Josh had just finished high school and was totally doing nothing this summer before he headed to Boulder for college next month. He slept, ate, kept an eye on his siblings during the day, and went out with his friends in the evening. Leo was fifteen and dramatic with it. He hadn’t had a growth spurt yet, and was short and skinny. He felt highly aggrieved about this. Caleb was nine, and he and Haley lived to aggravate each other.

I sighed. “Come on, then.” I spotted my keys on the coffee table with my cellphone. Scooping them up, I shoved them into my laptop bag and swung the bag on my shoulder.

After locking the door to my house, I shot the pots of colorful flowers crowding my pocket-sized, front porch a long look. My dahlias looked glorious but I knew it wouldn’t be long before I’d have to dig them up and store them for the winter. I added that to my mental to-do list. There seemed to always be something to do with my cute, little place.

“Come on, Tessa, Simba will be scared.” Haley grabbed my hand and tugged me across the quiet street.

I swallowed a snort. Simba was an evil despot trapped in the body of a cat. He didn’t do scared, unless he was terrorizing someone else.

We crossed to a house across the street that was a little larger than mine. I smiled. I’d spent a large part of my childhood in that house. I’d run around in the yard, I’d broken the downstairs window beside the front door with an errant baseball, and I’d climbed the trees and made endless little-girl wishes. Orphaned when I was Haley’s age, I’d thankfully had my awesome Aunt Emily to take me in. Against a hell of a lot of odds, she’d made a home for a grieving little girl and filled it with love.

“There.” Haley pointed triumphantly at the large tree in the front yard.

I spied Simba on a branch, giving me the evil eye.

“I already got the step ladder,” my cousin added.

Setting my bag down, I marched over to the ladder and dragged it under the tree. “Simba, I need to get to work, so let’s make this quick. Got it?”

The cat turned in a circle on the branch and flashed me his butt.

Charming. I climbed up the ladder. “Let’s go, you tyrant.” I kept my voice low and singsongy. “You’re making me late. I have a hotel to run.”

I grabbed for him. He scratched my arm in response. Ignoring the sting on my forearm, I seized his bulk from the tree and hauled him down. He snarled at me.

“Asshole,” I muttered.

“Simba!” Haley took him, hugging him tightly. The cat’s rigid body went lax, and he nuzzled his face against Haley’s neck and started purring.