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“What?” I asked.
“I haven’t seen the other three, but those two arehot.”
I shrugged. “I hadn’t really noticed.”
“Still got it bad for Beau Barrett?”
Did I? It wasn’t as though he’d been around to distract me from how good-looking my team of bodyguards was. Maybe I just hadn’t been in the mood to notice. Even now, though, they didn’t do it for me. “I guess,” I finally said. “It could also be the circumstances.”
“Of course. You’re right. I’m sorry.”
I leaned into her. “Don’t be. I really need a sense of normalcy.”
“I was so sorry to hear about Mrs. Barrett. She was always so nice whenever I saw her.”
“I don’t remember ever meeting her.” The thought left me feeling bereft.
“I only saw her at the Wicked Winemakers’ Ball, when I volunteered to help.”
“I forgot you used to do that.” Alex Avila-Butler, who ran the fundraiser, was Jada’s cousin. Their mothers were twins.
“I was too busy with school this year, but I heard she bid on both her sons in the bachelor auction.”
I raised a brow. “She did?”
“That’s the saddest part. Alex said she did it because she never got to spend time with them.”
I closed my eyes and hung my head. That was partly my fault. At least in the last two months. Seraphina told me Ridge, Press, Beau, and the others had gotten involved to help find me the night of the very auction Jada was talking about. The only reason Press and Beau hadn’t seen their parents at Thanksgiving was because their mother and father spent the holiday in London, and by then, we’d returned to the States. While they’d never said so, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn the Barrett boys stuck around Paso Robles because of me. Maybe not Beau, but definitely Press.
“I should thank Bradley,” I said, looking behind me to see her and Sorcha putting food on the big dining room table. She and her husband, Naughton Butler, had lived in the main house since before their baby was born. Sorcha and her husband, Laird, had insisted they preferred to move into one of the smaller cottages Laird had built on the estate, similar to the one my mom and I stayed in before and would again now. However, whenever there was a gathering of people, it was always here.
“She never seems to mind hosting,” said Jada, following my gaze.
“I doubt she’d say if she did.” While Sorcha was one of the nicest people I’d ever known, she was definitely formidable. I patted Jada’s hand and stood. “Be right back.”
Bradley and Sorcha had gone into the kitchen, and I followed. “What can I do to help?” I asked.
“Not a thing,” said Sorcha, walking out of the room carrying another platter.
“You’re a saint for always doing this,” I said to Bradley.
She smiled. “The truth is, I love it. As an only child, I always wished for a big family. And I can’t complain; Sorcha and Laird do all the work.”
“But your house is always overrun.”
She smiled again and handed me a platter. “That’s the last of it, and I promise it doesn’t bother me at all. Naughton loves it too, and Charlie adores having so many people around, especially his grandparents.”
“Where’s Ridge?” I asked my sister when she walked over to me after I’d deposited the platter on the table.
“On his way to Napa.”
“You didn’t go with him?”
She shook her head. “Once he told me you were coming here, I decided not to go.”
“I hate being such a pain in the ass.”
Seraphina nudged me with her elbow. “If that were the case, I would’ve gone with him.”
