Free Devil May Care by Patricia Eimer

sort of demented housewife.
    I froze, the piece of bacon I’d snagged from Matt’s plate halfway to my open mouth.
    You could have heard an angel fall in the sudden silence. My face flaming, I swallowed, stunned. I’ll admit—I’m not a tall, slender goddess like my sister and Lisa, but I wasn’t obese. Hell, I wasn’t even chubby.
    “Faith is perfect.” Matt coughed and draped his arm over my shoulder.
    “She doesn’t need to count calories,” Lisa added, her voice a low growl. Her body was enveloped in a brilliant blue-black corona of hellfire. “Her weight is fine.”
    “I didn’t mean to suggest there was anything wrong with the way Faith looked.” Brenda’s voice tapered off, and she looked around, shifting her feet back and forth.
    Lisa’s horns curled upward. “Of course there isn’t, Pollyanna.”
    “Lisa…” My tail slipped down the length of my leg and my wings itched.
    It wouldn’t do any good for Lisa to pick a fight with Brenda. In a few days we would drop Brenda off at Deidre’s and then she’d be someone else’s problem. But if she and Lisa were fighting, it would lead to nothing more than a tense ride there between the two of them and awkwardness between me and Matt. He might not want her here, but I knew that if she left on bad terms he’d feel guilty. That’s just the type of guy he was. “I’m sure Brenda didn’t mean anything by it. Let it go.”
    “I wasn’t trying to hurt Faith’s feelings.” Brenda’s voice faltered. “I thought all women who lived in the big city were super obsessed with things like watching their weight and shoe shopping.”
    “Sure you weren’t,” Lisa said, hellfire still enveloping her. She turned back to the now full coffeepot to pour us both a cup. She opened the freezer and pulled out two chocolate-filled frozen pastries and dropped them onto a pair of plates before slathering them in chocolate peanut butter and pointing her index finger at them, giving them a quick zap.
    She handed me a plate and sat on the remaining stool, making sure Brenda was going to have to stand through breakfast. My spirits perked up. I sighed at the beautiful culinary triumph sitting in front of us. Leave it to Lisa to warm my favorite breakfast.
    I ate half of mine and then fed Matt a bite. I sniffed—yep, Brenda had gone out and bought turkey bacon for him. I knew there wasn’t any of that stuff in my kitchen. I didn’t even have regular bacon. That stuff took way too much time to cook when I could zap a frozen confection of yummy doughy goodness instead.
    I finished my pastry and Matt grabbed my left hand and kissed the tips of each finger before leaning in to kiss the tip of my nose. I picked up my coffee cup and smiled when the heady smell of Kona Select reached my nose. Lisa had brewed my emergency stash. Talk about a wonderful roommate. My half-brother seriously didn’t deserve to marry someone this good.
    “Hey, Lisa?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Have I ever told you you’re my hero?”
    “Am I everything you wish you could be?”
    “But she doesn’t need you to fly higher than an eagle,” Matt cut in, killing our Bette Midler sing-a-long. “My girl has got a set of wings for that part.”
    “You’re killing the love, Matt.” I pulled my hand away from his and punched him lightly in the shoulder before turning to give Brenda my sweetest smile.
    She narrowed her eyes at me, and if she’d have been a cartoon, smoke would have poured out of her ears.
    “What? You have wings. They’re awesome. I’m just stating the obvious.” Matt shrugged. He pushed his plate full of healthy breakfast away.
    “And mine are still molting,” Lisa grumbled. “I tried to say something about it to Tolliver yesterday evening, but I don’t think he was listening.”
    “Yeah.” Matt gave her a weak, what are you going to do ? smile. “Guys just molt. It’s like shaving. Or nose hair. You accept it and go on.”
    “Yuck.” I wrinkled my nose at him before turning