Henry Sturtz sat at his hand-built table in the kitchen. He’d made it when he was young and his mother, bless her heart, insisted that they use it. He pulled the printouts he’d received from a possible client in front of him and looked them

“Good morning.” Lydia held out a mug of hot coffee. She’d heard Aaron come downstairs. For once, he wasn’t running late. The man had trouble getting moving in the morning and her day had started long before he opened his eyes. It always had. When

“Miss Kitty,” Beryl said to her cat as she flopped onto the living room sofa, “I’m getting too old for this traveling stuff. You might be seeing a lot more of me than you used to.” She had to reach across the sofa to touch

“Forty-three, fifty-eight,” Sylvie said, smiling at Pat Carter. She didn’t receive a smile back, it wasn’t in the woman’s personality.   While Mrs. Carter filled out her check, Sylvie finished sacking the groceries. “Would you like help carrying these to your car?”   That earned

“Order!” Lucy called through the window into the kitchen.   Joe grinned at her as he pulled the ticket from the clip. “You’re in a good mood this morning.”   “It’s the coffee,” she replied. “I’ve already had two cups. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be pretty.”

“Jason!”   “What?” He didn’t know what was coming, but didn’t think he’d done anything that would get him into trouble.   “Could you come out here, please?”   Whew. This was about her wanting him to do something. That was fine. He was bored

Andy waved goodbye to her grandchildren as her son pulled out of the driveway, then closed the front door and went back inside. She took in a long breath and started picking up the leftover mess. How had she gotten to the point in her

“You’re home.” Dana Lyndsay opened the front door and looked at her son, Jeff, in surprise. “What are you doing here? How long can you stay?” “Hello to you, too, Mom,” Jeff said, still standing on the front stoop. “Can I come inside? It’s cold.”

“Here,” Doug Randall said, tossing a bag of potato chips to his best friend, Billy Endicott. “Mom said I’m not eating enough and sent a ton of food for lunch today.” “Dude,” Billy held up two bags of chips. “We should sell them to the

“I’m bored. There’s nothing to do around here.” Andrew Donovan flopped onto his bed, face down. When he didn’t get a response, he lifted his head enough so that he could peek over at his brother, Jason, who was working at his desk.   “Leave