“This gal took the last piece,” Siobhan said, nodding toward Dani, whose plate overran with fat blueberries seeping out of a thick shortbread crust.

“I’m not even sorry,” she told him, forking a bite into her mouth.

Zed gasped and placed his hand over his chest. “You wound me with your coldness, cher.”

Dani’s dark brows drew together and Zed wondered if he’d hit a little too close to home. But the uncertain expression faded from her face as she chewed Siobhan’s divine blueberry creation. The motion of Dani’s glossed lips combined with the rich fruity smell of pie filling had Zed’s mouth-watering.

“So, you get to order a specific pie?” asked Dani. “I thought the whole deal was that Siobhan is supposed to choose your pie for you. Jillian told me it’s better that way. Everybody has told me it’s better that way.”

“Yes, but Siobhan has always chosen blueberry for me. Ever since I was a cub. I’m a creature of habit. At least, when it comes to pie.”

“So of all the magical soul healing available, you’ve needed the same thing since you were a cub?”

He shrugged. “I guess so.”

He attempted to pluck a blueberry from her plate and she poked her fork none-too-lightly into the back of his hand.

“What in the fuck do you think you’re doing?” she asked.

“I told you, blueberry was my favorite!” he exclaimed. “And you have the last piece.”

“I have cut people for less,” she said. “There is a guy wandering around Hurghada with half a thumb because he tried to take my kabob.”

Zed raised his hand, grinning. “I respect that. So what are your plans for today?”

“I’m going to head over to the public library, do a little writing and some research.”

“We have a whole office complex set up by the parish hall, you know,” Zed told her. “You don’t have to hide out at the library.”

“I like it there,” she told him. “There’s a nice, calming atmosphere, from all of the books, all of the people who go there to learn. And Miss Bardie is so sweet. I like spending my breaks with her.”

Zed frowned at the description of Miss Bardie as anything but an angry book-hoarding harpy, but didn’t say anything.