Clover sighed as only a teen girl could, rolling her pretty eyes. “Trust me, sis. I’ll talk to you if I need to, okay?”
They walked a few steps in silence. But a question was burning on Sunny’s tongue. “Have you talked to Tanner?”
Clover instantly turned red. “I blocked his number, and there’s no point in a de-brief talk when he already told me it was a mistake and how sorry he was about it happening. I’m not the first girl to do a dumb thing with a boy. I won’t be the last, either, not with Lily around.”
Frowning and dropping the topic of Tanner, Sunny asked. “What’s Lily up to? I’m out of the loop.”
“That’s what happens when you get married and have sex on the brain. She’s got some CEO’s son chasing her.”
“Oh my god, shush, Dad will hear and have an aneurysm here on the street.” She elbowed her sister, who only tinkled a laugh. They spent a minute talking about the CEO.
Their dad was waiting in the queue when they arrived a few minutes later; he was just shutting off his phone, looking serious. Sunny sensed her father was hiding something when their eyes met. Colton Hawk was a dad, sure. He was the best dad in the world, but he’d been an MC VP first and longest, and she saw VP in his pale eyes, which made her curious.
“Is something up?”
“Deciding on toppings.”
Sunny snorted at his outright lie. He came to the ice cream parlor for his girls, not because he had a sweet tooth. And while choosing their cones, she saw him glance at his watch.
“Do you have a hot date or something?” she asked.
“Might do.” He smirked. “Your mom isn’t working late.”
“Clover, doesn’t Dad look suspicious to you?”
“Now that you mention it, yeah. What are you hiding, Daddio, huh? Is it a surprise for us, huh? You know you suck at surprises. You might as well spill it now if it’s a car for me.”
He side-eyed them both and then shoved a bottle of raspberry syrup into Sunny’s hands. “There is no surprise. Here, have some syrup.”
“You’re acting suspicious. Are you distracting us for some unknown reason? I’m getting the Hawk spidey vibes.”
He laughed. “What’s this? Gang up on your old dad day?”
“I’m not afraid to bring out the big guys. Clover, call Mom.”
“You are a cunning girl.” He smiled and nudged her shoulder gently with his.
“I know your weak spots, and I’m not afraid to use them.”
“Very true.” He paid, and they walked outside. Sunny was on one side, and Clover was on the other.
After a few licks of her cone, she told them, “Seb and I are going to have you guys over for dinner one day this week.”
They both stopped in sync to look at her.
“Are you cooking?” Hawk was the one to ask.
Clover started miming a gagging motion. “If that answer is yes, I’m sick that night. Sorry, not sorry. You cannot cook, Sunny.”
Offended, she nearly dropped her pistachio waffle cone. “I can, too!”
They were partially correct. Proof this week, when she’d failed so many things, she bet other wives could do so well.
Cooking was right up there with fails. She didn’t understand why eggs, toast, and steaks burned. She was sure something was wrong with the stove. She’d even accused Seb of sabotaging it. He’d only laughed and called her cute.
Then she flooded the laundry room after using too much detergent. That had been an epic disaster for him to fix. Another sabotage, she was so sure! She couldn’t prove it yet, but she’d figure it out because no one could be as inept at household tasks as Sunny was.
It didn’t seem to faze Seb, who did most of the cooking, or he brought home takeout. And he was better at throwing clothes in the machine and not shrinking dry-clean-only items like she had that one time. Only once!
