Unable to stop himself from grinning, Dean put the truck into gear. Given the nonfeline connotations, he didn’t think he could say the wordspussy whipped to his true love and her little sister—no matter how accurate the observation.
As they came around the corner of the building, he felt Claire stiffen beside him.“What is it?”
“Minivans.”
“They were here last night as well,” Diana said grimly.
“You should have told me.”
“Why? There’s nothing we can do.”
“It’s just…”
“Yeah. I know.”
Minivans? In the nine months Dean had known Claire, he’d gone briefly to Hell, driven around northern Ontario after a demon, and discovered that all those clich?s about regular sex were pretty much true. He’d also learned that there were some things he was happier not knowing. This seemed like one of them.
“What was wrong with that parking spot?” Claire demanded as he drove past open pavement.
“Nothing. But I can get closer.”
“Okay, there’s one.”
“I see it.”
“And you just drove by it.”
“I can get a better spot.”
“The doors are right there!”
“I see them.”
“Sopark already.”
Speeding up to cut off a circling red sedan, Dean pulled in between a midnight-blue and a seafoam-green minivan and shut off the engine looking proud of himself. They were four spaces in, straight out from the door.
Claire rolled her eyes.“You are such aguy.”
He grinned and threw one arm along the seat back behind her, the close quarters allowing his fingers to trail down the damp, bare skin of her arm.“You have a problem with me being a guy.”
“Well, not right at this minute…”
Unbuckling her seat belt, Diana threw open the door and dropped down onto the pavement.“You guys are terminally embarrassing and…I’m sinking.”
“What?” Setting Austin on Dean’s lap, Claire slid across the seat and peered down at her sister’s feet. “That’s impossible. It’s notthat hot out.”
“Hey, you don’t have to take my word for it.” Stepping two careful paces back, heavy rubber tread imprinting the asphalt, Diana gestured for Claire to join her.
The low heels on Claire’s sandals poked square holes into the pavement. Pulling her skirt against her legs so that she could see her feet, she frowned. “This isn’t good. The influence has reached the parking lot.”
“Well, duh.” Diana swung one arm out in a wide, demonstrative arc. “Minivans?”
“Right. We’d better carry the cats. Dean, can you get the backpacks?”
Even with the extra weight, the pavement remained firm under Dean’s work boots.
“That’s a relief,” Diana noted as she set Sam down on the concrete pad outside the door and began scraping the felted layer of orange cat hair off her arms. “If it’s only affecting us, it hasn’t spread as far as we thought.”
“And I’ll be pleased about that in a minute,” Claire muttered, glaring down at the tar stuck to her heels.
“I told you those were stupid shoes to wear Otherside.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Didn’t I? I meant to.”
“I was after thinking that the whole rubber tree/hat stand thing kept these light.” Stepping over Austin, who’d sprawled out on his side in the shade, Dean set both packs on the black metal bench to one side of the door. “What’sin here?”
“A serious lackage of rubber trees and hat stands.” Wondering why Claire seemed to be cat hair free, Diana crossed to her pack and lifted it. “It’s against the Rules to access the possibilities once we’ve crossed over, so stuff like that won’t work. Which means we have…” She swung it up onto her shoulders. “…a few clothes, some preset odds and ends—possibilities having been used to create them but no longer necessary, so hopefully they’ll still work….”
“Hopefully?” Dean interrupted with a searching glance at Claire.
“Hopefully,” Diana repeated when it became obvious that Claire had nothing reassuring to say. “But mostly we’re carrying food and water because it’s dangerous to eat or drink on the Otherside.”
“Why?”
“Are you kidding? They put sauces on everything so it’s all high-cholesterol-let’s-slap-the-calories-right-onto-the-hips time.”
“The food changes you,” Claire interjected, shooting Diana astop messing with his head look. She laced her fingers through Dean’s and smiled up at him. “Different foods do different things, and all of it ties you to the Otherside, making it harder to get home. You’ve heard of Persephone and the pomegranates?”
Dark brows dipped down under the upper edge of his glasses.“Early eighties girl band? Had one hit ‘You’re Not Seeing My Depression’?”
Diana snorted.“It was, ‘You’re Not Seeing My Repression.’ Although, given the hair, I totally admit they had reason to be depressed.”
“How do either of you know what was going on in the early eighties?”
“MuchMusic Classic Videos,” Sam told her, sitting down by Austin and wrapping his tail around his toes. “There’s, like, two hours of them every Saturday afternoon.”
Claire looked from the younger cat to the older.
“Don’t look at me,” Austin sniffed disdainfully. “If we’re not out saving the world, I’m usually napping Saturday afternoons. And speaking of saving the world, I’d just like to point out that we still haven’t reached the air-conditioning. Not that I’m complaining or anything. Much.”
Hearing impending volume and duration in that final pause, Claire released Dean’s hand and reached for her backpack only to find Dean there before her. She turned so he could lift it up onto her shoulders and shivered as he kissed the back of her neck, murmuring, “Be careful.” against damp skin.
“I’m always careful.”
“What about Sharbot Lake?”
“That wasn’t careless, that was just unexpectedly deep.” She turned again, facing him now. “Will you be okay?”
He lifted her chin with a finger.“Without you? Probably not.”
“Enough with the clich?s, already.” Thumbs through her pack straps, Diana paced to the edge of the concrete and back making gagging noises. “I’ve just figured out why Keeper and Bystanders together are such a bad idea. You’re boring. And sappy enough to cause insulin shock.”
Dean ignored her, his eyes remaining locked on Claire’s face. “I’ll be waiting here.”
“We’ll be a couple days; remember?”
“But only on the Otherside.” When Claire shook her head, he frowned. “Time runs differently there. You can come out just after you went in. Right?”
“Probably not. Time might run faster or slower in pockets, but in order for the segue to work, they’ll have to make time run concurrent on both sides.” Hands flat on his chest, she studied his expression. “You knew that, right?”
“And how would I be knowing that if you didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t tell you?”
“No.” He sighed and pulled her closer. “You’ll actually be a couple of days on this side as well?”
“Maybe more. I’ve set my watch so that we’ll know.”
“Okay, now we’ve got that settled,” Diana prodded, “just say good-bye already, suck a little face, and let’sgo before the Otherside comes to us.”
Dean stared down into Claire’s face for a long moment before his mouth finally curved into a worried smile. “Got my heart?”
She laid a hand lightly against her chest.“Right here. Got mine.”
He mirrored the motion.“Safe and sound.”
“And did I mention, barf! Hey! I said suck alittle face. You do know she’s already had her tonsils out, don’t you? So if you’re in there looking for them, you’re out of luck.”
Claire pulled out of Dean’s embrace, turned on one heel, smacked Diana lightly on the back of the head, and walked toward the doors—all in one smooth motion. “Someday, as unlikely as it seems, you’re going to find someone able to overlook certain personality flaws and I’m going to be there to do the color commentary.”