“You do know we just started a major rumor,” Taylor informed us, unlocking the front door of the house. We hadn’t said much about the brunettes since leaving the mall, but now he seemed to want to bring it up.

“What do you mean?” Zac asked, collapsing onto the couch with a thud.

I sighed. “I do believe Tay is referring to our little scheme to rid ourselves of the brunette stalkers,” I said to Zac.

“Excuse me? Our little scheme?” Taylor asked. “No, no, no. It was your little scheme, remember? And I’ll bet that by next week, half the world will think we have girlfriends,” he said. Then, with a sideways glance at his older brother, he added under his breath, “Especially Ike.”

Isaac smacked his brother’s arm.

“Don’t you think you’re blowing this a little out of proportion, Taylor?” Evie asked. “I mean, it’s two girls.”

“Yeah. With big mouths,” he muttered.

I laughed. “And you wonder why he’s single,” I quipped.

Tay blushed. “You know, if you weren’t a guest, I’d have to hit you for that.”

Grinning, I said, “Don’t do me any favors.” Taylor didn’t make a move. For fun, I tapped his arm lightly as his brother had done before. “C’mon,” I taunted playfully.

Probably just to get me off his case, Taylor put his hands to my shoulder and pushed me backward gently. On a whim, I did the same to him, only a bit harder. Smiling, Taylor did the same to me. We repeated this pattern, pushing just a little harder on each other each time; smiling just a little wider each time. Finally, Tay grabbed me by my elbows and threw me onto the couch.

By this time, I was laughing. So was Taylor. After I was successfully on the couch, he turned his back to me, grinning broadly. And that was his mistake. I picked up a throw pillow from the couch and whacked it across his back.

Taylor turned to me, mouth open, blue eyes wide. Then, with a quick, sly smile, he darted to the other side of the couch and picked up another throw pillow.

“Pillow fight!” Lynnie squealed as Tay slammed the pillow into my shoulder.

The two of us began whaling on each other with the pillows. Evie and Lynn were laughing and Isaac and Zac were putting in commentary, yelling, “Give ’em a left! A right! Hit ’em, he’s open!” and so on. Taylor and I were laughing so hard, we could barely keep up the fight.

I put all my might (which wasn’t much at this point) behind a swing that hit Tay squarely across the face. He went sprawling backward and nearly lost grip on his pillow. It was then that I pounced. I pinned his arms above his head and sat on him in such a way that he couldn’t move. “Surrender!” I demanded between laughing fits.

“No!” Tay cried in response, wriggling in a desperate attempt to break free.

I was about to say something more when there was a shocking blow to my back that sent me flying off the couch. I landed on my back on the floor and looked up to see Zac, pillow in hand, smiling triumphantly.

Zac prepared to strike again, but another pillow flew in and knocked him off balance. Lynn smiled.

“That’s it, Lynnie!” Zac cried, regaining his footing. “Now, it’s war!” With that, Zac and Lynn began pummeling each other with pillows. I pulled my arms and legs in an attempt not to get stepped on as the fight brewed over my head.

Then a hand reached in and pulled me out by my arm. Half expecting a pillow to meet my face, I was pleasantly surprised to see Isaac. He grinned and shook his head, motioning to the pillow war. Zac and Lynn were pounding on each other, and Taylor was now squaring off with Evie.

I turned back to Isaac. “Look what I started,” I said with a smile. Isaac smiled too. He looked really good when he smiled. Again, it was something I’d noticed before in pictures, but it was just so much different in real life. And he sure did smell nice.

It was weird. The noise seemed to die down behind me. It sounded almost like someone was turning the volume down. Isaac’s brown eyes were entrancing and . . .

Wham!

Hit from behind, I stumbled forward, into Isaac. He steadied me and himself so that we both didn’t fall over.

I turned around to see Tay, grinning a trademark wide-toothed grin, cheeks flushed. “You’re it,” he announced breathlessly.

I tossed my head back and laughed. “I’ll give you ‘you’re it’!” I cried, lunging at him. Jumping out of the way just in time to avoid me, Taylor laughed as I collided with the couch. Deciding it was no longer worth the effort, I rolled over helplessly, sighing and laughing at the same time.

Just then, the front door opened. Diana walked in, Zoë in arms, and took a slow look around. “What on earth . . .”

I looked around as well and saw what she was talking about. The cushions of the couch were half-off, the two lampshades were tipped, there was a pillow case strewn across the love seat, and there were pillows lining the floor. I was sprawled out on the couch, Zac was on the floor, Lynnie’s hair was sticking up at an odd angle, and Taylor’s cheeks were flushed.

Letting out a sigh as Mackie, Jessica, and Avery walked into the house carrying paper bags, Diana said, “Just go help unload the groceries, please.”

Though she was talking to her sons, Lynn, Evie, and I went outside to help. With the nine of us taking in the groceries, it took no time flat. But when it came time to unload them, Jessie, Avie, and Mackenzie magically disappeared.

Diana walked into the kitchen and saw Evie, Lynn, and me putting away groceries and smiled. “You three really don’t have to do that,” she said.

Isaac, Taylor, and Zac looked up from the bags they were digging through. “Okay,” they chorused, starting for the living room.

Diana held her arms out and kept her sons in the kitchen. “I don’t think so,” she told them. “Get back in there.”

I smiled, ignoring the guys. “Don’t worry about it. I figure helping with groceries is the least we can do,” I told Diana. She smiled in reply.

The six of us finished putting the groceries away. Zac and Tay started picking up the bags and I sat down on a chair. Isaac sat down as well. I looked at him. “I’m bored now,” I told him.

