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Twenty-Four
DELILAH
“Hey stranger.”
Liam’s words halted me mid-step, as I quietly closed the door to the nursery. Getting the twins to sleep at the same time was a tricky feat, but I was getting better at it. Putting them down individually was always fraught with risk, because one could easily wake up the other. But on nights like these…
He opened his mouth again, as if to say something else. Moving swiftly, I brought one finger to my lips.
“Oh,” he whispered. “Sorry.”
I smiled and nodded, as we made our way back to the kitchen. He and Julius had arrived about an hour ago, greeting me with warm hugs hello and kisses for Jace and Courtney. They’d unpacked their duffel bags and taken showers in that time, while I got the little ones to bed.
“They were exhausted,” I explained as we slipped into the kitchen. “I took them to the duck pond, and the walking trails today.”
“Avalon park?”
“Yes.”
Liam grinned, telling me he was sorry he missed it. Julius on the other hand, had four pieces of bread out. He was rifling through the cabinets, looking for something in particular.
“So, we miss anything good while we were gone?”
A tight lump coalesced in my throat. “W—What?”
“I asked if we missed anything exciting while we were in the city,” Liam repeated. “You know, like milestones. Any new words or anything? I know Jace is a couple inches away from being able to finally climb onto the couch, and—”
“No, nothing like that,” I said with relief. “Courtney said ‘duck’ today, though.”
From the very back of the cabinet, Julius pulled out a can of SPAM. He blew the dust off it, and I wrinkled my nose.
“The first few times she said it, it sounded like… well… you know,” I smiled. “But eventually she got the ‘D’ sound down, so it’s all good.”
Julius opened the tin and began spreading mushy pink meat all over two pieces of the soft bread, which broke apart beneath the onslaught. Before I could voice my disgust he opened a can of cat food from God knows where and began spreading that too.
“What the hell is going on here?” I demanded.
Liam laughed. Reaching behind the counter, he pulled up a pair of long steel cages with trap doors at both ends. “These.”
I blinked in confusion, at least at first.
“Duncan mentioned you guys ran into a raccoon problem last night?”
“OH!” I sighed with relief. “That!”
“Yeah, he told us to pick up some traps on the way home,” said Liam. “He also said you’d show us where to stick them.”
Where to stick them…
I shook the filthy thoughts from my dirty mind and pointed toward the far doorway, just as Julius finished setting the two traps. He baited one with SPAM, one with cat food. I guess they were going for an A/B test.
“Come with me,” I said, leading the way. “I’ll show you.”
“And I’ll hang back and order pizza,” said Julius, washing his hands. “If you haven’t eaten yet, that is.”
I hadn’t eaten yet, and pizza sounded absolutely delicious. After picking my toppings — bacon and pineapple — I led Liam through the maze of locked doors and plastic-coated archways that led to the other side of the mansion. He had a raccoon trap dangling from each bare arm and a towel slung over one broad shoulder.
“Marshmallows too next time,” I called back to him.
