Page 104 of Make Mine Sweet
I make a rude gesture at him. “Make yourselves at home.”
I go into my bedroom and quickly put on my prosthesis and pull a shirt over my head. When I come back out, they’re on the couch. Iris is flipping through my book collection, and Steven still looks far too happy.
“You’ve been keeping secrets.” He grins at me as if he’s got a few favorites.
I take the chair across from them, saying nothing. They won’t be secrets if I admit to them.
“Tess seems really sweet.” Iris’s attempt to temper the situation isn’t working.
Mostly because I’m tempted to expound on how Tess is so much more than sweet. She is that, one hundred percent. But she’s also fierce and capable and tough around the edges, with the softest center I think I might die to protect. But they’ve got plenty of incriminating information on me already. I don’t need to offer up more.
“She’s the single mom?” Steven wants to know. I nod. “That’s a new thing for you, isn’t it?”
He says it like being involved with Tess and August is the same sort of inconsequential choice as wearing socks with sandals or changing the station from rock to hip-hop.
I just stare at him. I’m not ready to ruin this unexpected reunion with raised voices. Yet.
He finally takes the hint and eases up on the smug smile. “Whatever it takes to get you in the land of the living.”
“I can always go back to my crypt,” I grumble.
“Leave Ian alone,” Iris says to my brother. She turns back to me. “Sunshine is a cute little town. You’ll have to show us around while we’re here.”
“That’d be a short tour.” I haven’t been to many places here. I could point them in the direction of the bakery. That’s about it.
But it’s the best stop in town.
“You could ask Tess for some ideas tonight,” I add. “She’ll know all the good spots.”
Iris’s slow nod tells me I said too much. Seems to be the theme of the last ten minutes.
“Have you bagged any of these mountains yet?” Steven asks.
“Not yet. I’ve been reading up on a few trails I want to tackle, though.”
He claps his hands and rubs them together. He’s always been overly dramatic. “That’s what I like to hear. Anything we can get up to tomorrow?”
“Probably.” Nothing serious, since we don’t have gear, but some mountain air might do me good. “There are some half-day hikes we could do.”
“I’m in. Iris?”
“As long as it’s a true half-day, and not one where you pull this ‘just one more mile’ garbage on me for five miles.” She glares at him so hard, I’m surprised he doesn’t whimper.
“I did that one time, babe.”
She purses her lips, still staring at him like she’s waiting for him to turn to stone. “We hiked back in the dark.”
He lays his hand over hers. “And we’ll carry those treasured memories with us for the rest of our lives.”
She snorts at his syrupy tone. “I’ll trust Ian to pick the hike.”
“I’ll come up with something that will have us home long before dark.” Possibly because I don’t want to miss seeing Tess and August tomorrow evening.
“Pierce will be relieved.” Steven’s wide grin unsettles me. It usually means trouble. “He’s been freaking out about your little sabbatical. He was afraid you’d never come back.”
“Yeah.” I can’t put much laughter behind it when I wasn’t sure I’d ever go back, either.
I’m even less sure now.
