Chapter 59: Pillows and pals

EMMA

"Noah? Are you still in here?" I closed the last kitchen cabinet and rolled my aching shoulders. It was late-nearly midnight-and everyone else had gone home hours ago. Darcy had run out for pizza and more beer around four, and after that, she had left, followed shortly thereafter by Anna and Jimmy.

"If the old man doesn't get home before dark, heaven only knows where we might end up," Anna had confided as they walked out the door. "He won't admit it, but once the sun goes down, he loses all sense of direction."

"Watch it, lady." Jimmy had pretended to glower at his wife as he swatted her backside. "Or I'll let you walk home through the woods."

"And don't think I couldn't do it," she'd tossed back. "It can't be more than a mile as the crow flies from Emma's front door to ours. Might even beat you there, slow as you putter along the road."

Both of them had kissed me on the cheek, but they'd never stopped sniping at each other, even as Jimmy opened the door for his wife