“Well, I am special.’ Girl’ has an extra sweet inflection when she uses it to summon me.” I nodded at two old men huddled in the corner of the sitting room. Both wore plaid pajama tops and baggy jeans. “Mr. Leland and Mr. Daugherty still singing The Song of the Old Man?”

“Every verse, every afternoon.” Kait answered. “‘The world has gone to hell, the world has gone to hell, it was perfect when I was a kid, the world has gone to hell.’ Catchy, huh?”

“It’s certainly number one with a bullet around here.”

Kait cocked her head and studied me with soft blue eyes. “Ronni, I heard a rumor.” She glanced around before adding, “That you are writing a book.”

“Where did you hear that?” Damn Donna.

“Lisa, on the night shift. She said you’re writing a novel about Fairfield Springs, only with a different title.”

“That,” I harrumphed, “is not true.”

“So you’re not writing a book?” Kait was still pinning me in place with her stare.

I love Kait, and she’s my only real girlfriend in the world. So I changed the subject. “All I’m thinking about right now is Rick. He brought his sons to meet me at the lakehouse, which was wonderful and flattering until I realized they truly hate me. The little turds did everything but gather villagers and come after me with torches.”

“Oh, I’m sure they like you, Ronni. You’re always so hard on yourself.”

“Joshua and Jeremy waited until their father took a nap, sent me outside on a fake errand and locked all the doors. I stood in the heat for over an hour because I didn’t want to wake Rick up and get them in trouble.”

“Well,” Kait began.

I threw up a hand. “Oh, that was just the beginning. They let me ‘overhear’ a loud discussion about how they’d never have a ‘stepmonster’ because their daddy still loves their mom. The grand finale was spitting cherry Kool Aid on my back as we sat down in the boat.”

“And Rick’s oblivious, of course.”

“Like a deaf and blind man wrapped in a cocoon of divorce-guilt. Poor babies said they accidentally squirted my white shirt with those tricky drink boxes. They apologized and the younger one did a convincing audition for ‘kid who just shot Old Yeller’ for their dad. As soon as he turned his back they smiled at me and plotted how to throw me under the jet props. At least, that’s what I suspect they were thinking.”

Kait considered all this as we loaded the med cart. “I’m sorry, Ronni. You know how kids are, They’ll come around.”

“Not these kids. They are hell-bent on getting rid of me. They’re probably harboring fantasies of Mommy and Daddy reuniting after they kill off the stepfather. They look like they need an exorcist to me.”