Page 15 of Starfall

“They are not infants; they are adults and teens just trying to make their way in the world.” He looked at her. “Oh, you were joking.”

“Yes. I was joking. One of my school friends was a chair user, and fighting not to be treated like an infant took up half her time.” She smiled. “We made her our queen and commanded our peers to step aside as she was so royal she was not to be parted from her chair of power.”

He smiled. “How old were you?”

“Eight. It was a good year, but she went for surgeries in the city the next year, and she didn’t return to our school.”

He cocked his head. “How old are you?”

“Thirty-two.”

He blinked. “And she was in a chair... Did it have purple streamers on the handles?”

“Yeah.”

“Unicorn sticker on the back of the seat?”

“Yeah.”

“Her name was Gabi?”

“Queen Gabrielle, if you please. You know her?”

“It was my cousin.”

“Was?” Her eyes went wide.

“Is! Is my cousin. She is the head of marketing.”

“Really? Oh, that’s great. How is her back?”

“Not completely corrected, but she can walk with a cane and likes to use it on her nieces and nephews to pull them in for hugs.” He smiled.

Food started arriving, and Rowen handed her some wet wipes out of the pile in a warmed bowl.

The plates kept arriving, and Rowen laughed. “Just start somewhere, or we will be swamped.”

“All right, you asked for it.” She licked her lips, picked up a rack of ribs, and tore it into pieces, then started to lift one rib after another to her mouth, stripping the meat from the bone.

Rowen had a forkful of shredded pork to his mouth, and the mouth was open in astonishment. “Wow.”

She grinned and muttered, “Buckle up.”

She grabbed food, put bones in a bucket, and then moved on to brisket, chicken, more pork, shredded pork, coleslaw, and some fried potato chips dusted with spices.

She looked around, and he held out a plate with soft white bread. She met his gaze. “I know this sounds weird, but I try and minimize gluten. It isn’t an allergy, but it isn’t friendly.”

He laughed. “You eating low gluten is one of the best things I have heard today.”

She snorted and started to wipe the wreckage of sauces from her hands and face.

Meg came by, and her eyes went wide. “Holy... There is nothing left on those bones.”

Emery smiled and said, “That’s the point.”

“I know Rowen didn’t do that. Wow. Mom’s gonna love you.”

Emery blinked. “Mom?”

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