Page 5 of Crossing the Line
"Anytime."
She opened the back door and started the engine before she took Fiore out of the sling. "When you figure out a good recipe with the rosemary, let me know. Nonna and Teo love rosemary seasoning."
Bixby waved at Fiore who gave him a toothless grin. "When I figure out a good recipe, I'll make some for you to pick up."
Mirella opened the driver's door and gave him a grin. "Or we'll just have you and Janice over for dinner! See you later!"
She waved and drove off before he could remind her that he wasn't a package deal anymore.
They hadn't been together for more than a decade, although he would bet good money that Janice could tell him how many years, months, days... down to the minute since their divorce. He just knew the boundaries that defined their lives. The thick white line of paint between the butcher and the market. The wall between his half of the house and hers.
The polite looks and sometimes sarcastic remarks spoken from one side of the store to the other.
Yes, they were sometimes at the same social events, but that didn't mean they were together.
As he stood out on the curb, looking around at the town of Saint Raphael.
It was the town he'd lived in most of his adult life. It was where he met his wife. Where he'd settled.
He couldn't see himself living anywhere else.
The door behind him opened and he heard Samantha before he saw her.
"Hey, Bixby. I'm going home."
"Home to the chickens or home home."
Samantha paused and then grinned. "It's all the same. Home is where the chickens are."
"I'm surprised Janice hasn't set up a coop in the backyard. She's been buying a lot of chicken themed stuff for the house."
Samantha narrowed her eyes at him, looking at him as if he was one of Janice's Sudoku puzzles.
Then she pursed her lips together and took a few steps back.
"Samantha?"
She turned around and got to her van a moment later, her hand on the door handle.
"Samantha!"
She let go of the handle and turned around. "Sorry to run, Bixby. I've got chickens to play with."
"What are you not telling me?"
Samantha pointed a finger at her chest and tried to look innocent.
Tried.
"Samantha?"
"Well," she shrugged, "it's not like you can say anything. She has her own backyard."
His chin dropped a little with a sigh. "Just say it."
"Janice is going to get chickens! Think of all the yummy, delicious eggs! That... uh... that she's going to eat when they start laying."
"Chickens?"
