“Would Dean be filming if it was?” Silas pointed out.

“Never know with him,” she said.

“Kevin’s a daddy,” Dean said from behind the digital camera.

Silas knelt down to get a closer look. His big, burly pit bull was curled in a hole at the base of the foundation around two fluffy gray kittens.

“Aw,” Maggie crooned. Kevin’s tail wagged at the appreciation of his fatherly instincts. “How old are they?”

Silas reached in and gently pulled one of the kittens out. It had thick fur that clumped like a mane around its head. “Probably about six weeks,” he guessed, cradling the fur ball to his chest.

He handed the kitten to Maggie and reached for the other one. Kevin belly-crawled out of the dirt after his furry charges. This one mewed at full volume to express his displeasure. The dog whimpered. “Everybody is just fine,” Silas promised them both.

Both kittens started to meow, and Kevin was beside himself. “They must be hungry,” Maggie guessed. “What can we feed them?”

“Got any canned tuna?” Cody suggested. “We can try to get them to drink the juice until we can get some real kitten food.”

“Good idea,” she said.

They carried their new charges under Kevin’s watchful eye into the house.

“You’re not going to use orphaned kittens as a reason to back out on our shopping today, are you?” Dean demanded as Cody and Maggie tried to coax the kittens toward a dish of tuna.

She looked surprised. “Of course not. Our new roommate here volunteered to keep an eye on them while we ponder boots,” she said.

So much for stealing her away for lunch, Silas realized. Maybe he could talk her into dinner or—

“Besides,” she continued, “Niri and Kayla invited me out tonight. Apparently Niri’s mom is headlining at someplace called Cowboy Jake’s.”

Dammit, Niri.

“Look who’s changing from caterpillar to social butterfly,” Dean mused, helping himself to some coffee.

Maggie stuck her tongue out at him, and Cody smirked at their byplay.

“I’ll run into town and get some fur ball supplies. Then I’ll pick you up, and we can head to lunch,” Dean offered.

“Perfect. Cody started a list,” Maggie said.

“You’re going to Jake’s tonight?” Silas asked, trying for casual. He’d been hoping for a late lunch date, maybe talking her into swinging by his house and seeing where things went. He had fresh sheets on the bed, a sparkling-clean bathroom vanity, and all of the laundry was where it belonged, where it would stay, since Kevin was with him.

“It was a hard invitation to pass up,” she said with a sunny smile. She seemed excited to have friends, and as much as he wanted her attention focused on him, he wasn’t willing to be a dick about it. At least, not to her.