“Fucking doctors,” I muttered. “They’re the worst.”
Jessa let out a girly shriek when she saw Gracie, who had quickly become her best friend, reading on a blanket in the backyard with Hawk curled up beside her.
“You look stunning,” Fuse said, embracing me in a gentle hug with one arm.
“Thank you. I rock black and blue like no one else.”
He chuckled.
Hatchet pulled up a canvas lawn chair and nearly forced me into it. Kenna, Eva, and Rhetta pulled up their own beside me.
“Is Jessa doing okay?” Eva asked.
“She appreciated that everyone showed up to the funeral. I think she’s relieved that chapter of her life has closed.”
Eva nodded in understanding. She’d lost her mother at nearly the same age. “And Hatchet?”
I winced. “He took it harder than I expected. Harder than he expected.”
The old ladies stayed silent for a beat before the wind shifted and the scent of smoke wafted over us.
“What’s Reaper cooking?” Kenna asked. “It smells good.”
Eva shrugged. “He bought that new smoker, so I imagine some sort of smoked meat with a side of more smoked meat. And apparently he’s making a smoked cheesecake. Everything we eat now is smoked.”
“Has anyone here heard of vegetables? Maybe a salad?” I grumbled.
“I brought side dishes,” Kenna assured. “Potato salad, cole slaw, ambrosia salad.”
“Ambrosia salad? What’s that?”
“Fruit with marshmallow fluff. Wait? You’ve never had ambrosia salad?”
I waved my hands in the air dramatically. “Why would anyone mix fruit with marshmallows? Those are for s’mores.”
Kenna grabbed my left hand and stared at the ruby on my finger. Her eyes moved to mine. “Are you engaged?”
“Took you long enough to notice,” I said with a laugh.
Rhetta and Eva moved closer, peering at myfinger.
“He proposed when he gave me his patch. I want to hire you to plan the wedding, if you’re willing.”
Kenna hugged me. “Of course I’ll plan your wedding. Does Merrick know?”
I shook my head. “Not yet.”
As if summoned, my brother and fiancé ambled up. Hatchet pressed a kiss to my forehead.
“Your fiancée asked me to plan your wedding,” Kenna said nonchalantly.
Merrick’s eyes flicked from me, the ring, and then to Hatchet. “I didn’t realize you were going to ask so soon.”
Hatchet shrugged. “When it’s the right woman, you know. Why wait? Dude, does this mean I get to go cake tasting again?”
I furrowed my brows. “When have youevergone cake tasting?”
Hatchet threw his head back and laughed. “When Kenna was planning the club’s fiftieth, I helped pick out the cake. I wonder what the baker will think when I show up with a different woman?”
