colors, one of them brand-spanking-new.
Keri turned, making eye contact with Terry for the first time in decades. “What the hell are those?”
“They’re four-wheelers. My dad took us riding when we were ten, or did you forget that, too?”
Keri’s crimson lips pursed in disgust. “Oh, for heaven’s sake. Joe must have more money than God. You people couldn’t take a cruise or something?”
“Us people like four-wheeling. Besides, nothing brings a family together like a post-ride tick check.”
“Tick check?” Terry had the satisfaction of seeing her best friend-turned-nemesis turn pale under her expertly-applied blush. “ Tick check? I can’t do this.”
“Steph, let your uncle know Keri Daniels has arrived.”
“Uncle Joe, you’re girlfriend’s here!” the girl bellowed in the direction of the cabins.
“If I wanted it screamed across the campground, Stephanie Porter, I could have done it myself.”
But in reality, she didn’t feel like yelling. She felt a lot more like rolling on the grass laughing her ass off.
Miss Perfect looked like she’d just taken a flying leap into a steaming pile of cow manure, and Terry had to think the next two weeks might not be so bad after all. Payback was indeed a bitch.
When Keri saw Joe walking toward her, his hands in his pockets and his dimples visible from the moon, she couldn’t even articulate all the things she wanted to say to him.
She settled for, “You are not checking me for ticks, Joseph Kowalski.”
“Damn, babe, don’t go squashing all my hopes on the first day.” It was Keri who felt like an idiot, but Joe who was grinning like one. “I see you found Terry.”
“I’m not riding one of those.” She pointed at the trailers of ATVs.
“See that shiny new red one? That’s yours, babe. And don’t tell me you forgot the rules already.”
As if she could. The Rules had been hand-delivered to her parents’ house before she’d even gotten out of bed that morning.
(1) Only “official” answers to “official” questions may be published in Spotlight.
(2) Any mention of where we go, what we do, or any other family member but me will result in the best legal team money can buy raining all over you and your magazine like a Georgia thunderstorm.
(3) For every full day you spend with the Kowalski family, you can ask one question.
(4) For each answer I give, I get to ask you one question. Failure to answer forfeits your next question.
(5) Disclosure of any information other than the official interview questions and answers to Tina Deschanel, especially the attached MapQuest directions to your destination, will result in a horror show you don’t want any part of. Trust me.
(6) Refusal to participate in any Kowalski family activity will result in no interview. (Unless it involves Kevin and nudity, which, with him, may or may not include sex.)
Keri didn’t intend to get naked with any of the Kowalskis. No tick checks. No sex. No skinny dipping. Her swimsuit was a one-piece. And pajamas were not optional.
That last thought stuck in her head and she looked at the row of campers and tents with a rising sense of alarm. “Where will I be sleeping?”
Joe was still grinning, though Terry had wandered away to help the girl who must be her daughter hook up their camper. “Cabin, around the corner.”
“A cabin?” That didn’t sound too bad. “You mean like with walls and a door and a bed?”
“And electrical outlets, even.”
Keri snorted. “Those will come in handy for all those electronic devices you made me leave at home.”
“Pull your car around and maybe we can get you settled in before the rest of the family finds out you’re here. They all walked down to the store to visit the campground owners and buy wood for campfires.”
Keri drove her compact rental up the narrow dirt lane and pulled in at the first cabin, parking in the shadow of Joe’s massive SUV. The cabin was small, but looked sound enough, and it even had