“Hello, you!” Charlie greeted the coyote. Mads watched Charlie rub her nose against the canine’s muzzle before she allowed it to lick her face like she’d just come back from war. That was something even Mads didn’t let the animal do. It was gross. She knew where that tongue had been. Mads only allowed the animal to roam around her property because he kept the place clean of vermin and it was funny to watch Finn argue with a wild beast as if he expected it to reply in full sentences.
After a lot of kissing and cuddling, Charlie finally placed the coyote on the ground and walked over to the rest of the team, flopping down in one of the stuffed chairs near the big couch.
Charlie briefly studied the chair before letting her gaze roam around the room. “Nice job with the furniture, Mads.”
Before Mads could say anything, Nelle replied, “Thank you.”
“I never asked you to decorate my house,” Mads reminded her teammate.
“You weren’t going to do it,” Nelle shot back. “And none of us wanted to have these kinds of discussions while sitting on a hard, unclean floor.”
“How do you know my floor is unclean?”
“Have you cleaned it?”
“I haven’t had time—”
“That’s why I also got you a cleaning service.”
Mads walked back over to where her teammates were sitting and gawked at Nelle. “You got me a cleaning service?”
“Yes. They’ll come by once a week. Clean the place and keep your refrigerator stocked after throwing out anything that’s expired. It’s a very good service.”
“How will they get in my house?”
Nelle frowned. “They have keys.”
“There are strangers with keys to my house?”
“If we don’t want to be sitting in coyote filth . . . yes.”
Mads started toward Nelle—you know, to beat some sense into her—but Tock grabbed her arm and pulled her onto the couch beside her.
“Leave it,” Tock told her.
“But—”
“Leave it. You know Nelle fights dirty.”
“All while looking amazing in these shoes,” Nelle added, holding one long leg out so they could all witness her ridiculously high “whore shoes” as Mads liked to call them. Whore shoes that cost at least five figures per pair.
The coyote jumped into Charlie’s lap, climbed onto her shoulders, and curled himself around the back of her neck. He looked like a large fox stole except he was glaring at all the other badgers in warning.
With the coyote now situated, Charlie leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees, clasping her hands in front of her.
“So,” she began, “how are we all doing? After what happened with Tock.”
There was an extremely long moment of silence before Max finally asked, “Huh?”
A sentiment that made Mads feel better. It proved she wasn’t the only one confused by the question.
“How are you guys doing?”
“In what sense?” Nelle wanted to know.
“What happened to Tock was traumatic.”
“It was?” Tock asked.
“Yeah. Sure.” Charlie shrugged. “I guess.”
Eyes narrowed, Max asked, “What are you doing?”
“I’m managing my team. You guys are my team,” she said with a sweeping arm. “And I’m managing . . . you.”
“Why?” Mads finally asked. “Why are you doing this?”
Charlie threw up her hands before pulling her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans. “I think I have to.”
“Why would you have to?”
“It’s in the book.” She pointed at her phone and Max quickly went over to her sister’s side.
“What is this?” she asked, taking the phone out of Charlie’s hand. “Managing Your Team,” she read out loud. “Dear God, what is this?”
“When they hired us, they sent me that book. I didn’t really think about it, but then Imani called and she was all, ‘Have you talked to your team? And are they doing okay?’ And when I responded, ‘I guess they’re okay. They ate,’ she made this sound of disgust. Like I was fucking up somehow.”
“She knows we’re honey badgers, right?” Max asked. “We don’t really get . . . you know . . . traumatized.”
“Yeah,” Streep agreed. “That sounds like a cat issue . . . definitely a dog’s.”
“Canines are sensitive,” Charlie agreed, petting the coyote’s muzzle. “But I just want to make sure you guys are okay.”
“We weren’t even there,” Max noted.
“I was pissed she would put the upcoming championship at risk.” Mads felt the need to point out, ignoring Tock’s enormous eye roll. “But other than that . . . I’m fine.”
“I,” Streep announced, hand pressed to her chest, “was very concerned about Tock. I kept thinking, Is she safe? Is she alive?” Tears began to fall. “What if we’d lost her forever?” She wiped her face with the back of her other hand. “We are all friends and Tock means the world to us. We can’t lose her! Not like this!”
Charlie gazed at a sobbing Streep for several seconds before telling her, “You know you gave me almost the exact same speech that time we couldn’t find Max, right?”
Looking up, Streep said, “Sorry?”
“Remember? You guys were in tenth grade, and I was worried that she’d either been kidnapped by that drug dealer trying to kill Dad or she’d decided to track down the drug dealer and kill him herself. Turned out she was just with her boyfriend, but you guys were covering for her. And that’s when you gave that speech. That speech you just gave. Tears came in at the same time, too.”
“Oh.” She sat up straight, tears now gone, and sniffed. “Well . . . in answer to your question,” she replied calmly, “yes. I’m fine.”
They all looked at Nelle, but she was texting on her phone. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she said, waving with one hand before going back to her texting, “Devastation. Tragedy. Blah blah blah. Glad she’s alive.”
Max handed Charlie her phone back. “Maybe badgers and wolverines should have their own team-managing handbook.” She sat down in her chair and pointed at Charlie’s phone. “Because if they suggest forced frivolity and team-building exercises that involve trust falls”—she shook her head—“that information is not for us.”
*
Shay followed Keane into the house; Finn came behind him with Dani “helping” her Uncle Finn to carry in the crate with all the puppies.
“Where do you want it?” Finn asked.
He shrugged. “Out back, I guess.”
“Oh . . . Daddy.”
Shay faced his daughter. “What did I do now?”
“Outside? In the harsh elements?”
“Harsh elements? It’s summer.”
“And their dog houses are air conditioned,” Finn added. “Much to my disgust.”
“Princess and the puppies will go in my room,” Dani informed them with a superiority only found in tiger and lion cubs. “She’ll need blankets and space so Princess can care for the puppies.”