Morelli opened the door and Bob bounded out, catching me at chest level. What Bob lacked in manners he made up for in enthusiasm. I hugged him to me and gave him some big loud kisses. Bob endured this for a beat and then turned tail and hurled himself back inside, galloping from one end of the house to the other with ears flapping and tongue flopping.

A half hour later I was all settled in with my car parked at the curb behind Morelli’s truck, my clothes in the guest room closet, and Rex’s hamster cage sitting on Morelli’s kitchen counter.

“I bet you’re tired,” Morelli said, flipping the lights off in the kitchen. “I bet you can’t wait to get into bed.”

I gave him a sideways look.

He slung an arm around my shoulders and steered me in the direction of the stairs. “I bet you’re so tired you don’t even want to bother getting into pajamas. In fact, you might need some help getting out of all these clothes.”

“And you’re volunteering for the job?”

He kissed me at the nape of my neck. “Am I a good guy, or what?”

I WOKE UP in a tangle of sheets and nothing else. Sunlight was streaming through Morelli’s bedroom window and I could hear the shower running in the bathroom. Bob was at the foot of the bed, watching me with big brown Bob eyes, probably trying to decide if I was food. Depending on Bob’s mood, food could be most anything . . . a chair, dirt, shoes, a cardboard box, a box of prunes, a table leg, a leg of lamb. Some foods sat better with Bob than others. You didn’t want to be too close after he ate a box of prunes.

I pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and trudged downstairs, hair uncombed, following the smell of coffee brewing. A note on the counter told me Bob had been fed and walked. Morelli was better at this cohabitation stuff than I was. Morelli was invigorated by sex. An orgasm for Morelli was like taking a vitamin pill. The more orgasms he had, the sharper he got. I’m the opposite. For me, an orgasm is like a shot of Valium. A night with Morelli and the next morning I’m a big contented cow.

I was coffee mug in hand, debating the merits of toast versus cereal, when Morelli’s doorbell rang. I scuffed to the door with Bob close on my heels and I opened the door to Morelli’s mother and grandmother.

The Morelli men are all charming and handsome. And with the exception of Joe, they’re all worthless drunks and womanizers. They die in barroom fights, kill themselves in car crashes, and explode their livers. The Morelli women hold the family together, ruling with an iron hand, spotting a fib a mile away. Joe’s mother was a revered and respected pillar of the community. Joe’s Grandma Bella sent a chill down the spine and into the heart of all who crossed her path.