Page 58

Tobias

Our mate is playing POKER? I knew the mothers would be a bad influence on her.

I had to laugh. He had a point. During our impromptu family dinner, they had apparently invited Summer to come to their poker night. Rolling my eyes, I watched the dots appear from Emmett this time.

Emmett

Totally, but she is going. It’ll be good for her to get out of the house.

Marshall

Is she taking Milo?

We can look after him. I just want to know.

Tobias

We can handle a baby… maybe? He will at least still be in one piece. Also, shouldn’t a pack meeting include our mate?

He had a point. Glancing around, I watched my students filter back into the classroom after break. I ensured they were busy with their work before typing out a response.

Noah

She should be involved.

Emmett

Under any other circumstances, I would say yes, but she asked me to talk to you guys about something. I think she’s slightly embarrassed.

My brows furrowed. What did Summer have to be embarrassed about? Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to think about it right this second. But I knew it was going to be on my mind the rest of the day.

As I walked into the teacher’s lounge, I sighed. I was hungry, and I still hadn’t stopped thinking about the upcoming meeting with the guys.

“Hattie has been causing chaos again.” Leo chuckled, refilling his mug of coffee. He was a math teacher, and we had been friendly pretty much since the day he started three years ago. He had moved to town due to family issues, and eventually decided to make Willow Grove his home.

I chuckled, grabbing my burrito from the fridge and putting it in the microwave. I really needed to start packing myself some more nutritious lunches, but most mornings, I couldn’t be bothered, so I relied on things that I could microwave quickly and scarf down.

“What is Hattie up to now?” I asked.

All of our mothers garnered a certain level of chaos. It was a miracle we’d all turned out as levelheaded as we had. They were chaotic dreamers in the best way. When Hattie got an idea in her head, she would run with it till the end. The same with Edie, which is how the B&B came to be.

“She’s apparently hustling old man Skinner who runs the plant place on the outskirts of town.”

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. “The moment those women started a poker club, they became unstoppable.”

“They became menaces to the entire town, but we love them all dearly.” Leo laughed. “It also helps that they are pillars of the community. I don’t think either she or Edie has paid for a drink since that storm last year. “

About a year ago, there had been some freak weather unlike anything we'd ever experienced. Houses were severely damaged, and the town's facilities were all affected. Edie had opened up the B&B without a second thought, giving all her spare rooms to families in need. While Hattie had led the effort to make sure everyone was fed—from the first responders to the displaced families—my mother had lent a hand too. Her obsession had been keeping everyone warm. I was pretty sure there wasn't a space heater within a forty-mile radius that she hadn't bought out.

“Nope, and you know they’re milking it for all it’s worth. Frankly, it’s a good thing they have the poker club to distract them.”

“If they didn’t, they would be going around showing your picture to every single lady they see in an attempt to get grandbabies.” Leo snorted.

“They totally would as well, but there’s no need. Speaking of babies, how’s Georgia?”

His mate was heavily pregnant and not pleased with it, the last I heard. If we had a little more time to talk, I would have told him about Summer, but explaining how I suddenly had a mate would take more than the five minutes we had.

Leo winced. “She's been doing so much, no matter how much I tell her to sit down, and I’ll take care of everything. She insists our entire house needs a deep clean before the baby arrives. Do you know that I found her trying to get on a ladder and clean our gutters the other day? She’s about to pop! Some big-time nesting instincts, I guess.”