“Where’s Arden?” Lolli asked, setting down her wine. “I want an update on her latest piece.”
Shep set Keely down, barely out of breath. “Still working on said piece. I couldn’t convince her to break away.”
Nora frowned. “She needs to eat.”
“I told her I’d drop a plate by later.”
Nora shook her head. “That’s not good enough. She needs to take a break and spend time with her family.”
Lolli patted Nora’s hand. “Don’t be such a worrywart. You know how we artists can get when we’re in the throes of a new project. She’s making magic.”
Shep’s lips twitched. “Looked mostly like a hunk of metal to me.”
Lolli made apsshsound. “You just don’t have vision.”
“Vision like you and your dick flower?” a deep voice asked from the entryway.
We all turned to see Kyler striding into the space, his scuffed-up motorcycle boots eating up the distance. If you didn’t know him the way we did, you’d likely cross the street if you saw him coming. He looked like part mountain man and part tattoo god, with ink wrapping around his arms and beginning to trail up his neck.
“What’s a dick flower?” Keely asked, her voice sounding extra angelic.
Trace glared at Kyler. “Thanks for that.”
Kye winced. “I didn’t see her there. She’s tiny, man.”
Lolli patted Trace’s arm. “Now, now. There’s nothing wrong with the human body.” She turned to Keely. “He’s talking about the picture I made for Rho’s new house.”
Keely brightened at that. “Can I have a dick flower, too?”
“No!” Trace and Nora said at the same time.
The rest of us dissolved into laughter.
“Will someone help me set the table?” Nora asked, exasperation lacing her tone.
“I will,” I offered, moving to open the silverware drawer.
She wrapped an arm around me, pulling me in and kissing the top of my head. “You settling in?”
We were an affectionate bunch, easy with our hugs. The only one who steered clear was Kyler. Maybe because he’d ended up with us later in life at sixteen and had been through so much. He seemed to keep everyone at arm’s length.
Kyler crossed to the island, grabbing a grape and popping it into his mouth. Then he glanced down at Fallon. “How was the home visit?”
The faintest blush lit the apples of her cheeks, but her mouth thinned. “It went all right.”
Kyler’s forearm bunched and flexed like a cobra ready to strike. “Just all right?”
Fallon shrugged. “The dad was kind of a jerk.”
Kye’s jaw worked back and forth. “How so?”
Her eyes flashed in challenge. “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”
“Fallon—”
“It was fine,” she said, cutting him off.
She was the one person Kyler had let in after coming to live with Nora and Lolli. Maybe it was the gentleness that radiated through Fallon or that she was someone he could protect, but the two had become attached at the hip. Even now, I couldn’t understand half of what they said to each other. It was as if they had their own unique language.
