A Family After All. Kathy Altman

pumpkin-pie smell of Parker’s signature muffins soothe her.

      Oh, yeah. She needed this.

      She was reaching for the door when it swung open. Parker had exchanged her usual denim overalls for black pants and a sapphire-blue cowl-neck sweater. She smiled and pushed at the screen door.

      “About time you got here, Farmer Jane,” the redhead teased, waving Ivy into the comforting chaos of a Dollars and Divas meeting. Ten women of varying ages and backgrounds formed the group, but they all had one crucial thing in common—they liked each other. A lot. They also liked wine, desserts, romance novels and laughing.

      And talking about men.

      Ivy felt better already.

      Inevitably, the conversation turned to sex, which did not make her feel better, because it had been so long since she’d had any. But hoo, boy, had she learned a lot over the years.

      Especially from the Catlett sisters.

      When Ivy stepped into the cottage-style living room and began her hellos, it was the seventysomething Catletts she spoke with first. Hazel and June liked their makeup bright, their gossip salacious and their man candy shirtless. Hazel’s white hair was pixie short, and tonight’s shade of lipstick looked like a blueberry had got it on with a box of Christmas tinsel. June wore her silver hair in a similar style and tonight rocked a yellow sweater dress Ivy couldn’t have carried off half as well. Ditto on the turquoise eye shadow.

      “Audrey has a boyfriend,” June said as she guided Ivy over to the dining room table, where Parker had set out a selection of wine and soft drinks. June was referring to Audrey Tweedy, the Catletts’ close friend and coconspirator. Audrey was a woman who believed staunchly in the power of protein. Her father had opened the feed store Seth now owned, and Seth had won himself instant popularity with most of Castle Creek’s old-timers—especially Audrey—by keeping the name Tweedy’s Feed and Seed.

      Ivy helped herself to a glass of wine and took a hefty sip. She’d promised herself, no thoughts of Seth Walker tonight.

      Yeah. As if she’d really manage that.

      “Hazel’s furious. She thinks it’s her own main squeeze, Pete Lowry,” June said in Ivy’s ear. Her “whisper” bounced off every flat surface in the room and quieted all other conversation.

      “The guy who owns the garage?” Allison Kincaid moved closer and clinked her glass against Ivy’s in greeting. Despite having been in Castle Creek the shortest of any of the women present, the petite blonde was Ivy’s closest friend. She was also co-owner of the town’s only motel, Sleep at Joe’s. Allison gazed down at Hazel, who was tucked into the corner of Parker’s pale-blue-and-cream-striped couch. “You and Pete have a thing?”

      Hazel offered up a wink that failed miserably at being playful. “He really knows how to twist my gas cap, if you know what I mean.”

      Allison wagged her head. “No, I don’t, and I’d consider it a personal favor if you didn’t tell me.”

      Ivy joined Allison in frowning down at Hazel. “You don’t really think Audrey’s messing around with Pete, do you?”

      “She’s had that Lincoln of hers in his shop five times in the past month. Five times.”

      From the connected dining room came a snort. Parker looked up from the tray of hors d’oeuvres she was arranging in the center of the large oval table.

      “Hazel Catlett. You do realize that car of hers is older than I am? Things are bound to give out.”

      Hazel rolled her eyes as she emptied the wine bottle into her glass. “Parker Macfarland, you’re twenty years younger than me. You can’t even begin to know what you’re talking about.”

      “Twenty years younger?” June scoffed. “More like forty. Better ease up on the wine, sis.”

      A door banged open and shut out in the hall and twenty-four-year-old Liz Early appeared in the archway in black jeans, boots and a purple turtleneck, her curly blond hair gathered up in a thick ponytail that reached halfway down her back.

      “What are we talking about?” she asked brightly.

      “Getting old,” Hazel said.

      “Oh.” Liz dropped into the chair opposite the couch, crossed her legs and pulled out her phone. “Should we call someone who actually knows what that’s like?”

      Everyone laughed, and Ivy stretched forward from her position by the couch to offer Liz a knuckle bump.

      Parker pushed a hand into the air, as if she were summoning a waiter, then pointed at Liz. “Someone give this girl a drink.”

      While June and Allison converged on Liz’s chair, June with an empty glass and Allison with a wine bottle, Ivy sank down onto the couch beside Hazel.

      “Have you asked Audrey if she’s seeing Pete? I think you should, Hazel. You two have been friends since...well, since forever. She wouldn’t do something like that to you.”

      “And how do you know that?”

      “You wouldn’t do it to her, would you?”

      “I wouldn’t do it again.”

      Ivy stared. Hazel shrugged. “It was a long time ago.”

      June pivoted to face them and flapped a hand. “Don’t listen to her. She doesn’t really believe that, about Audrey and Pete. Besides, we all know Audrey has the hots for Snoozy.”

      “We do?” Allison whipped around so fast she almost fell sideways. That was what she got for wearing those ridiculous designer heels. Which Ivy totally coveted and would have said so if she weren’t preoccupied trying to imagine the skinny, mournful-looking owner of Snoozy’s Bar paired up with the brawny Audrey Tweedy.

      Allison gaped at Hazel. “Are you sure Audrey’s crushing on Snoozy? I didn’t think she was all that impressed with him or his snake.”

      Laughter erupted. Allison flushed when she realized what she’d said.

      “It’s true—Audrey’s very impatient when it comes to Snoozy’s snake.” Liz leaned around Allison and looked earnestly at Ivy. “I was in the diner when she tried to convince him to let her eat it.”

      A moment’s shocked silence, then the shrieking began. Ivy fell back onto the couch, hooting, and Hazel pounded the armrest and almost choked, she was laughing so hard. June dropped onto the arm of Liz’s chair, giggling wildly and shaking her head, while Allison rocked back and forth and scrubbed at the tears dripping down her cheeks. Parker stood by the dining room table, both hands clapped to her mouth.

      Liz’s expression alternated between embarrassment and indignation. She started to say something a couple of times but no one could hear her over the laughter. Finally, Allison took pity on her and signaled for everyone to quiet down.

      “Okay, okay, let’s give Liz a break. We all know we’re talking about Snoozy’s python, which I had the misfortune of finding wedged behind the wall of my motel room.” She shuddered. “I’m still hearing things behind the walls.”

      Ivy pushed off the couch and patted Allison’s shoulder. “On the plus side, you reunited a long-lost pet with her grieving owner. And now you have Joe to handle your pest control for you.”

      “Yes,” Allison murmured. “Now I have Joe.” The way she said it and the sappy smile on her face made Ivy more envious than any pair of Jimmy Choo shoes could. But a happy-ever-after wasn’t in Ivy’s future, and she was fine with that. Though she wouldn’t mind a happy-for-now with Seth. Especially if that happy could occur in bed, and even more especially if they could agree on terms. Like, say, for every one of his orgasms, she got two?

      He was good for it. She just knew he was good for it, damn him.

      “Okay, ladies.” Parker pointed over her shoulder at the dining