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“Can you get the time off work?” I ask her. I save her from having to answer and let her know that she’s welcome at the same time. Of course she is. She’s been my best friend, my ride-or-die since kindergarten. She’s a part of me. She’s always invited to family functions and, more recently, girls’ nights with my sisters-in-law and cousin, Ramsey. They include her because they know she’s important to me.
“What are we talking about?”
“I’d say Thursday through Sunday,” Orrin explains.
“We need to see if everyone can get the time off and if there are even any rentals available,” I tell him.
“I’ll work on the rentals.” Orrin pulls his phone out of his pocket. “When are we thinking?”
“Before July,” Brooks speaks up. “Palmer is due the middle of July, and I don’t want to be too far if she goes into labor early.”
“I’ll be fine, big guy,” Palmer assures him.
“I know you will. Because we’re going to be close to the hospital.” He leans over and kisses her.
“Let’s shoot for the first week of June.” This comes from Maverick.
“That’s like two weeks away,” Orrin comments.
“I’m all over it.” Maverick pulls his phone out of his pocket and starts tapping at the screen. A few minutes later, he’s grinning when every phone, well, almost every phone left at the party, chirps with a message.
Within minutes, all of my brothers, as well as Ramsey and Deacon, have confirmed they’ll make the date work, and getting the time off work shouldn’t be an issue.
“Done,” Maverick boasts.
“We need to find a sitter for Blake if she can’t come with us,” Kennedy reminds Declan.
“My parents will be happy to watch her. We deserve a weekend away. That doesn’t mean we don’t love our little girl,” he reminds his wife.
“I know. I just hate leaving her.”
“This might be the last one of these, fellas,” Brooks says. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to leave our little girl. My heart is breaking just hearing Kennedy talk about leaving Blakely.”
Palmer rests her hand against his cheek. “Having an adult weekend is good for parents.”
“We’ll see.” Brooks doesn’t sound convinced. However, I know Brooks, and his wife can convince him to do anything.
“Tink?” I turn to Alyssa. “You think you can get the time off?”
She shrugs. “I have the time, but you know that Tamara hates me.” Tamara is Alyssa’s boss at the Doctors’ office. She’s basically a queen bitch. She treats everyone who works there as if they’re an ant under her shoe. Especially Alyssa. She’s been there the longest and knows more about Tamara’s job than Tamara does. Tamara is jealous.
“I thought you were going to start looking for a new job?” Kennedy asks her.
“Yeah,” Alyssa agrees. “I’ve been looking.”
Reaching over, I place my hand on her arm. She gives me her full attention. “Try?” It would really suck if she wasn’t able to be there. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family, but Alyssa and I do everything together. I don’t really want to go without her.
“I’ll talk to her at work on Monday.”
“So, where are we staying?” I ask Orrin.
“I found a cabin at Lake Oconee. It’s eight bedrooms, nine bathrooms, twenty-eight acres, a pond, a hot tub, an inground pool, outdoor kitchen. This place is beautiful,” Orrin says, holding up his phone so we can see a picture.
“How much?” Brooks asks.
“Nine hundred a night plus tax. Dividing that by ten, it’s a hundred bucks a night and some change,” he says, meaning we’ll need to add some additional money for tax.
“Damn,” I mutter. “That’s cheap.”
