Excerpt
“Before we leave, there’s someone else I’d like you to meet.”
“If there’s a rhinoceros here, I’m heading for the border,” Trixie teased as I handed her the coat she’d used earlier and threw one to Coop, who slipped it on and was left with her long, graceful arms only covered to the elbow.
Laughing, I shook my head and plucked Bel from my shoulder, placing him in my palm and holding him up so they could see him clearly. “This is my familiar. I’ll explain what that word means when we get back if you don’t already know. For now, this is Belfry. Bel for short. He’s one of my best friends in the whole world, and if anyone can get in and out of your store without being seen to find Livingston, it’s him.”
Bel curtsied. “Nice to meet you both. I’m at your service.”
Coop’s eyes went wide, glittering like glass marbles as she bent at the waist to eyeball Bel, using a finger to scratch his round-with-more-pomegranates-than-a-familiar-knew-what-to-do-with belly. “It talks,” she mused.
“It talks a lot,” Win joked, making Bel flap his wings.
“Da!” Arkady agreed on a hearty laugh.
Coop almost cracked another smile when she nodded her agreement. “Livingston talks a lot, too. Sometimes, he makes my head noisy.”
“Pound, Coop. He makes your head pound,” Trixie corrected with a snicker. “And yes, Livingston can be quite a handful. Just a bigger one than your Bel, at almost five pounds. Is Belfry a play on ‘bats in the’?”
“It is,” I replied, pleased she’d made the connection as I gave Whiskey a scratch on the head and blew him a kiss. “Now, let’s go get your handful so my handful can meet him and they can be handfuls together, okay? But I’m going to caution you both. You must listen to me. It’s imperative. We have to do this right. Coop, if we encounter someone, anyone, no throwing people around like tennis balls. Keep your cool and we’ll be in and out like we were never there. Promise me?”
Trixie halted all motion when she threw up a hand and said, “Hold on! I forgot the keys to the back door inside the store. I was in such a rush to get to Coop, I must have left them on the counter. Good heavens, I’ve made such a mess of things!”
“Don’t panic,” I instructed. “I have an idea. I’ll tell you all about it on the way. That said, Coop, I need that promise from you.”
She held up two hands and nodded solemnly, her surreally gorgeous face somber. “I promise, Stevie Cartwright, and I never, ever break a promise.”
“Good. And Trixie, you, too.”
She barked a laugh at me that literally tinkled, and it was a pleasant, almost carefree sound. I suspected that was something she hadn’t felt in a long time, and I wanted to know why. But that was for later.
“Just so you know, I’m a big chicken. You don’t have to worry I’ll throw even so much as a dirty look someone’s way. I’m a lover, not a fighter.”
I winked at Trixie, courage coursing through my boozy veins. “Then let’s do this, girls!”
As we made our way down the snow-covered stairs, Coop whispered to Trixie, “It speaks, Trixie. It sounds like that toy we saw in the pet store when you crush it in your hands.”
“It’s right here, and it flies, too, and if you guys don’t stop talking about me like I’m not two feet from you, I’m going to swan dive right into all your luscious locks, Coop the Demon! Then we’ll see who speaks!” Bel chirped, annoyed.
Coop gasped her outrage as she stomped across the lawn and driveway to my car, muttering, “Will not throw anyone around. Will not.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You be nice, Bel. Don’t upset the demon, buddy. You did see Starsky’s nose, didn’t you?”
We all laughed at that as we piled into the car with snowflakes swirling around us and Trixie at the wheel.