Page 140 of Let It Breathe
“Yes. I met him at some art thing last night and we hit it off and one thing led to another and?—”
“Um, congratulations?”
Larissa smiled. “Thank you. I figured you weren’t going to be dating him since you’re madly in love with Clay, so we should recycle the vet and I can date a nice guy for a change.”
“Very environmentally responsible of you,” Clay pointed out.
Larissa nodded and looked at Reese. “So are we good?”
“We’re good.” She hesitated. “I really am sorry, ’Riss. For the things I said yesterday.”
“I’m sorry, too. You’re a grump sometimes, but you’re still my third-favorite cousin.”
With that, Larissa lunged and tackled Reese in a perfume-scented bear hug. It felt warm and messy and absolutely perfect, so Reese let Larissa topple them both onto the couch. She felt Clay let go of her hand, but he sat down beside them on the sofa.
The front door flew open again, and Reese remembered her cousin’s words about the others arriving. She wriggled free from Larissa’s hug as June marched in with Jed on her heels. “Honey? Reesey?”
Reese spit Larissa’s hair out of her mouth. “Doesn’t anyone in this family ever knock?”
June ignored her and hustled to her side. Jed followed as Axl and an unfamiliar man with a necktie and a neatly trimmed beard came through the wide-open front door.
“Come on in,” Reese muttered. “Make yourselves at home.”
Axl scratched his armpit and grinned at the three of them sprawled on the sofa in various states of undress. “Your grandma always liked a good threesome, too.”
“Morning, everyone,” Clay said, adjusting his boxers. “Good to see you.”
“You guys, can we maybe do this later?” Reese asked, folding her arms over her chest. “Like after I’ve had time to shower and put on something besides pajamas?”
“No dice,” Axl insisted. “We’ve got serious vineyard business to discuss.”
“Should we call Eric?” Clay asked.
“Hell, yes,” Reese muttered. “That’s just what this situation calls for. My ex-husband.”
Her father shook his head a little sadly. “Eric’s going to be tied up for a while with Sheila.”
“And not in the good way,” Axl added.
“There’s a lot to deal with,” June said. “The police and fire marshal and all. But we’ve been talking it over, and we agreed as a family we don’t want to press charges. How do you feel about that, honey?”
Reese swallowed. “You want to forgive and forget?”
“Not forget,” Jed said. “But forgive, yes.”
“I don’t know that the police will be as forgiving,” Reese pointed out. “There’s the whole arson thing and all.”
“We’re willing to be character witnesses,” June said. “We know she’s a good person at heart. She just made some really bad decisions.”
“Haven’t we all?” Larissa said.
Clay nodded. “Amen.”
“And if she does go to prison, I can help her out,” Axl said. “I got friends on the inside who can get her in with the right gang, teach her to make a knife out of a pork chop bone, all that good stuff.”
Reese shook her head, trying to digest it all. “How’s Eric handling it?”
“Okay, under the circumstances,” Jed said. “We gave him a few of our favorite relationship books by Dr. Vivienne Brandt and?—”
