Page 6 of Stay for Forever

Chapter 3

At what age is it appropriate to tell my dog he’s adopted?

“Don’t go in there!”

I groan when Ashlyn’s whisper-shout wakes me.

“Why not? We’ve checked every other area of the house. Juniper must be in her bedroom.”

“You’ll be sorry,” Ashlyn sings.

“Are you being sarcastic?” I can practically hear Lilac’s brow wrinkle as she tries to ascertain whether Ashlyn’s being sarcastic or not. Lilac doesn’t understand sarcasm. I’m half-positive she’s an artificial intelligence experiment gone wrong, because who doesn’t understand sarcasm?

The door to my bedroom opens for a second before it slams closed again.

“Are you crazy? She has a snake in there.”

“I’m positive Juniper doesn’t have a snake slithering around on her floor,” Lilac says before opening the door again and switching on the lights. “There’s no snake here, but there is a terrarium.”

I frown. The terrarium is empty. Slinky no longer lives there. He freaked the cat out and the dogs barked at him constantly. As much as I loved Slinky and how much his presence in my house kept my baby sister away, I had to give him up.

Ashlyn squeals and scrambles away. “I don’t want to know! I don’t want to know!”

I sigh before flinging my covers off and standing and following her to the living room where all four of my sisters are gathered. Awesome. “What are you doing here?”

Lilac frowns. “According to Ashlyn, we’re here to get the gossip. According to Aspen, we’re here to sort your shit.” Literal Lilac strikes again!

“I’m here because I’m a gazillion months pregnant, and my fiancé has become Mr. Overprotective. I needed a break.”

Ellery grunts as she rubs her stomach, but there’s one of those secret smiles on her face. Her baby daddy proposed to her a few days ago after he bought her the house of her dreams. I wasn’t sold on Cole when I found out he’d knocked my sister up after a one-night stand, but anyone who can get my stubborn sister to take a break from the inn she manages is a hero in my book. Because my sister is the definition of workaholic when it comes to her baby, The Inn on Main.

“Did someone at least bring refreshments?” I ask as I plop down on a chair. Dale skitters into the room and jumps onto my lap.

“This is not a refreshment visit. We didn’t stop by for a chat,” Aspen proclaims.

“We didn’t?” Ashlyn wrinkles her nose. “I want all the gossip. How long have you been involved with the movie star Maverick Langston?” She wiggles her eyebrows.

My stomach sours at the mention of his name. “We’re not involved.”

She giggles. “It looked like you were involved when—”

“Enough!” I order, causing my dogs to come racing out of my bedroom to find me while barking and howling. Great. My neighbor will be complaining about my animals again.

Bark Twain springs onto the chair causing my chipmunk to jump on my shoulder. I try not to wince when I feel his nails dig into my skin. Not to be outdone, Indiana Bones sticks his snout on my leg. I dig my hand in his fur and scratch him behind the ears.

As soon as my animals settle – no need to worry about Meowise as she’ll be taking over the bed with her rivals gone – I confront Ashlyn. “It’s not okay to play super sleuth and follow me around before spying in the window.” I can feel my face heat at the reminder of what she saw as I glare at her.

She shrugs. “If you had told me what you were up to, I wouldn’t have needed to sneak around.”

“Welcome to my life,” Aspen mutters. “She followed Lyric and me around like a lost puppy dog when we were in high school.”

Lyric and Aspen were inseparable in high school. Everyone was convinced they’d get married straight out of college. Unfortunately, they lost their way for a while there, but they’re engaged now and disgustingly in love. Gag.

“You have your own husband now. Why don’t you go home and play with him instead of interfering in my life?” I suggest to Ashlyn.

She does one of those dreamy sighs I thought were made up by Hollywood. She’s been in love with Rowan forever. It took her breaking an ankle and taking a jackhammer to his walls, but she finally broke him down and now they too are disgustingly in love.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy three of my sisters have found love. Good for them, but I am done with men. I should probably form an alliance with Lilac because there’s no way my robotic sister will ever fall in love.

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