“Do I have to go back? I don’t want to. I can sleep with the dogs, I don’t care.”

Ros sat down heavily at the bar, her elbows immediately meeting the worn wood. “Next round’s on me,” she said to the bartender as she gestured towards Carter. “What’re you up to, Yaxley?”

“Well...” said Jess slowly, trying to think of any activity they could do that didn’t potentially put the baby at risk. “I hear there’s a really good lounge in town. You want to check it out?”

“So...why did the festival have to be in Pinewood Plains?”

“So are you going to introduce me to this boyfriend of yours? Or do I have to go up to every guy I find until I find the right one?”

“No, that is Italian. Not Spanish.”

Deirdra took a deep breath. This was it. The moment, she’d put off for so long. She wanted to turn tail and run, but she knew she couldn’t put it off any longer. In fact, she’d been a fool to put it off for as long as she had. Perhaps if she’d done it sooner, the incident at the festival would never happened. She looked to Zac for assurance before knocking on the door of the office of the head of the DMLE.

“Someone started a petition to declassify mandrakes from a dangerous plant to harmless. Mandrakes! They freaking kill people by screaming!”