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Chapter Nine
“You win, again,” Jax declared.
Piper squealed and pulled the cards across the table. “You guys are terrible at Go Fish.”
“Why do I feel like I’m raising a card shark?” he muttered as he came to his feet.
“Because you are,” Cash replied.
Cash and Tanner had come over about an hour ago. They’d eaten and settled into Piper’s favorite game, but it was getting later and he needed to get Piper into bed.
When they were home at a decent hour, he made sure she didn’t stay up late. There were circumstances where flights held him up, but even then his faithful babysitter and neighbor was always good to get Piper home and in bed.
“One more game.” She stared up at him with those big brown eyes and shoved that bottom lip out. “Please, Daddy?”
He laughed. “Nice try, darlin’. Go in and get your pajamas on and I’ll come tuck you in.”
“And read my story,” she stated climbing down from the kitchen table.
Cash stood and scooped Piper up. “How about I read your story? I haven’t tucked you in for a while.”
“Yay, but when you read, you’re not allowed to do funny voices,” she told him, patting his stubbled jawline. “This is a serious book.”
He gave her a mock salute. “Yes, ma’am. Let’s go.”
Tanner remained at the table and started straightening the cards. “You talked anymore to Livie?”
Jax opened the fridge and pulled out a beer. “You’ve been dying to ask that, haven’t you?”
Tanner shrugged. “You going to get me a beer?”
“No.” Jax popped the cap off and took a long, refreshing pull. “Piper barely got out of the room before you already started in on me like some gossipy old lady.”
“Call me what you want, but I’m still waiting to hear. You must’ve seen her again or you would’ve already told me no.”
Jax had seen her in person, as well as in every single dream since she’d stepped back into town. And she’d texted him earlier to inform him she wanted to sit down and discuss the airport. Heaven help him, she was going to test every bit of patience he had.
“No, wait. Don’t say anything.” Tanner stood and circled the table. “Cash will want to hear this too.”
He nudged Jax out of the way and took his own beer out of the fridge. Jax hadn’t told his cousins about the idea Livie had run by him. He was still trying to process it all himself. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that she was full-blown into this concept and was probably home making spreadsheets or a PowerPoint presentation to go over with him tomorrow.
Well, he knew of one way to distract her if he didn’t like how their little meeting was going.
“Anything exciting happening in Haven I don’t know about?” Jax asked, hoping to deflect the conversation away from him.
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Tanner pulled out one of the kitchen chairs and sank into it. Resting his elbow on the edge of the table, he took a drink before setting his bottle down. “Not much. I get nervous when it’s this quiet, though. It’s like the calm before the storm.”
“It’s Haven,” Jax stated. “Nothing too wild goes on here.”
Tanner winced. “Don’t say that. When I start getting too comfortable, that’s when something strange happens. Last month I had a call that there was a guy in a pool trying to have sex with a blow-up floatie.”
Jax was so glad he wasn’t taking a drink right at that moment. “How the hell is that even possible? I guess whatever people want to do in their pools is their business, but that’s gross.”
“It wasn’t his pool,” Tanner corrected. “The lady came home and found a guy in her backyard with one of her floats.”
“Brings a whole new light to breaking and entering.”
