4.

People who don't put their grocery cart in the bay after they unload it should be drawn and quartered. It might sound harsh to some people, but I'm a firm believer that actions should have consequences.

Text from Amethyst to Tama'i

T AMA'I

"Oh! Is that chicken curry? Gimme, gimme," Opal demanded as she extended her arm across the table and used her chopsticks to take a piece of my chicken. She popped it into her mouth and then moaned, "Oh, that is delish. You've gotta try that."

I wasn't sure which sister she was talking to, but Diamond took her advice and dropped a piece of her food on my plate and picked up a bite of mine as she said, "Here, I've got General Tso's. Have some."

"That looks yummy," Amethyst said before she took a bite from her sister's plate. She leaned over and got a bite off her father's, and I heard him sigh as he stared at her. Amethyst didn't seem to care one bit and picked a dumpling up from her plate and put it on her father's before she stole another bite. "Dad's got Kung Pao beef."

"I need some of that," Opal said before she took some herself. "Here, Dad, have some noodles."

The urge to pull my plate closer to my body and hunch over it to protect my food was almost overwhelming, but I was able to resist.

"Have a shrimp roll, Tama'i. They're so good!" Amethyst dropped one on my plate and then paused to look at me before she gave me another. "Why aren't you eating? Do you not like what you ordered? I'll trade."

"Why are you staring at us like that?" Opal asked.

Before I had a chance to answer, Lout said, "Because he's wondering why in the hell you think he should bother trading his plate of food with you since you're eating off it anyway. Not every meal is a goddamn buffet, ladies."

Willow cleared her throat and looked down at her plate, which I noticed she had picked up and was holding close to her chest as she relaxed against the back of her chair, probably to keep her food far enough away from the table to protect it from the scavengers.

"Here, Dad, have another dumpling," Amethyst insisted as she dropped one on his plate. As if he hadn't just snapped at them about sharing food, he picked it up and took a bite. "Aren't they good?"

"They are," Lout agreed before he picked up the other dumpling she'd given him and ate it too.

Amethyst smiled at my niece and asked, "Did you get enough to eat, Tameka?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Kai? What about you?" Amethyst asked. "Tameka, I've got more dumplings. Would you like to try one?"

Tameka looked at me and then back at Amethyst before she shrugged. When she looked back at me, she asked in Samoan, "Can I do that, Uncle? Wouldn't it be rude?"

"It's rude to speak in another language in front of people who don't speak it," I chided. I smiled at Amethyst and translated, "She asked if it would be rude to take your food because in Samoan culture it's rude to have seconds once you finish the food on your plate."

"You can't take seconds?" Diamond asked.

"Really?" Opal asked. "What if it's really good and you're still hungry?"

"We don't follow the rules all the time when we're at home, but my mom likes us to honor them when we're in public."

"Mom's not here," Kai snapped.

I swung my head around and looked at him before I said, "I'd be happy about that if I were you."

Kai narrowed his eyes and started to say something but thought better of it when I raised my eyebrows in question. He huffed out a breath as he stared at me intensely, and I heard one of the women laugh softly before another said, "It's like watching someone glare at themself in the mirror."

Kai was the first to look away, and I turned back to my niece and said, "If you're still hungry, take the dumpling she offered."

"You're still hungry?" Opal asked. She picked up her plate and scraped a portion of her food onto Tameka's and said, "Here, have some of mine."

"This is so good," Diamond told her as she gave her a few spoonfuls of her food.

Before long, Amethyst was sharing hers and even took a bite of beef off her father's plate to share. The women realized Kai had finished his food, too, and without asking, started piling more onto his plate. I saw him looking at my chicken curry and sighed before I gave him half of what was left.

When I looked up, Willow was smiling at me and winked before she reached over and put her hand on her husband's arm. He was staring at me, too, but didn't look nearly as aggressive as he had before. Instead, it seemed like he was taking my measure - hopefully, not as a threat since I knew he was Amethyst's father. I'd do my best not to bump heads with him in the future. I wasn't a fortune teller, but I had lived enough life to realize that sometimes dreams were the only way to keep hope alive. I sincerely hoped Amethyst was as open and honest as she seemed to be because if that was the case, I'd like to get to know her much better. If she was as wonderful as she seemed with all of her brains and beauty, then she was the kind of woman I'd always dreamed about.

It seemed like Lout could read my thoughts, which was also something I didn't quite believe in, but the look on his face was taking steps to change my mind. He seemed to be studying my interaction with Kai and Tameka, and from his relaxed demeanor, I thought he might like what he was seeing. I saw his eyes move from me to Amethyst, and I glanced over to find her watching me. She smiled brightly, and I smiled back before I looked at her father.

That murderous look was back in his eyes, and as I watched, it was like shutters slamming closed over his emotions before he smiled at me. Considering what Amethyst had told me earlier about smiling at people she didn't like, watching her father give me that very expression was more than a little bit terrifying.

