“I fucking hate all of you,” Trick grumbled into his cup.

“You love us,” Vanessa said with a grin. “And you shouldn’t lie to those that you love. I won’t make you admit it to us right now, but you need to at least admit it to yourself. You would hate-fuck that man into a coma of spent lust.”

“Coma of Spent Lust would be a pretty good band name,” I murmured.

“Or maybe just Spent Lust should be the band name and Coma could be the first album,” Declan said, his voice thoughtful.

“You’re both wrong,” Van said. “Coma should be the band name and then the albums would all be things that caused the comas.”

The door jingled, and Jim entered, turning his big shoulders to make it through the door. He’d taken his magic for the day, because he looked like a big, auburn-haired guy and not a bull. He saw us and smiled, heading over. When he got close to us he stopped. Looked at us. Looked at Trick. Tipped his head. “McKendrick?”

“Ha!” Val said, pointing at Jim while turning a look of pure triumph on Trick.

Trick cradled his cup and continued to give us the death glare, mumbling threats under his breath.

“I’d feel bad,” I told Trick. “Except you do this to me and Vanessa all the time. I enter into evidence the Great Spoon Debate that we had in this very café.”

Trick continued to glower. “I don’t like the taste of my own medicine.”

“Nobody does,” Vanessa said kindly. She turned her focus to me. “Juliet mentioned you running into Dad. What happened? She was kind of upset and glossed over the incident.”

I caught her up, telling her everything Woodbridge had said to us. Vanessa set aside the rest of her muffin, her face thoughtful.

Finally, she shook her head as if clearing it. “I don’t get it. Ambushing you in the park seems really ham-fisted. My dad is usually sneakier than that.” She got up, brushing muffin crumbs off her jeans. “Either he’s desperate for information on Declan and Eva, or he’s slipping in his dotage.”

“I considered finding a tall building to throw him out of,” Declan grumbled.

Vanessa bent and kissed his head. “And I love you for it.” She checked the clock. “And I better get back to work. You want any coffees for the clinic?”

“Please. Lainey’s usual and a cookie?” Lainey kept telling me she didn’t mind, but I still felt terrible that we’d accidentally increased her workload. The blatant bribery from us would continue for now.

After we got coffee, we went to the vet clinic. The schedule was completely booked, and a few emergencies had called in, so Lainey was glad to see me. I helped answer phones, put patients into rooms, got their vitals, and checked people out. It was a nice reminder that while I couldn’t help with Mama Ami with the familiars, I could still be useful.

Lainey handed me a folder. “You get to check in this one.”