She smiled down at me. “Better.”
“So much better.” I took her hand and squeezedit. “Thanks, beautiful.”
“You’re welcome.”
She released me and I wanted to snatch her hand back, but we weren’t there yet. Or at least, she wasn’t. Jesus, she was pretty. She wasn’t wearing her glasses, and I guessed she’d swapped them for contacts, which emphasized her deep blue eyes. She’d left her dark hair down, styling it in ‘beachy waves,’ as my sister Frankie would have called it. It fell just below her shoulders and it suited her.
She picked up her wine and took her seat again just as Maisie brought dessert over, complete with another bottle of wine.
“I better not,” Waverly said. “I won’t be able to drive home.”
“I can drop you home if you drink too much,” Hatch offered.
“What about my car?”
“My son Jamie can follow behind in your car,” Maisie said. “He’ll be home in an hour.”
Fear flashed in Waverly’s eyes, and I felt the need to shut it down immediately. “Or you don’t have to do any of that, Fizzy.”
“Ah, right—”
“Hello!” Poppy’s voice called out as the alarm beeped.
“Pop Pop!” Tenley, Devon and Poppy’s toddler, squealed, and tiny little feet slapped on the hardwood as she came running down the hall and rushing into Hatch’s arms.
“Hey, baby girl.” Hatch kissed her neck, and she slapped his face.
“Pop Pop!”
“Let’s go find your mom,” he said, and left us for a minute, returning with Devon, Poppy, and their other two kids, Niall and Holland.
“Well, this looks like a party,” Poppy said, hugging her mom.
I noticed Devon, or ‘Sparky,’ as we called him in the club, was not wearing his cut, and I wondered if Hatch had made him take it off because Waverly was here.
“Poppy, Devon, this is Waverly,” I said.
“Hi.” Waverly stood, shaking their hands. “It’s lovely to meet you both.”
“You, too,” Poppy said.
“Are you hungry?” Maisie asked.
“I could eat,” Devon said.
“We just had dinner,” Poppy countered.
“It’s your mom’s pot roast, baby,” Devon lobbed back.
“How did you know that?” Maisie asked.
Devon waggled his eyebrows. “I can smell it.”
“You are so, so weird.”
“You married me.”
Poppy laughed. “This is true.”
