join them. She was making ratatouille with fresh vegetables Granny McGilly had brought them from hergarden. A one-dish meal could always be stretched to feed one more person.
The only creature in the household who seemed to object to Jack’s presence was Mordecai. Whenhe saw his veterinarian walk in the door, he had slunk down the hall and hidden under Mimi’s crib. Jackhad lured him out with Milk-Bones and assurances that she was not there in an official capacity.
Ben and Ken were cuddling on the couch. Lily had never seen her “husband” so happy. For aslong as she’d known him, Ben had a cynical streak that was equally likely to express itself in dark humoror sulkiness. Since Ken had arrived on the scene, Ben’s sulkiness had disappeared entirely.
Lily, Jack, Ben, and Ken sat companionably around the dinner table. For a moment it remindedLily of her and Ben’s old days with Dez and Charlotte, except that Ken lacked Dez’s flamboyance, andJack ... Jack was not Charlotte.
After dinner, Ben announced that he and Ken were going back to Ken’s place for dessert.
Lily grinned as she cleared the dinner dishes. “I bet I know what’s on the dessert menu.”
Jack laughed. “Not been married half a year, Lily, and he’s already stepping out on you.”
Ben’s face reddened, but he was laughing.
“You just be sure not to fall asleep over there,” Lily warned. “You need to be spending the night athome, like a dutiful husband.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t neglect my husbandly duties.”
With Ben and Ken gone and Mimi tucked into bed, Lily and Jack sat together on the couch, coffeein hand.
“Mimi’s a sweet little thing.” Jack paused to sip her coffee. “Fun to play with.”
“Well, thanks for wearing her down. She went out as soon as her head hit the pillow.”
“I like kids. I reckon if I hadn’t been a vet, I woulda been a pediatrician. Of course, I wanted kidsto like me, and no kid ever likes going to the doctor.”
Lily sipped her coffee. “Did you ever think about having kids of your own?”
Jack grinned. “I thought about it before. I could actually picture myself changing diapers andheating bottles, but there was no way in hell I could picture myself pregnant.”
Lily laughed. “A pregnant butch is a sight to behold. You should’ve seen Charlotte. Once shestarted to show, she went to Kmart and bought a bunch of oversized T-shirts and drawstring sweatpants.
She said there was no way in hell she was putting on a maternity dress.”
“I don’t blame her. So how come she was the one that ended up carrying the baby?”