Someone knocked at the front door, and I stood to answer it, leaving my plate for the scavengers. I knew it had to be my other nephew, Aleki, since he was supposed to pick up Tameka and Kai, but was surprised to see two other young men with him.

"‘Sup, Uncle?" Aleki asked as he walked through the door. "Are they ready?"

"Are my parents still here?" one of the young men asked. He sniffed the air and said, "Are they eating?"

"I smell curry," the other young man said before he walked away, heading straight for my dinner.

"Uncle, this is my friend Jett," Aleki said as he motioned toward his friend. "Jett, this is Tiny."

"It's nice to meet you," the young man said. "The rude guy who's more interested in food is my brother, Flint."

"Oh! I've heard of you. Your parents and sisters are in the breakroom."

"All of them?" Jett asked warily.

"Um . . . How many do you have again?"

"When they're all talking at once, it seems like there are at least a dozen, but technically, I have five."

"Pearl is gone, but there are still three of them here."

A woman's laughter rang out, and then it was joined by a few others. The young man recognized their voices and said, "Di, Amy, and Opal?" I nodded, and he said, "And they've got food? Hell, yeah."

As Jett walked toward the breakroom, Aleki asked, "What did he do now?" I released a frustrated sigh before I explained to my nephew about today's drama with his brother and watched his eyes narrow in anger before he said, "That little shit wouldn't be acting like this if Mom or Dad were here."

"I think he's pissed that they're gone, and I'm paying for that."

"He better not get an attitude with Tutu," Aleki warned.

"She can hold her own, believe me," I assured him. My grandmother was a veteran at child-rearing since she'd raised her own children and then helped my parents raise me and my sister. Now she was living in Rojo and helping me care for my niece and nephews, but considering her age, I was more than willing to take the brunt of the responsibilities. "However, if your brother turns his poison on her, I'll put him in line."

"Once he wakes up after I kick his ass, you're more than welcome to," Aleki threatened. "But I guess that's for another day. Right now, I'm starving. What's for dinner?"

AMETHYST

"The step stool is underneath the front passenger seat," Tama'i called out to his nephew as they walked through the front door. "Make sure she eats something before she goes to bed or she's going to be hungover in the morning."

"Yes, sir," Aleki responded before the door shut behind him.

"Does your girlfriend drink too much often, or is this a special occasion?" Diamond asked nosily.

"Do you drink too much?" Tama'i asked me with a grin as he looked at me over my mom's back where he was touching up a tattoo just below where her workout tank ended, ignoring my sisters not so subtle fishing.

"I'm not your girlfriend yet," I said haughtily. "I still have to make sure you're not a serial killer."

"You said ‘yet' which is a step in the right direction," Tama'i teased before he explained, "My Tutu . . ."

"That's what they call his grandma," Mom interrupted to explain.

"Yeah. Tonight she went to play bunco with some ladies from her seniors group, and they get a little wild sometimes."

"I know they do. My Gamma and her best friend play bunco, but we don't call them seniors."

Apparently, listening to us bicker was having a horrible effect on Tama'i. He winked at me before he said, "Your sister had a meltdown earlier when she said your mom was middle-aged, so I guess the whole family has a problem with getting older."

"She said what? " Mom asked menacingly.

I grinned when Stone put his hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing. I slid my stool closer to the table and leaned in so we were almost nose to nose before I whispered, "Did you just throw my sister under the bus?"

When Mom shifted so she could start typing on her phone, he leaned even closer and whispered, "No. I just flung her into oncoming traffic in the middle of rush hour."

"That was mean!" I couldn't stop the evil giggle that escaped, which just made Tama'i smile even harder. I put my fist out to bump his and then remembered he was wearing gloves and wouldn't be able to touch me. He stuck his elbow out so I could bump it instead. "You're horrible, Tama'i."

"It's part of my charm, but it seems like that's going to come in handy as a self-preservation technique when I'm around your family."

"I love it," I whispered. I schooled my features and cleared my throat before I said, "Wow, Mom, I can't believe Pearl would say such a thing about you."

I glanced up at Diamond who was standing behind Tama'i and saw her grinning. She pretended she was holding a mug with one hand as she mimed stirring it with the other as she added, "That's better than the time Pearl referred to you as elderly, right? Do you remember that, Opal?"

"I do. As a matter of fact, I think Emerald is the one that encouraged her to say it," Opal added.

"I distinctly remember that," I added. "Ungrateful children, I swear. It's a good thing you have us."

"Are you wearing boots, Tiny?" Mom asked.

"Yes, ma'am. Why do you ask?"

"Because the shit's getting deep in here. They act as if I haven't watched them do this little dance their entire lives. I have vivid memories of Di and Amy banding together to pick on people from a very young age. Granted, it was mostly the boys in the family who probably deserved it." My dad didn't open his eyes but started laughing from where he was reclining in the chair across the room. "As the other girls came along, Di and Amy enlisted them into their army, but the infighting was what really kept us on our toes."

