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Ava laughed, “Me? No, I would never do that.”
“It doesn’t matter anyway, she’s only sixteen. I don’t think her parents would like her dating someone in their thirties,” Abbi said, settling Annabelle on her hip. “C’mon, let’s go meet her.”
They all followed her to the front door where Ben was standing, chatting with the girl.
“Hi Jasmine,” Abbi said, smiling. “You haven’t met my other kids yet. This is Ava and her soon to be husband Mark and this is Lane, one of my sons.”
The girl smiled shyly as they all said hi then ducked her head and said, “Nice to meet you all.”
“So where did you move to?” Mark asked.
“Just outside of town at the old emu—”
“Sorry to cut you off,” Ben said, looking at his watch. “But Abbi, didn’t you tell Kim we’d be there by 6:30?”
“What time is it?”
“It’s 6:45.”
“Crap, yeah. We better get a move on,” she said, passing the baby to Jasmine. “Now we will just be down the road at Kim’s if you need us.” She glanced at Annabelle and saw her grinning at her. She grinned back at her little girl. “You are such a good baby,” she cooed as she wiped the spittle from her chin. “Anyway, her number is on the fridge just in case. Annabelle should be ready to go to bed shortly, a half hour or so. If she doesn’t fall asleep right away, then just turn on—”
Ben cut her off with a laugh, “Abbi, Jasmine knows. She was here just last week.”
She cradled the baby’s face in her hands and brushed a soft kiss on her forehead. “Right, okay let’s go.” She looked around for the others then at Ben. “Where did everyone go?”
“Outside. Waiting for you,” he smiled, standing by the open door.
“Okay! I’m coming!” As she made her way to his side, she turned and looked at Jasmine and mouthed,I’ll call you in two hours,then said, “We won’t be long Jasmine, have a good night!”
“Finally,” Mark smacked his hands together when he saw Abbi appear from the house. “I’m starved. Are we driving?”
Ben closed the door behind Abbi, “Ah no. We are walking.”
Mark looked taken aback. “Walking? Why?”
“Because it’s literally a three-minute walk down the road,” Ava elbowed him in the ribs, hoping he would get the hint to shut up. “It will do you some good.”
“But Kim was expecting us twenty minutes ago,” he protested.
Abbi heaved a sigh, “I need to lose ten pounds in two weeks to fit in my wedding dress—”
“Love, you look fine, just get it...” One look from her had Ben clamping his mouth shut.
“And come hell or high water, I’m fitting in it,” Abbi said, taking the hand Ben held out to her. “If you want to drive Mark, go ahead, we’ll meet you there.” She looked at her kids and Ben, “You guys go with him if you want, you don’t have to walk on my account.”
“Oh, thank you,” Mark took his keys from his pocket and jangled them. “Who’s coming?”
“I’ll take my bike.” Lane headed to the Harley and straddled the machine as he put his helmet on.
Ava looked at Mark. “Me,” she said, then sent Abbi a pained look. “Sorry mom, I’m beat from giving massages all day. We will go for a walk tomorrow?”
“It’s fine.”
Abbi looked at Ben she could tell he was weighing his choices. She could also tell he was thinking about Raven Black, the man that had been stalking her. He really didn’t have to worry about that any more considering the guy was dead, by Ben’s hand. She tilted her head towards Mark’s black truck. “Go with them, I’ll be fine.”
“Are you bringing Brutus?”
“No. I’d rather him be here to watch over the house. Go.”
