“Preaching.” I pointed at myself. “Choir.” I sipped my coffee. “I’ll tell you the whole story tonight. Van will want to hear it. I have to go back to work shortly, and I still need to grab coffee for Lainey.” I tugged on Trick’s shirtsleeve. “If you’re interested, and he agrees, we can start the bonding soon.”

Trick blinked at me in surprise, cradling Dammit in his hands. “Of course I want him. He’s perfect. You can do your woo-woo bonding thing with us later if he agrees. I’ll think of new names in the interim.” He helped me carefully tuck the fledgling back into the carrier.

Once Dammit was secured, I kissed Trick on the temple. “You’re the best.”

“I know.” He looked up at Jim. “You coming by the house tonight? I’m streaming the new episode of Mated by Fate…” He raised his eyebrows.

Trick was somewhat obsessed with the dating reality show. I thought it was garbage, but it was really entertaining garbage, so I watched it with him when I was home.

The big minotaur shrugged. “Probably? Depends on how stabby I feel at the end of the day.”

“We can accept your stabby and counter it with free beer,” Trick said.

“Done.” Jim waved at us and left, holding the door open for a herd of customers as he did.

I waited in line to say goodbye to Van, and to pick up some coffee and treats for Lainey and the rest of the staff at the clinic.

The lady in front of me dug in her purse for something. Noah stood patiently behind the till waiting for her, despite the growing line. That was probably why he was on the till. Noah was naturally good with customers, and when he smiled, he got a big dimple in his cheek. Van was less patient, and since they shared tips, it had been decided that it was best to have Noah handling the customers. He straightened his SUU T-shirt as he waited, which had bunched up because of his apron, the soft yellow of his shirt looking good against the deep brown of his skin. If I had worn that shirt, I would look sickly. Some pale people could pull off yellow. I wasn’t one of them.

Van tipped her chin at me, her hands full with the milk she was steaming. “Did Trick remind you about the houseguest?”

It took me a minute to remember what she was talking about. The lady in front of me had just pulled a live snake out of her purse and set it on the counter. I watched it slither along the wood countertop. It wasn’t poisonous—a garter snake, and not a terribly big one—but I wasn’t sure if a snake would count as a health code violation. Noah tracked it with his gaze, but since he didn’t reach for it yet, I assumed it was fine. Or maybe he wasn’t comfortable grabbing snakes.

“Oh, right.” Trick had a friend driving up from Portland to stay with us for awhile—we’d had a house meeting about it. Trick owned the house, and we all had an informal rental agreement with him, so technically he could do as he pleased. Despite that, all big decisions were handled as a team, because though it was Trick’s house, we all considered it our home. I liked it because they were good roommates and the house had a cozy, family feel about it. You know, if you actually liked your family. Besides, there was no way any of us could afford our own place.