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Alley laughed.
“We’ll all help you,” Summer added. “It will be fun.”
When everyone agreed, I realized we had gotten to the crying part of the night. Their kindness touched me. It wasn't the only time the tears had flowed either. Sometime later we had gotten on the subject of my mom and Luke, as well as the past, and a river had run down my face. All the ladies had comforted me, tears in their eyes too.
Teal had even talked more about her mom since she’d also suffered that loss, along with everything else in her life. When she went on about no good men, I saw her watching Gemma closely. Hopefully, if Gemma put an end to what she thought wasn’t a good thing, it just went away.
As we went through all the emotions, the wine kept getting poured, and with everyone watching me, I picked up my cell and dialed Rowan. I guessed the missing my man thing was getting to be too much to handle. And to make the moment even funnier than it turned out to be, as well as a little embarrassing, I’d put my phone on speaker.
Only Rowan didn’t know that at first.Oops.
“Hey, baby, is everything okay?’ he asked when he answered.
Crap, I didn’t mean to scare him.
“Yes, I’m good, but I miss you,” I slurred.
A deep chuckle vibrated through the line. “Buttercup, are you drunk calling me?”
I looked at the ladies and put one finger up to my lips, telling them silently to be quiet. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed another figure by the hall and realized Landon had walked out. I gave him the silence signal too and he looked like he was about to crack up as he shook his head.
Alley got up and walked over to him, giving him a quick kiss. She wrapped her arms around him, swaying a bit and I realized most of us, except Summer and Gemma, had a lot of wine. And for the most part, we were behaving. Until I spoke again of course.
“Umm, I had wine,” I told him and giggled. “Can the one-eyed monster come out to play?”
And that was when there was silence no more. Everyone burst out laughing.
“Dude, you should know better than to not ask if you’re on speaker when these women get together,” Landon called out to Rowan from across the room.
“Woman, you are getting a spanking for that one,” my guy said and a tingle raced up my spine.
“If it is a punishment you are trying to dish out, you better try again,” I teased.
“Sweetheart, if you want the…” He paused, amusement lacing his tone. “What did you just call my cock? One-eyed monster to come out to play, I will load the boys in the car and come get you right now.”
The ladies fanned their faces and dropped to the floor, holding their stomachs as they laughed uncontrollably.
“Well, I guess since we’re not done here, he’ll have to play tomorrow,” I said and hung up.
I guessed Gyth and Lyric outside were probably getting a call right then, even though Landon was inside. Rowan was most likely asking them to check on the state of our minds. That made me smile. And I’d been spot on when the knock sounded at the door and we opened it to two muscled men with eyebrows raised.
The evening was a hell of a lot of fun.
But I knew in the morning after all the wine, I may be rethinking that.
* * *
When I thoughtback to the evening before, the headache was worth it.
The next morning all the guys, kids, as well as Teal who had come back, were at Alley’s house. They had said every time they had a sleepover that the next morning everyone congregated and had some breakfast.
I’d finished eating an amazing Danish from Capri’s that I think Teal and Kace picked up. The woman could probably survive on our group’s sales alone. We all seemed to frequent there a lot. Alley had also made pancakes, bacon, sausage, and eggs. Everyone was in a food coma which also seemed to happen a lot with us.
As I leaned back against Rowan who had his back to the wall and we watched the kids finishing up their grub, Teal started babbling.
“When we picked up the baked goods from Capri’s, I told her how you wanted to lease the store next to her and open a new bookstore.”
I heard Rowan’s surprised intake of breath in my ear. It was only the day before that we’d seen the sign and I was hesitant about talking about it at all. He was probably shocked I’d even mentioned it to the girls.
