Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

another blazer. In one small concession to the holiday— or maybe to the rural setting he'd expected— he wore red sneakers instead of dress shoes.
    "Lukas!" Mallory waved as I came through the screen door like she thought I hadn't seen them. "Hi! We made it!"
    "Perfect timing!" I walked across the porch to meet them at the bottom of the wide steps. "I was about to start grilling." Under his blazer, Alan was wearing suspenders . And his hair was blue, as was his eye shadow. He'd also outlined his eyes with black, and painted black streaks in his hair. A little late, I wondered how he'd get on with the older set. But I shook his hand with a big smile, and I kissed Mallory's cheek and squeezed Tania's hand and welcomed T'Pau, who had never been to the house before. "I'm glad you guys made it. Come in and see Aunt Lilia."
    "Yay!" Mallory cheered. Alan tossed his hair.
    "If she's as awesome as Lukas—"
    "Alan Lacroix," Mallory began, "if you dare be rude to—"
    Sharp barks cut her off, with Aunt Lilia calling "Warhol! No! Bad dog!" as the little dog darted across the porch yapping.
    "Aaah!" Alan climbed me, scrambling up my back. "Itty bitty bald dog is gonna eat me! Save me, Lukas!"
    I staggered, almost tripping over Warhol as he bounced around my feet, jumping at Alan. Mallory grabbed my arm, yanking instead of helping as she tried to shoo the dog away. Lilia scooted down the steps and scooped up Warhol, but Alan stayed put, knees clamped on my hips and his arms around my neck, maybe because the rest of the dogs had followed Lilia out to surge around our feet. I hadn't thought to warn—
    "Ah," Aunt Lilia said, a squirming Warhol firmly under her one arm as she offered her other hand. "You must be Alan. It's lovely to meet you. If I call off the dogs and give you cookies, will you come in?"
    "What kind of cookies?" Alan demanded. Mallory snickered.
    "I have chocolate chip baked an hour ago," Lilia said. T'Pau and Mallory oohed, but Alan must have been unimpressed because Lilia went on with, "and snickerdoodles coming out of the oven."
    "Snickerdoodles!" Alan's legs loosened then clamped on me again. "You're sure they won't eat me?"
    Aunt Lilia raised her hand. "Scout's honor." She called the dogs to heel and they all went behind her. Alan slipped off my back finally, and he and Tania and T'Pau and Lilia and all the dogs headed kitchen-wards. Mallory shook her head as she watched them up the steps.
    "He really is afraid of dogs," she told me softly. "I can't believe I forgot."
    "Must not be too bad," I said. "He's all right now."
    "He's really brave," she said with a sigh, and walked up the steps. I was going after, but Mr. Morgan called me from the horseshoe stakes under the elm and I went to the cooler to get him and his fiancée cold drinks instead.
    The grill was almost ready when Alan and the girls came trooping back out, again surrounded by the dogs because Mallory carried the to-be-grilled tray I'd set up. Tania had a plate of cookies, and T'Pau a pitcher of lemonade. Alan had a tray of glasses and a forced smile that flickered as he kept an eye on the milling dogs. I took the tray from Mallory.
    "All right, you mooches," I told the dogs, "go on back to the house. You know I won't feed you. Go on!" The dogs hesitated until Lilia whistled from the porch; then the pack went racing off.
    Mallory giggled. "Will she feed them?"
    "Of course." I held my hand over the grill and had to snatch it back quickly. Perfect. I put on some burgers, hot dogs, and brats.
    "I was expecting more… farmy," Alan said. "Is that a barn over there?"
    "It's a church," Tania said.
    "Once it was a church," T'Pau clarified. I'd only been around T'Pau a few times, but I suspected one reason Tania liked her was that T'Pau made Tania look positively cheery. "Now it is a ruin."
    "If you guys go wandering, please stay away from it," I had to say. "It's been falling down for a long time, but it's not done yet."
    "You got it, Captain Safety." Alan poured a lemonade and offered it to Mallory. "I won't be needing any burgers," he said. "I'm living on Aunt Lilia's snickerdoodles the rest of my life."
    "At least you'll die happy," Mallory said with a grin, taking the glass. Over under the elm Mr. Morgan scored a ringer, and did a stiff little dance at having trounced his fiancée. I wondered if he'd go up on the porch to lecture Lilia about how she was raising me, or come tell me how to work the grill first.
    I won. Or lost. Whatever. Mr. Morgan