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Kelli turned and shoved the tray of coffee cups onto a convenient oak barrel that had been set up as a standing tabletop. She came back and rested a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry to hear that. Morgan and I were wondering about her. She seemed to think Kat might pull through.”
I looked up, met Kelli’s deep brown eyes, and bit my lips together.
“Oh, Audrey. I didn’t know it was that bad,” she whispered. “How long?”
I shook my head and sipped some more coffee. “I don’t know. The doctors say a few months, but what do they know?”
Kelli’s mouth trembled, and she swallowed. “Does Lizzy know?”
I huffed, blinked away the mist from my eyes, and looked to the corner of the room. “Oh, I’m sure she knows, deep down. But Kat doesn’t want me to tell her anything yet. I think it’s wrong, because the poor girl’s confused, and nobody’s giving her any answers. But what can I do? I’m just her aunt.”
“You’re all she’s got. That’s what you are.”
I rested my gaze on Kelli and wished I had something of the charming flintiness she could brandish whenever it suited her. “Yeah,” I agreed softly. “I guess I am.”
“Speaking of which…” Kelli pointed to the driveway, where the newlyweds were commencing their farewell march away from the party. “Looks like it’s time. Is Lizzy joining the Nerf battle?”
Too late to stop it now. I sighed. “I’m sure she wouldn’t miss it.”
“Come on!” Kelli dragged my hand from my face and pulled me along with the crowd. “This is going to be fun, Audrey Livingstone, and you deserve five minutes of fun. Look!”
Jess was twirling around, swaying her bouquet to a chorus of cheers. Most of the single girls were clustering around her, hopping, excited, and playfully jostling each other.
“Why aren’t you going up there, Audrey?” Kelli demanded. She actually pushed me forward! I was so astonished I let my feet move before I could turn and gape at her. I wanted nothing to do with catching that bouquet. But it didn’t matter anyway, because after Jess acted like she was going to throw it, she turned and handed it to Meryl Justice. And nobody could object to that.
Meryl kissed Jess on the cheek, dabbed her eyes, and then the newlyweds walked toward Dusty’s truck. Dusty opened the door for his new wife and knelt in the gravel so she could step on his knee instead of jumping. And even my stodgy old heart gave a little thump at that. Maybe cowboys could be pretty great, after all.
“And… now!” a voice shouted.
I didn’t even have to look to know which cowboythatwas.
Jess had barely got her door shut when Luke Walker, leading a mob of short savages, charged the truck, pelting it and Dusty with green and blue foam darts. Dusty laughed, pointed at Luke like he was going to make him pay for that little stunt, then ducked inside the cab. Even then, they weren’t safe because an army of monsters rushed after him for about twenty yards, firing an avalanche of darts.
But the mayhem was just getting started. “Fire in the hole!” Luke cried. I couldn’t see him anymore, but there was no mistaking that cowboy drawl. And that was when I realized my niece hadn’t been one of the kids wielding a plastic dart gun.
I had a bad feeling about this.
The kids all drew back to the sound of a heavy old truck rumbling around the corner of the nearest barn. It was a water truck, and it turned down the drive to follow Dusty’s pickup. And sitting right on top was Luke Walker with my niece, wearing her best party dress.
“Oh, no,” I whispered. “What is that girl up to now?”
But it was pretty obvious. Lizzy was holding a huge hose, and when Luke flipped a lever, she reared back with the force of the water and proceeded to douse Dusty and Jess’s truck as it tried to escape.
That thing had some power, too, and my heart stopped. It had almost flipped Lizzy over backward! The only reason she didn’t fly off was because Luke made a quick grab for her shoulders to steady her and then had to keep a hand braced behind her.
Yeah, he saved her from falling, but he was the idiot who had put her up there in the first place. That didn’t make him a hero.
I followed to the edge of the slope, where I could watch the water truck’s progress down the long driveway. There was nowhere to turn around until it got down to the bottom of the hill, and there was nothing for me to do but wait until it got back. And so, I waited.
Seething.
When it did finally roll up the hill to a smattering of cheers and shouts, I was waiting for it. Luke and Lizzy were still sitting on top, laughing like a couple of crazy people. Luke barely glanced over my head—I doubted he even knew who I was. But he’d know in a few seconds, the rascal.
When I got around the corner of the truck, Luke was helping Lizzy down, and she straightened to face me. She wasn’t laughing anymore. “I’m sorry, Aunt Audrey,” she said. Oh, her voice was perfectly respectable, but there was a rebellious twinkle in her eye. And chocolate all over her face.
I just stared. “What in Heaven’s name? What did you do, drink syrup from a trough?”
Lizzy gave me a weak smile, and I reeled in dizzy horror when I saw that even her teeth hadn’t been spared. Her entire mouth was stained brown. “How much did you eat?” I asked in alarm.
