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“Really was nice of her to bring something,” Ritz said beside me.
I glanced his way. “What did she bring anyway? She never told me.”
“Texas sheet cake.” Ritz put his hands on his hips and rocked back on his heels. “Said it was her grandpa’s favorite. He even taught her how to make it. She said she’s only ever eaten it a few times in her life because she didn’t eat sweets and hasn’t eaten or made it since her grandpa passed away when she was a teenager.” Ritz frowned. “That shit true?”
“Yeah, her mom didn’t allow her to eat sweet shit.” I jerked up my chin. “You believe that?”
Ritz grunted. “Believe anything with that family. She close to her grandpa?”
“Yeah.” I grinned. “She talks about him all the time. Seems to me he was the only normal one in the whole family, except maybe Rachel.”
Ritz snorted and then pointed at the bar. “Goin’ to the bar. You want anything?”
I held up the bottle in my hand. “I’m good.”
He nodded and started toward the bar just as Nick approached me and lifted his beer in the direction Ritz headed. “Heard a rumor Ritz spent the day feeding the community. That true?”
“Yeah, that’s true. For the past two years, they’ve been doing a free community dinner for people who are struggling financially or in any way, really. Finished that up earlier today, then came here to do it all over again for us.”
“What the hell time did he start today?”
“No idea, man, but he loves makin’ it, and we love eatin’ it, so no one’s complaining.”
Nick laughed. “Nice of him to give back like that.”
I nodded. “Yeah. He had the prospects there servin’ the food. Jane wanted to go, but we got distracted and missed it.”
Nick grinned because he knew exactly what I meant when I said we got distracted. Ritz hadn’t been expecting us, but as soon as Jane heard about it, she wanted to volunteer, and I was all for it until I woke up to her running around the bedroom in her bra and underwear looking for something. Every other fucking plan went out the window when I saw that, so I grabbed her and hauled her right back into bed where we spent the majority of our first Thanksgiving together.
“There’s always next year.” Nick gestured toward where Jane stood across the yard with Maddie. “Looks like they’re getting along.”
I smirked. “That mean we need to?”
Nick chuckled. “Probably wouldn’t hurt.”
“You’re practically a member of the club bein’ Gunner’s brother anyhow.”
“Guess that’s true.” He dangled the beer bottle from his fingertips. “Saw that Bear invited different people from the community. Even saw some firemen I know. They said they work with Blaze.”
“They do. We’re working hard to regain the community’s trust that we lost.”
“It shows, and it’s appreciated. Been hearing a lot of talk around town, and everyone’s happy with the changes,” Nick replied, and I believed him. He wasn’t one to mince words. We had that in common. He was blunt, he said what he meant, and he wasn’t afraid to tell anyone what he thought.
Lifting the bottle to my lips, I scanned the yard and saw Leo had just finished filling his plate and was standing by the bar. I gestured toward him with my beer. “Gonna grab a few minutes with him while I can.”
Nick grinned. “Heard Kyle’s been keeping him busy.” He slapped me on the back of the shoulder. “I’ll catch up with you later.”
I moved across the yard, lifting my hand in a wave when I heard my name called, which caused Leo to look up from his plate. I stopped in front of him but could tell he was still unsure what to say to me.
“Hey, kid.”
“Hey,” he replied.
I took a drink from the bottle before dropping my hand back to my side. “Heard from Kyle that you’re a hell of an intern.” He grinned slowly, and I continued. “You like it?”
“Yeah.” He jerked up his chin. “Thanks for setting that up.”
I leaned my hip against the bar. “You getting a lot of hours?”
