𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐕𝐀𝐍

𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

Dean rocks onto his toes. "I know where we can start."

"Where?"

"I saw a sign for a barbecue. Open house." Katherine and Sam raise a brow. "What? We can't talk to the locals?"

"I think free food has more to deal with it than anything else," Katherine mutters, wiping her hands on the back of her jeans. "Well come on, then."

It's a short walk up the block but Dean insisted on driving. Oversized, glossy red balloons are attached to mailboxes, cars line the street. It reminds her of birthday parties a few streets over when she was a kid.

Dean doesn't have such a happy idea of them.

"Growing up in a place like this would freak me out."

She turns to Dean, brows furrowed. "Why?" She asks.

"The manicured lawns, the 'how was your day, honey?'" He scoffs. "I'd blow my brains out."

"There's nothing wrong with normal," Sam says from beside Katherine.

"I'd take our family over normal any day."

Katherine stares at Dean, her pace slowing a bit. Sam flashes her a sympathetic smile and winds an arm around her shoulders, leading her up the pavement. Dean is already knocking on the door.

A middle-aged man in a blue shirt and tan coat answers the door. His hair is littered with gray. "Welcome," he says.

"Is this the barbecue?" Dean asks.

"Yeah. Not the best weather, but...I'm Larry Pike, the developer here." He reaches out to shake Dean's hand first, then Sam, and then Katherine's. But it isn't a real shake, what he serves the young woman. It's a stupidly dainty finger hug. It pissed her off so much, so inexplicably, her face actually went lax—a sure sign to the boys she was an inch from blowing her top. So Katherine gripped his hand and gave it a hard shake, and Mister Larry Pike just stared at her.

"I'm Katherine," she says. "This is Sam, this is his brother Dean."

"Good to meet you," he says after a moment. "So you're interested in Oasis Plains?"

"Yes." Katherine flashes the man her best smile and discreetly switches her mother's ring to the other hand. "Sam and I just got married, so we're looking for a nice place to settle down."

"Perfect! Come on inside!" Larry turns on his heel and waves the hunters in. The brothers turn to Katherine, their shoulders barring her from the home.

"Dudes."

"What's with the kung-fu grip, Cottonmouth?"

Katherine stares at Dean with a furrowed brow. "I don't understand that reference, but he didn't even shake my hand. He went like this." Katherine caresses the back of Dean's hand with raised brows.

"Get inside," he huffs, nudging her forward. "Can't believe you haven't seen Kill Bill."

"Oh. I don't like Uma Thurman." She shrugs.

"You said you were the developer?" Sam asks Larry.

"Eighteen months ago, I was walking this valley with my survey team," Larry says, opening up the back door. Dean shuts it behind him and glances over the back patio, littered with people in green suits and prospective buyers. "There was nothing here but scrub brush and squirrels. And you know what? We built such a nice place to live that I actually bought into it myself. This is our house," he says, gesturing back to the home. Sam snakes his arm around Katherine's waist and she hangs onto the side of his jacket. "We're the first family in Oasis Plains. This is my wife Joanie," he says, introducing an older woman with shoulder-length blonde hair.