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“My crisis can’t get you to come to dinner with my dad?” Teagan teased.
“Not a chance, Madden. Nice try, though. I’ll follow you there and then head to mine, okay?”
“Okay,” Teagan replied.
They finished closing up the shop, taking extra care to check all the security measures before they finally left. Britt, true to her word, followed Teagan home and then turned off to head to her place.
Teagan sighed and got out of the car to hurry upstairs and fill Jaxon in before their guests started arriving. Of course, as she was hurrying to the stairs, she bumped into Shea, Brad, and Dave, who had carpooled over together.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Getting home late, Teags,” Brad said, wrapping an arm around her as they moved up the stairs.
“Had a hang-up at the shop,” she lied. “Shoplifters.”
“Britt okay?” Brad asked, worried.
“Oh yeah, she’s fine,” she assured him.
“You call anyone?” Dave asked, also worried. Teagan had chosen the wrong cover for what had happened.
“They knew they were being watched and left of their own accord,” she said. “Didn’t need to call anyone.”
“Still…” Dave replied. “You shouldn’t confront shoplifters on your own.”
“We didn’t confront them,” she repeated. “They just figured out they were being watched.”
“Okay…” Dave replied, not sounding at all convinced that she wasn’t still in immediate danger. Well, he wasn’t wrong. Maybe Dave knew things after all.
“Lay off her. She can handle herself,” Shea chimed in as they got to the front door. “And if she couldn’t, she’d call me, not either of you oafs.”
“Hey,” Brad exclaimed. “I am no oaf. Just worried about my girlfriend.”
“Who I notice isn’t here?” Shea jibed while Teagan unlocked the door and opened it.
“You know who else is missing?” Brad asked. “Frank? Or is he up your ass and you haven’t pulled him out yet?”
Shea replied with a sharp slug to his shoulder. Brad laughed, but still rubbed the spot after she walked past to collapse on the sofa.
“This place smells like Jaxon already,” Shea announced.
“What do you mean, ‘already’? He’s been here for weeks now,” Brad replied, collapsing into the armchair and making it creak.
“No, I just mean it’s different now. It smells like TeaganandJaxon.”
“Didn’t know you were an expert at smells, Shea,” Teagan mused, even though her pulse was beating like mad. “I shared a room with you for years, and you’ve completely fooled me on that count.”
“Shut up,” Shea countered. “You have your share of smells, too.”
Brad chuckled. “Teagan’s never smelled bad a day in her life. Ask Mom. She came out smelling like roses and she’ll kill anyone who says different.”
Sighing, Teagan left the living room to go find Jaxon. Some rattling in the kitchen led her to believe she’d find him there.
And she did. With a pair of oven gloves covering his hands and a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead. Likely due to the heat the oven was putting off.
“Oh good. Can you take over? Because I have little to no idea what I’m doing.”
She laughed. “Hello to you too…”
