Free Pulled to the Dark (The Siriena Series) by Julia P. Lynde

who refuses to drink while she cooks, are you?"
    "I'm sure I'm not," I said quite seriously. "Am I?" I handed the bottle back to her. Would you care to serve as sommelier tonight?"
    "I would be delighted," she replied. She stepped to the buffet cabinet, took out four wine glasses and the opener, and opened the wine. She poured us each a glass.
    Karen and Petra arrived together. Karen had flowers for me, which were lovely. Petra had a second bottle of wine. Andrea caught my eye and winked. Andrea poured wine for both of them. I found a vase for the flowers, and my computer started to ring. Erika was online.
    "Can someone answer that?" I asked. "It must be Erika."
    Karen stepped over to my laptop sitting on the dining room table. She stared at it for a second, then clicked accept on the Skype invite. "Hey! Erika," she said.
    "Hi, Karen," I heard Erika's voice. "I'm so glad you could come again this week."
    "We have a party here," Karen said. "I hope you don't mind."
    "Not at all," she said. "As long as no one gets serious."
    I finished with the flowers and carried them to the table. Then I leaned over Karen's shoulder. " Heya , girlfriend," I said.
    "There you are," she replied. "Who else is there?"
    I reached over and picked up the laptop. "Well, first you must see the gorgeous flowers Karen brought me." I pointed the laptop at the flowers.
    "Very nice," Erika said.
    "And here we have Petra, who you met last week."
    "Hello, Petra," Erika said. "Did your party last night go well?"
    "Very well, thank you," she replied.
    Then I pointed the computer to Andrea. "Erika, this is Andrea, the best boss I've ever had."
    "You are suck a suck up," Erika said. "Hello, Andrea, it's nice to meet you."
    "And you," Andrea said. "This is wonderful. Two good friends, thousands of miles apart, yet part of each other's lives."
    "I love modern technology," Erika said. "When it works."
    We moved into the kitchen. Andrea carried in my wine and handed it to me once I'd put the laptop down on the counter.
    "What is that?" Erika asked.
    "Andrea and Petra both brought wine," I said.
    "Where's my glass?" she asked.
    "At your place at the table," Karen said.
    "Well, that's okay then," she said, giggling. "Felicia, I have a confession. I cheated."
    "Cheated?"
    "You warned me you were going to have help, so I already did most of my prep."
    "You little cheater!" I said. "Just for that, I'm going to drink your wine."
    The banter back and forth continued, like it always did, while we were cooking. The pasta was going and the chicken was ready to toss into the sauce we'd made. Very simple, nothing gourmet. Petra tasted it.
    "Are guests allowed to make suggestions?" she asked.
    "Only good ones," Erika said. "Suggestions," she added. "The guests can be as naughty as they want."
    "Do you have any rosemary?"
    Erika disappeared from view for a moment then came back. "Yes! Fresh even. Or dried."
    "I don't have either," I said.
    "I do," said Karen. She ran from the room and was back a minute later. She gave the rosemary to Petra and I watched while Petra and Erika both added rosemary to the sauce.
    "Sme ll," Petra said, holding the ro semary out towards me. I stepped closer, sniffed, and smiled.
    "Rosemary is my favorite," Erika said. "I should have made her buy some. I didn't think of it."
    Erika and Petra finished the dinner. Karen teased Erika and got teased in return. Andrea got in on the teasing as well, which started a flurry of boss jokes. I stood back and watched, pleased my guests were getting along so well with Erika.
    Sometimes Erika and I eat while watching the movie. Other times we eat first. Tonight, we ate first. We sat at my dining room table with Petra and Karen on one side, Andrea on the other, the laptop on one end facing the rest of us, and me opposite the laptop. Erika couldn't see all of us very well, but it was still interactive, and we could all see her.
    We finished dinner and cleared the table, putting the leftovers away. I left the cleanup for