Page 48 of Juan

“Nah, I got it. Not much left,” he replied, reentering the kitchen.

“Have a good day?” Viper asked. Juan nodded. “Where’s Amber?”

The grin formed before he could stop it. “Resting. I left her and Zoe napping upstairs.”

“Long day?” Viper asked, leaning against the counter.

“And night,” he said. One of Viper’s brows lifted. “Talking about how to make all this work. You know, her new job, Zoe, me,” he clarified. Viper’s other brow lifted. Juan chuckled. “We covered a few other things, too.”

“You both good?”

Juan inclined his head as he wiped down the inside of the now-empty cooler. “We are.”

“Good,” Viper replied, a man of few words. “I saw Leo in town, and he and Callie are planning to come over after dinner.”

He looked up. “They have an update?”

Viper nodded. “I’m guessing so. Who all is around?”

“Mantis will want to be here, not sure about Charley. Philly will come with Callie, and you know Juliana won’t want to miss it.”

“Which means Stone will be here, too.”

He nodded. “North and Marley are at Rita C’s tonight,” he said. “And Monk went down to Napa today to help Helia load a bunch of her stuff to bring up for her final trip.”

“Kendall?”

“She’s here since she has school tomorrow. Wesson picked her up today, and Hawkeye will drop her off tomorrow morning. They’ll both be here, too.”

“Did Superman leave this afternoon to pick up that new bike job?” Viper asked.

Juan nodded. “Einstein went with him, and they won’t be back until the day after tomorrow. Scipio is around, not sure if he’ll join, but Lovell will come with Daphne, and Dulcie will definitely be here.”

Viper grinned. “I assume the intriguing Agent Perry will be here, too?”

Juan chuckled. “I haven’t called her, but I expect Callie did.”

“Ten of the fifteen of us. Plus our bonus family,” Viper said. “Glad Dottie made lasagna. I hear Clara’s been helping her out, but I’ll drag a few of the guys in here to clean up so she can have the night off. I heard you talked to Toni.”

Juan crossed his arms and leaned against the counter. “Possibly a mistake, but I don’t think so. She just texted. She’s going in tonight. She’ll have an update tomorrow.”

“Wanna place bets on whether Anthony is breathing tomorrow?”

“I’ll take that bet,” Scipio said, walking in.

“Bold move,” Juan said with a grin.

Scipio shook his head. “Nope. A man like Anthony Ely? Toni will want him to suffer. Offing him in one night won’t be satisfying.”

The uncomfortable truth of that pulled chuckles from all three. “What are you all laughing at?” Mantis asked, joining them from the hallway that led to his office.

“Toni,” Juan answered.

Mantis groaned as he walked to the sink and poured himself a glass of water. “Do you remember that time she commandeered the Black Hawk and rescued those hostages?”

Scipio snorted. “The best part was when she tossed the lieutenant general from the passenger seat.”

“I think she’d been waiting to do something like that for a week,” Viper added.