“All right, then. Let’s go.” Silas steered the truck out of town and up into the hills. It was less than a ten-minute drive, during which he called his sister Nirina and got the 411 on her last doctor appointment. Five months along, and mama and baby were doing just fine.

“When are you bringing Campbell Place Girl into the shop? We need a heads-up so we can dazzle her with our wares,” Nirina chirped in his ear after she’d filled him in on all things baby.

“Listen, I just talked her into kissing me, and it took me three dates. Meeting the family’s gonna take at least seven.”

“Damn, Sy. You’re losing your touch in your old age.” At twenty-six, Nirina was the baby of the family. To her, anyone over thirty was old.

He slowed to make the turn onto Maggie’s lane and noticed the deep ruts in the dirt that turned to black tire tracks on the asphalt. “Hey, I gotta go, Niri. Call you back.”

Kevin, picking up on his concern, put his front paws on the dashboard and let out a low growl.

The ruts fishtailed back and forth on the narrow lane the whole length of the driveway. There was a gouge taken out of one of the tree trunks. He bet the car looked worse. Grimly, Silas tightened his grip on the wheel.

He was relieved to see Jim’s van parked out front. A power washer hooked to a hose sat at the bottom of the porch steps. The front door behind the screen was open, and there was music, Whitesnake, coming from somewhere inside.

Silas pulled in behind the contractor’s van and shoved the truck into park.

“Maggie!” It was not a friendly call. It was a summons.

He was halfway up the porch steps when she limped through the screen door.

“Oh, hey,” she said, giving him a smile that pissed him off.

“Oh, hey? What in the hell happened?” he demanded, closing the distance and grabbing her by the shoulders.

She looked puzzled. “I just took a break from power washing—”

“Your driveway, Mags. It looks like someone turned it into a slalom. And why are you limping?”

“I stubbed my toe. Some kids showed up last night, not realizing the place was occupied, and I tiptoed around the side to give them a scare. Ended up tiptoeing right into a rock.”

“You best back that story up and start from the beginning.”

When she merely looked up at him, annoyed, he bared his teeth. “Now, Nichols.”

He heard Jim hoot from somewhere inside, “She got him good and riled!”

“Stay out of this, Coach,” Silas snapped.

“Leave Jim alone,” Maggie shot back, daggers in her eyes. “Who do you think you are, showing up here and demanding to know shit that’s none of your business?”