Page 49 of With Stars in Her Eyes
The tiny spark behind Nic’s green eyes made it obvious this was an old game. “You can laugh all you want, but Fanny’s a great listener. And shenevermocks my inner-child-healing adult extracurriculars.”
“Wait, who’s Fanny?” I asked.
Courtney poked Nic’s shoulder. “A pet fiddle-leaf fig tree.”
“An elegant and well-maintainedfiddle-leaf figtree.” Nic popped open a large black contractor bag for flourishing emphasis like a bullfighter with one of those red blanket things.
“Sorry. Yes.” Courtney smiled teasingly. “An elegant and well-maintained pet fiddle-leaf tree.”
“So smug.” He wrinkled his nose at her but couldn’t quite hide some delight at Courtney’s teasing.
Nic took another armload down the stairs to the truck. We would be making our first run to the dump soon.
I finished filling my own contractor bag while Samantha tried to coax details from Courtney about Nic’s relationship status. Samantha knew some women and men in Abbott’s law school classes who might be interested in getting the chef’s number.Hearing the gossip made me feel accepted into this group like family.
When Samantha left to carry a bag down herself, I hauled my own over my shoulder. “I feel like what I’m getting from these details about your cousin is that despite the scary, motorcycle-gang-enforcer exterior, he’s asafedude to have around?”
“Well,safemight not be the right word if you’re a Texas bar- hound asshole and get on the wrong side of him.” Courtney had something like sisterly pride beaming in her eyes. “But he’sgood. Nic’s the most genuinely good person I’ve ever known in my life besides Sam. And I was going to say Ms. Jeannie, but she might be more a chaotic neutral. Nic, though, he’s good.”
Nic snorted from the doorway, his cheeks slightly pinker than before. “Shush, you.” Nic shook his head at Courtney. “Always talking shit about me.”
“Always.”
Nic pointed a thumb toward the doorway. “We better get going. We’re burning daylight. Never know what we will be facing at a municipal dump. There could be monsters.” He took the bag from me and headed back out the door.
“See.Thatis the normal Nic.” Courtney elbowed him. “Always acting like we’re off on a side quest.”
“Stop mocking my new hobbies in carrying whispers!” His holler carried from halfway down the stairs.
Still laughing, Courtney and I headed down to the truck, each carrying one last bag.
Samantha was riding shotgun. “Well, chariot master, if we musteth be gone presently, wilt thou require more sustenance before we embark?”
With a long-suffering sigh, Nic opened the back door for Courtney and me before climbing behind the steering wheel.
Samantha spoke in an affected voice more suited to a Renaissance Festival. “If none of my fair gentlelady companions have any objections, then go forth andmush, I say to you.”
“I’m not a sled dog, Sam,” Nic said in a wry grumble. “And there aren’t sled dogs inDungeons and Dragons.”
Courtney leaned over the seat, hugged her cousin, and kissed him once on the top of the head.
He wiped the kiss away like a sullen teenager, but again, he was fighting a smile.
Courtney, Samantha, and I all exchanged looks. “Mush,” we said together.
Nic twisted the key in the ignition, the truck rumbling to life. “What has Jeannie Gallagher-Keegan gotten me into with you three?”
All three of us women responded with laughter so loud we drowned out any other sounds as Nic pulled out onto the road.
CHAPTER 16Courtney
“Absolutely not.” I launched myself over the middle console from the back, the seatbelt nearly strangling me, to grab the CD out of Nic’s hand before he could sneak it into the car stereo. It was a shitty, low-budget cover album I’d recorded in my early twenties, and I would need to steal and destroy it later.
“It’s my turn to pick, Courtney. I’ve let you and Sam control the music all morning.” We were on our way back from our third and hopefully last trip to the dump. Thea’s first two appointments canceled, giving us time for this last trip before she had to go into work. But since Nic still hadn’t upgraded the stereo in his ancient truck, we were subject to the whims of his CD collection. He might be three years younger than me, but he acted like an old man. An old man whose expression clearly said he was trying to show off my talent rather than mortify me, but that didn’t mean I would let him do either.
“Let Thea pick,” Sam said as she stirred from her catnap. She always fell asleep in the car.
“But it’s my truck.”
