Moose butted Lucky’s hand, and Cat Lucky hopped into Charlotte’s lap, breaking them apart.
Two AM found Lucky wide awake, stomach grumbling. What the hell happened to the burgers he’d eaten not so long ago? Why the hell did he have to crave weird foods at weird hours? Wasn’t that Charlotte’s job?
He pulled on a pair of sweatpants, looked in on Alejandro, and paused for a few moments, watching the rise and fall of Bo’s chest. When they’d first met, Lucky suffered from insomnia, and Bo couldn’t bring himself to sleep in a bed.
If Lucky accomplished nothing else in life, at least he’d helped Bo get over the fear that bed equals the house burning down with no way to escape.
He tiptoed out of the room and down the hall. Light peeked under the kitchen door. Either they’d forgotten to turn the light out, or someone else shared Lucky’s idea of a late-night snack.
No alarms, so no intruder. Keith made doubly sure of their security system, at Walter’s instruction.
He opened the door. Charlotte stood before an open cabinet, a jar of peanut butter under her arm, holding a loaf of bread in one hand and a plate in the other. She glanced at Lucky, sat the bread on the counter, and pulled out another plate.
“Milk?” Lucky asked.
Charlotte nodded and deposited her burdens on the counter. A huge bowl of banana pudding sat front and center in the refrigerator.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you. Lisa brought over banana pudding. Get me a bowl, okay?”
By the time Lucky filled two glasses with milk and fixed two bowls of banana pudding, she’d added a saucer to the mix onto which she dropped pieces of diced banana. Without a word, she mixed in peanut butter, stirred awhile, then smoothed the mixture on bread to make two sandwiches—one on each plate. She opened a can and added a pineapple ring to hers.
“Here,” she said, shuffling toward the kitchen table and settling in her usual chair. “You know, it’s usually the daddy who shares cravings with the mother, not her brother.” Charlotte dunked her sandwich into the banana pudding and took a bite. “Oh, that is so good. You really should try it with pineapple.”
Lucky joined her at the table. “When we were young ’uns, we always did things together.” Not pineapple in a peanut butter and banana sandwich, though. However, he’d never actually tried peanut butter and banana with banana pudding. All good things on their own. Why the hell not combine them?
“True that.” She touched her sandwich to Lucky’s in toast and took another bite.
Lucky dipped his in pudding and shoved a bite into his mouth. Not bad. He’d have ’splaining to do if Bo caught him. “I am the kid’s dad. Or one of them.”
“That you are.” Charlotte rubbed “The Bump” with one hand, clinging to her sandwich with the other. “Too bad you couldn’t carry Junior on your own like in one of those male pregnancy stories I read online.”
Male pregnancy? No. Just… no. “Junior? You didn’t…”
Charlotte huffed and rolled her eyes. “It’s a figure of speech. Jeez. We agreed not to find out, right?”
Well, Lucky didn’t exactly remember agreeing, but if Charlotte and Bo said he did, no use fighting. Neither lost arguments to Lucky often.
At last they finished their sandwiches and polished off their milk. Thank God, no lactose intolerance in the Lucklighter family. Lucky dug through the refrigerator. Healthy, healthy, healthy, ah! “Dills or gherkins?”
Charlotte tipped her head to the side, brow scrunched in concentration. “We got bread and butter pickles in there?”
Lucky ferreted through the offerings. “’Fraid not.”
“Gherkins, then. I’ll ask Mom to bring some down the next time she visits.”
Lucky hid the pudding behind a gallon of milk, partly to keep it from disappearing too fast, and partly to keep Charlotte from mixing pudding and pickles—and therefore encouraging him to try a combination he’d never get over.
Jar in hand, he returned to the table. He’d be so glad to eat normal foods again. Then again, normal had a tendency to be highly overrated. “Look— about earlier—”
Charlotte cut him off with a raised hand. “I get it. I’m still your baby sister and you want to protect me, the reason I only gave you a love tap and didn’t lay you out on the floor.”
Thank God for small favors. Even her love taps hurt.
“It’s over and done with, I love you, and don’t let it happen again.” She patted Lucky’s hand on the table. “And I really am sorry about your car. I know you loved it.”
Lucky snorted. “I love that it was paid for.”
Charlotte gave a bitter laugh. “Keep telling yourself that, bro. But remember, I know you.” She paused and added, “I think part of my reaction was from knowing you could have been in that car. God, Lucky, when is this going to end? When will you catch whoever’s playing you?”
