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going to go to Errol Flynn's Barbecue this

evening," Tyler said, and now he was standing perfectly still, his
    shoulders back, his chin up, ready for a fight, Adam thought, like a
    cock ready to defend the henhouse against the fox.
    Adam grinned. "Sounds good to me. I like barbecue. You bringing
    Sam? I'd like to meet him."
    "Of course Sam's coming," Becca said, her voice firm as that of
    a den mother faced with a dozen misbehaving ten-year-olds.
    "What street is Errol Flynn's Barbecue on,Tyler?"
    "Foxglove Avenue, just across from Sherry's Lingerie Boutique.
    I hear that Mrs. Ella loves Sherry's lingerie, always in there on her
    lunch hour." He shook his head. "It's rather a scary thought."
    "I haven't met Mrs. Ella yet," Becca said, then to Adam,"She's the
    sheriff's dispatcher, assistant, protector, screener, whatever--but I
    know about every one of her pets for the last fifty years. Her job was
    to save me from hysteria while I was waiting for the sheriff to come."
    "Did it work?" Adam said.
    "Yes, it did. All I could think about was the beagle named Turnip
    who died by running right off a cliff when he missed the corner
    chasing a car."
    Both men laughed, and the male pissing contest that had nearly
    made her take a kitchen knife to both of them was out of sight, at
    least for the moment. She would have to speak to Tyler if it turned
    out he was getting the wrong idea, and evidently he was. But didn't
    he realize that being her first cousin meant that Adam was no
    threat? She didn't need this. She could eat barbecue with them, she
    supposed. Thank God Sam would be there.
    Sam didn't have much testosterone yet.

    It was just after midnight. Tyler McBride was still hanging about
    at the front door, and Sam was asleep in the car, his bright-blue

T-shirt and black kid jeans covered with the sauce from the pork
    barbecue spareribs. The kid hadn't said much--shy, Adam supposed
    --but he'd eaten his share. He'd finally said Adam's name
    when he'd taken a big bite of potato salad, then nothing more.
    Would the guy never give it up and leave? Adam took a step
    closer to get him out of there when he overheard Tyler saying
    quietly to Becca at the front door, "I don't like him staying here
    with you, alone. I don't trust him."
    And then Becca's voice, calm and soothing, and he could practically
    see her lightly touch her fingers to Tyler's arm as she said, "He's
    my first cousin, Tyler. I never did like him growing up. He was a
    bully and a know-it-all, always pushing me around just because I
    was a girl. He's grown up into a real sexist. But hey, he's here and he
    is big. He's also had some training, something like army special
    forces, I think, so he'd be useful if someone came around."
    "I still don't like it."
    "Look, if something happens, he's an extra pair of hands. He's
    harmless. Hey, I heard from his stepdad that he is probably gay."
    Adam nearly lost it then. The laughter bubbled up. He practically
    had to slap his hand over his mouth to contain it. The laugher
    dried up in less than a second. He wanted to leap on her, close his
    hands around her skinny neck, and perhaps strangle her.
    "Yeah, right, sure," Tyler said. "A guy like that? Gay? I don't believe
    it for a minute. You should stay with me and Sam, to be on the
    safe side."
    She said very gently, "No, you know I couldn't do that, Tyler."
    Even after that, it took her another couple of minutes to get
    Tyler out of the house. She was locking the door when he said
    from behind her, "I'm not a sexist."
    She turned around to grin at him. "Aha! So you were eavesdropping.
    I thought you were probably lurking back there. I

was afraid that you were going to try to throw Tyler out of the
    house."
    "Maybe I would have if you hadn't finally gotten a grip and
    pushed him out. I wasn't a bully or a know-it-all, either, when I
    was growing up. I never tortured you."
    "Don't become part of your own script, Adam. I can also write
    whatever I want to on that script, since it