"For a few years, we wondered if any of them would make it to adulthood," Dad added. "They tried their best to kill each other every second of every day, but when an outsider crossed one of them, it was like watching the hounds of hell attack."

I shrugged and told Tama'i, "They're my sisters, so I'm the only one allowed to pick on them."

"Ditto," Opal and Diamond said at the same time.

Diamond pinched Opal's arm as she chanted, "Pinch, poke, you owe me a coke."

"Ouch! Are you trying to break my fucking arm?" Opal yelled before she reached out to pinch Diamond back. Diamond slapped her hand away, and that turned into a slapping fight that would soon end up with one or both of them throwing punches.

Mom saw the inevitable just like I did and used the tone that every person under the age of thirty recognized as law and barked, "Enough!"

I stifled a laugh when I saw Tama'i press his lips together and sit up a little straighter as he glanced around the room. Dad must have seen it, too, because he burst out laughing and said, "Down, girl. You're scaring the big guy."

"Oh, honey, that wasn't aimed at you," Mom said sweetly before she gave him a big smile. "You've got wonderful manners, and I'm sure you know how to behave in public."

"Burn," I whispered and got a glare from my sisters.

"And now that they're adults and we don't have to pay their medical bills, we usually just let them run free," Dad said as he settled back in to continue his nap. "Vanilla, you know if you don't let them take out their frustrations on each other, they'll draw in some poor unsuspecting victim, and we'll end up having to post bail."

"I can't go to jail because I could lose my medical license."

"That's why it's important not to get caught," my dad reminded me.

Tama'i burst out laughing and said, "You were right. I get it now." When Dad lifted his head and stared at Tama'i with his eyebrows raised, he said, "She told me that it was going to be a while before she let me meet her family but warned me about all of you anyway."

"I think we should take the warning labels off of everything to help weed out the weaklings," Dad said for at least the millionth time. "Natural selection."

"Your dad is a god among men."

"You don't have to suck up," I whispered.

"I've never sucked up to anyone in my life, and I'm not about to start now," Tama'i warned. In a louder voice, in answer to my father, he said, "If someone looks at a table saw and thinks, ‘That sharp thing seems to be going really fast. Maybe I should touch the spinny part,' then we should let them try it."

"I bought one of those sun shields for the front window of Vanilla's new ride, and the first time I opened it, I happened to notice the tag on the thing. You know what it said?"

"I'll bite. What?" Tama'i asked.

"Do not use while driving." We all started laughing, and Dad just shook his head in wonder. "The damn thing is a quarter of an inch thick and made out of reflective material with the express purpose of keeping out the sun, so what sort of dipshit is going to try and drive with it in their window?"

"Somebody had to have done that or that warning label wouldn't exist," Mom mused.

"It was probably one of our cousins," Opal said with a sad shake of her head. "They're pretty but not all that smart."

"Hawk is your cousin, right?" Tama'i asked.

"Yes. He's one of my sister's kids. Growing up, they were what some people might consider feral, and that hasn't really changed much with age."

"Mom and Dad didn't have to worry about us because we were angels," Diamond boasted.

"I distinctly remember Amethyst blacking Squid's eye at one point, and that wasn't even the worst damage they did to each other."

"She knocked out my tooth!" I yelled.

"Squid?" Tama'i asked.

"Her name is Cydney. She's my best friend now, but we went through a short adjustment period when we were younger," I explained.

"They fought each other like honey badgers going for the last piece of meat on the planet," Mom explained.

"Honey badger don't give a shit!" Dad said happily.

"Have you ever seen that video?" Mom asked Tama'i.

When he shook his head, Mom picked up her phone to search for it as I said, "They're freakin' awesome. The girls and I have always joked that they're our spirit animal."

"Do you have a honey badger tattoo?" Tama'i asked.

"Nooo," Mom drew the word out and then grinned at Tama'i.

"You said you wanted a flower in that empty space, but it might just be the perfect home for a honey badger," Tama'i suggested.

Diamond gasped. "Mom! That's the perfect tattoo for us!"

"It is!" Opal agreed. "What do you think, Amy?"

"I want it," I said firmly. "Can you draw one up and then do them for us?"

"I can do that."

"It needs to be cute but deadly," Mom insisted.

"Just like my girls," Dad boasted. "Hell yeah."

"Dad, you need one too," I suggested. "Not a cute one, though. The dad honey badger."

"Let's do it," Dad agreed.

"Not today!" I said when I saw Tama'i glance at the clock on the wall. "Draw it, and let us tweak it, and then we'll come in when you've got time."

"Okay. That sounds like a plan," Tama'i agreed. "I do have one question, though."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Have you spent enough time with me to decide whether or not I'm a serial killer?"

"If you are, then you hide it very well."

"I'm not trying to put you on the spot or anything but . . ."

"Really?" I asked as I looked around at my sisters and parents who were watching us expectantly.

"Can I take you out on a date, Amethyst?"

"I suppose," I teased. "But it still needs to be in a well-lit and well populated area."

"I'll make sure of it."