Page 3 of Small-Town Secrets
"Yeah?" I glanced at my seven-year-old in the back mirror. "Why do you think so?"
"Because we were bad," Tyler piped up.
Well, at least they knew that. "What did you do?"
"Stacey deserved it," Chris said instead of answering the question.
"Yeah, she deserved the crickets," Tyler agreed. "She's stupid."
I suppressed a sigh. If little Stacey was anything like her parents, my boys might even be right about that, but that didn't justify their behavior. "What did I tell you about crickets?"
"Don't touch them!" Chris mimicked me. "But we didn't."
I shot my son a stern look. Chris liked to pretend that he was innocent, and though he never was, he was full of excuses. "Then how did the crickets get into Stacey's lunchbox?"
"They jumped in by themselves!" Tyler told me. "We only placed the lunchbox on the ground, and then we took it back."
"We couldn't take them out without touching them," Chris added.
I dragged my hand down my face. If that wasn't malicious compliance... Where did they get these ideas? "You're going to bed without TV time tonight. For stealing Stacey's lunchbox. And for letting crickets get into it," I added before either of them could protest. "I don't want to hear any complaints or you're losing dessert too."
That shut them up.
Good.
As much as I loved my boys, arguing with them was tiring. Especially because it was always two against one. Every other day, my cousin suggested that I find myself a new alpha to co-parent with me—preferably a rich one. That was ridiculous, though. I didn't need another alpha in my life.
Not ever.
2
Aaron
"C'mon now, Ophelia, that's a good girl," I said, standing in my backyard and taking the stick from Ophelia, who was a lovely six-months-old Great Dane. In my pocket, my phone vibrated—for the third time that session. I let it go to voice mail. No way was I gonna let myself get distracted during early training. This puppy and I were still getting to know each other, after all, and I knew she was watching my every move.
As was my own dog, when I glanced back in the direction of the house.
At this distance, Sarge appeared so small I wouldn't have been able to spot him if I hadn't known where he was—in his favorite spot right next to the back door, sitting there as if he needed to guard the house while I was out here. When Ophelia had arrived, he'd sniffed her for a minute and then promptly lost interest the way he always did when I was training other dogs. He wasn't hostile toward other animals, he just didn't care much about them.
I knew, once Ophelia went home, the tiny yet fierce Chihuahua would be glued to my side again, but until then, he would be watching us from his spot by the door. And he would expect treats as a reward for his services later.
Focusing my attention back on Ophelia, I threw the stick again for her to fetch. It wasn’t the most serious of training, but the girl was having a blast. I also knew that she would listen to me much better once she’d gotten used to me a little more, and once she’d gotten all that excess puppy energy out of her system.
I let her run around my yard for another twenty minutes, and then I put the stick aside.
Just as soon as I did, Sarge started barking.
"What's wrong, buddy?" I asked. And then I saw the car turning into my driveway. My little brother's car. Great. I grimaced.
Don't get me wrong—it wasn't like I didn'tlovemy brother, but most younger siblings could be utterly annoying at one point or another, and Marvin? Well, he'd never outgrown that phase.
Regardless, I put Ophelia on a leash and greeted him with a smile as he stepped out of his car. I hadn't seen him around too much since his wife had given birth to their youngest daughter about half a year ago. The newborn was keeping him busy.
On the one hand, that was great.
On the other...
"Aaron! I thought I'd drop by when you wouldn't answer your phone. Just to check on you, you know? And to talk. Did you at least see the pictures I've sent you? Susan's adorable, isn't she? She rolled on her back the other day. All by herself! There's a video on Facebook. Did you see it?"
