I chuckled, draping my arm over her chair to lean in to whisper conspiratorially, “It’s Lina Larsen.”
“Oh, I see.” She nodded, studying Lina curiously from across the table. “My daddy thinks you have a nice butt.”
The whole table busted up laughing, Lina included, though she was blushing, and it was fucking adorable to watch that shade of pink stain her cheeks.
“Oh, I likeyou,” Lina said, leaning toward Penn from across the table. “You’re fun.”
“I like you, too,” Penn replied with a little giggle.
I could feel my own face heat as everyone looked between Lina and me with hearts in their eyes.
Being too dumbstruck to deny I thought Lina had a nice butt, Sage said, “Oh boy,” while wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. “I’d pay to be a fly on the wall in that camper.”
Lina rolled her big, beautiful, brown eyes. “Shut up, Sage,” she said good-naturedly. “We gotta go. My date is waiting, so are you coming with me or not?” She pushed herself up from the table.
At her mention of a date, I nearly bit my tongue clenching my jaw.
“I guess so, since you’re my ride.” Sage drained the last drop of wine from her glass. “I have to get back to Arlo anyway. If I stay too long, Christian will make himselftoocomfortable. When he offered to puppysit, I didn’t think he’d try to move in.”
“A live-in dog sitter like a live-in nanny?” Lina winked at her friend.
“One of my favorite romance tropes.” Romy sighed dreamily. “Single dog mom with the puppy sitter? That could be hot.”
Sage rolled her eyes. “Okay, bitches. I’m out of here.”
Romy laughed, hugging Sage. “Thank you so much for coming.”
“I’ll see you in three weeks for the bachelorette party,” Lina said, embracing Romy.
“The Rooster is providing all the booze,” Sage confirmed, mentioning the bar she worked at as she shouldered her bag.
“And I won’t get to drink any of it.” Romy pouted, but her face was soft and loving as she gazed at the swaddled baby in the bassinet on the counter.
Lina hugged Jude. “Watch over your girls for me.”
My gut twisted seeing Lina grow serious and Jude’s jaw go tight. They shared a silent understanding as they looked at each other. I glanced back at Romy, but she didn’t even seem to notice, picking up the rest of the dirty dishes and taking them to the sink. Jude must not have told her about Junior’s release yet.
We finished our farewells, and I watched Lina’s fine ass as she walked out in her heels on the way to her fucking date. Yet another date I had to watch her go on. At this point, after this morning’s encounter, I was starting to think she was either in denial or doing it hoping to get a rise out of me.
Standing, I announced, “I’ll get Penn to bed, but then I have to head out. I still need to get the fifth wheel packed and hooked up to my truck.”
“Thank you for doing this, Reed.” Jude gripped my shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “It’s killing me not to be able to go with her.”
“You and Chuck have a lot of other issues to deal with.” I leaned down to wipe the sauce from Penn’s mouth. “It’s the least I can do to help. Especially now that you’re also helping me out with Penn while I’m gone. So thank you.”
“We’ll have the double-wide ready for you when you get back.”
“Thanks, boss.”
Jude nodded. “Take care of my cousin, and we’re square.”
“Nothing’s going to happen to her while I’m there.”
I’d make fucking sure of it.
Jude patted my shoulder again, his face stoic and serious.
Romy had a big smile on her face. “I think you’re just what Lina needs.”
