horrifyingly bad singing coming from down the block.
“And Iiiiieeeeiiieeeiiii….”
“Oh no,” Joe groaned.
Miles and Oberon stood on their front porch with their daughter, Holly, and their dogs, Ivy and Jolly. They all looked horrified. Then Ivy, the giant Saint Bernard, threw back her head and began to howl.
In fact, most of their neighbors stood on their porches, looking toward the carriage house. None of them looked happy. It was no wonder Linus sent out an SOS.
“Eldon issogoing to fire me.”
“Doubtful,” Uriel said. “Although considering…yep, there he comes.”
Joe froze, grabbing Uriel’s arm. “Don’t let him fire me!”
“He’s not going to fire you. He might murderJavier, though. He hates being woken up early on two-hour delay days.Javier’sa dead man.”
“Will you quit saying his name like he’s Inigo Montoya or something?”
“My name is Inigo Montoya. You broke my eardrums. Prepare to die,” Uriel mocked.
“Oh, that reference you know.”
Uriel scoffed. “I’m not a total heathen. Besides, it’s Leif’s favorite movie.”
“So movie nights are a possibility? Good to know.”
