“A lot more, I hope.”

And the way he looked at her when he said that ...

Cella shook her head. “Cut it out.”

“What?”

“Being so damn cute. More to see.” She pulled him over to the other side of the dance floor. “Picnic tables are here. Malones already grabbed eight of them, so you should be able to find someplace to sit.” She pointed at an outside barbeque grill. “That’s where you can get polar bear stuff. Seal, walrus, I think they have whale this year. Beluga or something.”

“Hi, Detective Crushek.”

Cella pulled Crush around to see her daughter and Josie walking up to them, a batch of the young cousins behind them.

“Hi, Meghan. Josie. It’s good to see you guys again.”

“We’re glad you came,” Meghan said. “But please don’t let my mother’s outfit bother you. It’s for shock value only at this point.”

“Thank you very much, but I look fabulous in this outfit. Don’t I look fabulous in this outfit, Crushek?”

“I can’t express to you how many ways I’m not getting between a mother and daughter.”

Meghan’s smile was bright and wide. “Smart man.”

“Thank you.”

“What are you two up to now?” Cella asked.

“Josie wants to flirt with the Callahans.”

“All right, but no separating and don’t let any of them abscond with her.” She pointed at Josie. “I promised your mom and grandmother we’d keep you safe since they didn’t want to come. So don’t do anything that will get me in trouble.”

“I promise, Aunt C.”

“Good. Now go.”

The girls walked off and Cella turned back to Crush. “What?” she asked when she saw him staring at her.

“Abscond with her?”

“Yeah. Callahans used to take mountain lions for brides.”

“Hundreds of years ago, right?”

“Uh ... last one was two years ago. Some chick from Arizona.”

“And the filing of kidnapping charges ... ?”

“Kidnapping charges? Why would they do that?”

“Because that’s what it is?”

“I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Look, why file kidnapping charges when you can haggle for some new RVs and ... wait. Where are you going?”

Cella caught up with the bear. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I guess I should have realized sooner your whole family are gypsies.”

“Sssshhh,” Cella whispered. She took a desperate look around to make sure he hadn’t been heard. “Look, Crushek, we don’t use that word.”

“Why?”

“We just don’t,” she insisted. “It’s bigoted and you do not want to get on the wrong side of the Malones. Plus, we’ve got the Callahans here, the Ryans—”

“But there’s absconding. You’re worried your friend’s daughter will be absconded.”

“The Malones aren’t leaving little Josie on her own. No matter how cute a Callahan boy is.”

“Okay.”

“You can call us Travellers.”

“Are you Travellers?”

She shrugged. “We were.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s a long story. Come on. I’m not done showing you around. And remember ...”

“Right. No bigotry. Just ... absconding.”

With a short laugh, Cella took Crush’s hand again and led him over to the big tent set up in the field. They’d had to up the size this year. “This used to be just for human mates, but the last couple of years we’ve been getting a lot more of the hot breeds.”

Cella walked into the tent, Crush behind her. With their own dance floor and their own barbeque pit, the other cats, wolves, bears, etc., lounged around in their heavy sweaters and ski pants with their thermals under that. Many of them still had on their jackets, but they all seemed to be having a good time.

Crush grunted and Cella looked up at him. “What?”

“Are those African wild dogs?”

Cella sighed, looking over at the dance floor. It was filled to capacity with completely sober wild dogs, howling, barking, and dancing to whatever eighties crap they were forcing the rest of the tent attendees to listen to.

“Yeah. I don’t really know why they’re here. I can’t believe any cats invited them. They’re not close to bears, and wolves can barely tolerate them.”

“I’ve discovered that if there’s a good party somewhere, wild dogs will find it and take over.”

“It used to be just one pack from out on the Island. Now there’s like seven packs who’ve attended the last two years. I will say, my mom thinks it’s great. The wild dogs love to get married and my mom networks at these things.”

“Smart lady.”

A hard fist rammed into Cella’s back.

“Hey.”

Yep. Hard and unyielding. “Why are you here?” Cella asked Dee-Ann.

“It’s my day off. My mate says, ‘Let’s go out. Dress warmly.’ Next thing I know, I’m trapped in the middle of nowhere New Jersey with cats, bears, wild dogs, and Blayne.”

“You know Blayne loves you.”

“Shut up.” Smith nodded at Crush. “How y’all doin’?”