Sawdust covered even her eyelashes, and she tried unsuccessfully to brush it away without introducing it to her cornea. “Something like that. Something chewed through the cord of my dad’s shop vac, and the things I’ve seen . . .” She trailed off, trying not to dwell on the ancient civilizations she’d discovered beneath the couches, chairs, and cupboards.

“You didn’t get bit by anything, did you?” Morgan asked her with a frown. “Bats, squirrels, raccoons?”

“So far I’ve only seen a few mice.”

Morgan’s face relaxed. “Good. We found a family of raccoons in my parents’ barn last summer. Eviction was . . . eventful.”

“This is a nice place.” Stevie looked around the yard, her blue-green eyes scanning the overgrown shrubs along the east side of the house, then the long front porch. Emilia looked, too, trying to see the house from an outsider’s eyes. The log home stared back at her with her father’s gentle smile.

“Could be yours,” she said, swallowing past the lump in her throat. “I hope I didn’t interrupt your work.”

“You’re on the way to our next appointment.”

Morgan’s reassuring smile slipped. Emilia saw her eyes flick down to her shoulder, which her shirt had revealed yet again. Friends, she reminded herself firmly as her body suggested more appealing alternatives.

“I’ll grab the vac.” Stevie paused to greet Nell before opening the truck’s door. “Mind if I release the Kraken?”

“I told you,” Morgan said to Emilia. Was there a hint of a blush on her cheeks, or was that her imagination?

“Release away.”

The sable German shepherd leapt out of the truck and circled Nell, his tail wagging with enthusiasm. Their previous aloofness dissolved as they began to romp around the yard.

“Where do you want it?” Stevie asked as she hefted the shop vac out of the vehicle.

“I can grab it.” She took it from Stevie hastily, needing an excuse to look away from Morgan. When she returned from depositing it on the porch, she found Morgan and Stevie exchanging heated whispers.

“Is everything okay?”

“Peachy. What are you doing this weekend?”

Morgan shot Stevie a glare.

“Probably still cleaning.”

“Do you want an alternative?” Stevie asked.

“That depends on the alternative,” said Emilia.

“We’re throwing a small birthday party for our friend Angie this Saturday. Beer, steaks—or mushrooms if you’re vegetarian or vegan—and a few people from the clinic. Morgan doesn’t think you want to hang out with a bunch of vet med people, but that’s only because she’s boring as fuck. The rest of us are cool.”

A party. Emilia wished Nell would leave off romping with Kraken and sit beside her for moral support. How could she explain to the women in front of her that the offer both warmed and terrified her? She wasn’t ready to be surrounded by her own world. I came here to get away, she thought, but Stevie’s smile and Morgan’s reddened cheeks were hardly threatening.

“I would love to,” she said before she could change her mind.