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“Yeah, I heard him doing it. He was very diplomatic,” Faith said.
“I’m glad. Someone needed to sort her out,” Noah said.
“I’m not sure she’s sorted out,” Faith added. “But he gave her something to think about.”
“But will it make a difference?” Lucy asked. “I mean, that woman is hardly what you’d call malleable.”
“But I kind of respect that about her. She has never changed who she is,” Faith said.
“Belligerent, awkward, and plenty of other words,” Noah said.
“I wonder what it was like being raised by her,” Lucy mused.
“I think she provided everything they needed; I’m just not sure there was any softness or love,” Faith said.
“Still a lot more than a lot of kids get, right?” Noah swung into a parking space.
“For sure, but it has to mess with you,” Lucy said.
It did, Faith thought. Ryan hadn’t talked about it, but she’d seen that the two Lawrence siblings had relied on each other for emotional support.
“Quite the crowd.” Faith got out the car.
Temporary bleachers had been set up for the spectators and tents erected for the locals to sell things and provide food and drink.
“Can you believe they have new uniforms?” Noah was looking at the group standing together beside a bus that had clearly brought them to Howling.
“Uniforms don’t make a team,” Faith said, looking at her twin. Like the rest of them, he wore his Lake Howling shirt. Short-sleeved, buttoned up the front, and white with a thin navy stripe, it had the letters L and H at the top right-hand side of the chest.
“Why don’t you guys have the full uniform thing going on?” Lucy asked.
“We’ve talked about it for years and never got round to it,” Faith said.
They walked to where the others in their team were all standing in their shirts and black shorts.
“At least they match,” Lucy said.
Buddy took off barking and greeted everyone before his owner could humiliate him by dressing him in the Lake Howling colors.
She saw Tex, Annabelle, Jake, Newman, Buster, and Brad. There was no sign of the two law enforcement officers who were usually in the team.
“Katie and Cubby have to work now the crowd is this size,” Faith heard Buster say as they approached. “I got us a ringer.”
“Mikey?” Noah asked.
“Ryan. Apparently, he still has that right arm of his and assures me he can use it. Cubby was getting a second, but I’m not sure who at this stage.”
Faith lowered her bag to where the others had thrown their gear and refused to acknowledge the little twist of excitement inside her that Ryan would be on the team.
“Is that wise, him being who he is and all?” Tex asked. He was stretching his long legs and being heckled by Newman and Annabelle, who looked her usual sexy self in shorts that were fitted and stopped several inches above her knees. “Especially after the crap being put out on social media about him.”
“He knows he’s famous, as does everyone else in Lake Howling. I’m sure we can protect him if someone makes a run at him,” Buster added.
“What crap on social media?” Faith asked.
“That guy you know and his friends made up all kinds of stories about Ryan and what happened in The Howler. They then managed to get a picture of him from somewhere looking angry,” Buster said. “It’s all over the place.”
“Assholes,” Tex said.
