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dogs.”
    Rachel laughed so long, Deke began to bark, with Jean giggling. She slapped Nick’s shoulder in a way that reminded him of Carol’s affectionate scolding of Dan. Rachel calmed down and leaned back in her seat with a sigh.
    “It wasn’t that funny.” Nick smiled over at her.
    “Why didn’t you quote the line from that movie you really like? Go ahead and say it. I’ll give you the lead in…‘How do you write women so well?’”
    “Okay…‘I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability.’”
    “Feel better now?”
    “Surprisingly, yes. How about you?”
    “I’ll be okay.”
    “I’m hungry,” Jean spoke up from the back.
    “Sarah!” Rachel whipped around. “I asked you if you were hungry before we left.”
    “I wasn’t hungry then.”
    “Give me about forty-five minutes, Sarah, and we’ll stop, okay?” Nick checked his rear view mirror every few seconds. He had swept the Malibu for bugs before they left when he had been alone.
    “Okay,” Jean agreed.
    “It won’t be safe to stop, will it?”
    “If it’s not safe in forty-five minutes, it won’t be safe at all,” Nick stated matter-of-factly.
    “I’ll have to start reading your novels. Your main character, Diego, must be like a superhero.”
    “He’s a cold-blooded psychopath with only a thread of humanity left.”
    “Oh…”
    “You’d be surprised how many people read the novels and start rooting for Diego as Tim admitted to doing. We have a mean streak in us and sometimes a character like Diego touches the black part of our souls. There are other readers who would like to have a book burning with my novels as the guests of honor.”
    “Grace really likes them.”
    “Yeah…well…Grace is a psycho.”
    “She is?” Jean popped up past Deke to get closer while the dog jammed in behind her with his head out the window. “What’s a psycho?”
    “If you want to stop in forty-five minutes you’ll have to ignore anything you hear me say.” Nick grinned back at Jean for a moment. “I live alone. Sometimes I say things better left unsaid because I think I’m talking to myself.”
    “How about after the forty-five minutes?”
    “Sarah!” Rachel reached around attempting to tickle Jean who started squealing before the hand reached her. Deke interceded, grabbing Rachel’s wrist lightly in his jaws. “Deke!”
    Nick started laughing, while glancing over at the interchange. Hearing the tone in Rachel’s voice, Deke released her and plopped down with head in Jean’s lap, ready for another attack.
    “You didn’t tell me Deke was an attack dog.”
    “He attacks me without any problem. I’m not sure about anyone else. He’s been doing it since he was a puppy. If I reach quickly for Jean in any way, Deke grabs me. If I escalate, he escalates.”
    “Neat.”
    “Figures you’d think so.” An enigmatic smile formed as Rachel looked over at Nick.
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” Nick asked rhetorically, recognizing a setup when he heard one.
    “Men and dogs recognize abhorrent behavior, think
oh well, that’s nature
, and move on.”
    “You know us so well it’s scary, right Deke,” Nick prompted the dog and earned a ‘grrruuffff’ in response. “Hey, let’s play the women and cats game now.”
    Rachel giggled. “I don’t think so.”
    Twenty minutes later Rachel noticed Nick watching the rear view mirror even more than at the start of their trip.
    “You’re looking worried.”
    “Did Grace or Tim mention anything about putting a tail on us to you?”
    “No, I thought they wanted only the two of them to know we were headed to your place.”
    “That’s what I thought. We’re almost to Gilroy. There’s a McDonalds near the exit where we can get something to eat. In the dark, I’ll know if the car I’m suspicious of follows us off.”
    “Yaaaaaaaaayyyyy, McDonalds!” Jean cheered.
    “You will have a salad and glass of milk, young lady,” Rachel told her.
    “Yeah, right, Mom.”