Isaac smiled. “You want to go for a walk? It won’t be as much fun as a pillow fight, but it’s better than sitting around here,” he offered.

I shrugged. “Okay,” I said simply.

Isaac poked his head into the living room. “Mom, me and Jaye are gonna go for a walk. Be back later.” With that done, Isaac and I started for the back door.

I glanced around the kitchen before Isaac opened the door. “Hey, do you mind if Evie comes with us?” I asked.

Isaac shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”

I smiled. “Evie,” I called. She looked at me. “Do you wanna go for a walk with us?”

She looked from me to Isaac and back to me. “Uh, no,” she said slowly. “I’m gonna stay here.”

“Well, okay,” I said with a shrug. I nodded toward the door and Isaac opened it. We walked outside. The sun was high in the sky and it had warmed slightly since we’d gotten back from the mall. I took a deep breath. “So, where are we going?” I asked.

Starting into the back yard, Isaac said simply, “To one of the creeks.”

I shrugged. “Okay,” I said. We walked through the yard quietly. It really was beautiful outside. And it did remind me of my grandfather’s property. Barely realizing it, I began talking. “My grandpa’s place is something like this,” I told Isaac. “He’s got about a hundred or so acres, and he’s got a pond. Actually, it’s a small lake.” I giggled. “My mom says that when I was younger, I used to call it ‘Grandpa’s Beach’.”

Isaac laughed as well. “Well,” he said, pointing, “that’s Zac’s tree house. The creek’s just up here a little ways.” After a few moments, we were at the creek. It was small and shallow, and there was large rock like those in the front yard by it’s edge. He made a motion with his hand and said, “Sit down.”

I did as he requested and looked into the slowly moving water. Isaac sat beside me. The rock was a fair size and we could both sit on it easily, but he was still close. I smiled to myself.

“So, how long do you think it’ll take your parents to sell that house?” Isaac asked leisurely, picking up a twig and lazily running it over the ground.

I shrugged. “Dunno for sure, but we planned on spending a week down there,” I told him. “Why?”

“Just wondered,” he said simply.

“Okay,” I said. I dipped the toe of my sneaker into the water. For once in my life I couldn’t think of anything to say. I thought and thought, but my mind kept drawing blanks.

“So,” Isaac said slowly, “what do you think about Tulsa so far?”

I shrugged. “It’s fun,” I offered, smiling. “And the people are really nice. Well, the ones I’ve met so far, anyway.”

Isaac smiled too. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“There’s no reason why you shouldn’t,” I told him. “That’s how it was meant.”

“Why, thank you,” he said.

I smiled and turned back to the creek, dipping my toe in it once more. “Hm,” I murmured, still trying to think of something to say. Still gazing into the water, I became aware of something on my hand. I turned my head, expecting to see a leave or a blade of grass, and instead let out a yelp and jumped off the rock.

Isaac stood too. “What’s wrong?” he asked immediately.

I shook my hand violently and cringed. “Eew. Spider,” I replied.

He gave a little smirk. “You jumped about ten feet straight up into the air because of a spider?” He chuckled softly.

I reached forward and smacked his arm softly. “Don’t make fun. Spiders are the only thing in the world that I’m scared of.”

Still chuckling, Isaac demanded, “Why? You’re a good five foot five, and, at best, a normal spider is the size of a quarter!”

I cringed again. “I don’t know. They’re just so creepy and ikky and . . .” I tried to explain. Seeing it was getting me nowhere, I said, “Most fears are irrational, anyway.”

“You know, you sound like a psychiatrist,” Isaac said, shaking his head slowly.

I shrugged. “What can I say? I think I was a shrink in a past life.” I rubbed the back of my hand on my jeans, still trying to get the feeling of the spider off.

Isaac held his hand out to me. “Let’s go somewhere else,” he suggested.

I took his hand and we started back toward the house. “You mean, a nice, spider-free area?” I asked with a slight hint of sarcasm.

Isaac smiled. “Yep. A nice, spider-free area,” he agreed.

We walked the rest of the way back toward the house quietly. When we passed the garage, I noticed something strange. “Ike?” I asked. “That door wasn’t open when we passed before, was it?”

He shrugged. “Tay or Zac are probably in there now,” he suggested. “Wanna check it out?”

“Sure.”

We walked up to the small door at the side of the garage and Isaac pushed it open. We both poked our heads in and took a look around.

From behind a small easel, Taylor poked his head out. Evie, who had been sitting in front of Tay with her back to the wall, turned around.

“Hey, guys. What’s up?” I asked, releasing Isaac’s hand and inviting myself into the garage. Without waiting for a reply, I walked over to where Taylor was standing and looked at the piece of paper on the easel. “Wow,” I managed to get out.

The sketch was of Evie. It was amazing. From the eyes to the hair and the shape of the face, the sketch was perfect. It looked almost like a photograph. I was awestruck. Even though I sometimes attempted to copy images from pictures, I’d never ended up with anything half as good as the portrait I was looking at.

“That’s just wonderful,” I told Tay truthfully.

Taylor blushed. “Thanks,” he said quietly.

I smiled, feeling a pang for making him uncomfortable. “Well, I’m gone. I’ll leave you to finish your drawing.” I started back toward Isaac, who still hadn’t passed through the threshold of the garage. As I walked by Evie, I smiled and asked, “Having fun?”

She just grinned in response. I returned her smile and exited. Isaac and I resumed our path toward the house. “So,” I began, “where is this wondrous spider-free area we’re going to?”

He just turned to me and smiled. “You hungry?”