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“Yeah.” He nodded slowly. “Tomorrow is hanging out at the clubhouse bar until the nighttime scavenger hunt.”
“Again, we can easily slip out for a while. We can take a walk or hide in our rooms.”
“Yeah. And then another day or two of drinking and bullshit before going to the Ironwoods. When we leave is up in the air,” he said. “Depends on how much everyone is drinking. This year will be different with the Lochlans too. Cade is coming.”
“And Isla,” I added in.
“Yeah, her too.” He looked away, but the little blush of pink on his cheeks wasn’t lost on me. Did he like her? Could he like her? Nolan had come out as asexual to me years ago. It was our secret—though, I was fairly certain his brothers had pieced some of that together. The lack of dating history and fake sexual history was a pretty good indication. Which made the blush interesting.
Note to self: come back to that one.
“Nemo,” I suggested.
“What?” Nolan frowned, snapping back to attention. Those midnight eyes settled on me with confusion. “Why Nemo?”
“They have to rescue Nemo… the slightly awkward clownfish. You’re my slightly awkward clownfish, Nolan,” I told him. “Our social safeword can be Nemo.”
“I don’t know how to take that,” he whispered, and I patted his arm.
“It’s a compliment,” I said. “It’s an easy one-word option. Just say it and I’ll get you out of there.”
He fussed with the hangers on the rack, spacing them out. There was that guilt-ridden expression again. An uncomfortable feeling settled in my stomach. Nolan didn’t lie to me, but it sure as hell felt like he was.
“I appreciate you,” he replied. “You’re my best friend, Ginny.”
Yeah, that wasn’t helping me feel better.
“I appreciate you too, Nolan. Now, let’s get out of here before I end up buying a jacket I don’t need.”
Damn it. I was squashed by Byrnes, and I didn’t like it. And an obscene amount of pie. No, we couldn’t try just one kind of pie. We had to try all the pies. All seventeen dang flavors—who even liked rhubarb pie? Finn. The answer was Finn.
Finn apparently couldn’t get enough rhubarb pie and decided he wanted to take an entire one to go because that was what the Fall Games needed. Except the diner had to make him one, so we had to wait.
That led to Sam ordering more fries and appetizers.
I had my moments for sure, but I wasn’t an idiot. The Byrnes loved the Fall Games. This was the trip of the year. So, the fact that we were wasting time in the diner told me they were doing their damnedest to not go. That didn’t sit well with me.
“Okay,” I said, putting my fork down. “You boys seem to forget that I grew up with all of you. I know when you’re full of bullshit and not. What’s going on? Why can’t we go to the clubhouse?”
The actual hemming and hawing that spread around the table between Sam, Finn, Lucas, and Nolan was upsetting. They exchanged glances before everyone ended up staring at Sam.
“Fine!” Sam threw his hands up in defeat. “Fine. Look, Dec asked us to keep you out for a bit.”
“Why?” I frowned. Did he not want me there? “Did I do something wrong?”
“No! No. No, no, no. No, not at all,” he answered quickly. “It’s just… Raven’s been having some issues sleeping lately with the second anniversary of her husband’s death coming up.”
“What?” That was news to me. Why hadn’t she told me? Honestly, I’d never thought to ask her, and that was on me. I should’ve paid more attention.
“Again, he told us, not her,” Sam replied. “It’s just… she’s already having trouble sleeping, and all this travel over the next few weeks won’t help. He wanted to get her settled in, get her familiar with where everything is, and come up with some kind of game plan for… in case.”
In case she sleepwalked. And in case she shifted out of control. My mouth popped open slightly. Oh, no. New town, new place, new wolves. That probably wouldn’t go over well with her wolf.
“He and Cole worked up a way for her wolf to have an escape route and all sorts of shit,” he continued. Grabbing his fork, he took a bite of pie and sighed. “But you know how Raven is when it comes to all this. We’re not supposed to know, and you… well, you’re not known for being very good at keeping secrets around Raven.”
I wanted to argue, but that was a fair point.
“The only reason we know is because Declan asked us to help him run his business,” Lucas chimed in. “He’s taking two weeks off for the Fall Games and going back at it when we get back into Cedar Harbor. But a few weeks later, he’ll be taking more time off to spend with her. They already had to deter her family from coming to visit. It’s just a lot, and he’s relying on us to make sure his business runs smoothly while he and Cade take care of her.”
