“It’s good, actually,” she says, nodding. “It still bothers him a bit here and there, but other than that, it looks great. Healing really well. And it’s not like it slowed him down at all.”
We look over to the girls just in time to see Hollie trip in thesand, face planting. Penny is there in a heartbeat, helping her stand. Hollie’s face tips down as she cries, and Violette grimaces as she stands and walks over toward the two. She hunkers down in front of her daughter and wipes the sand from her cheeks and arms. Little blonde pigtails bob as she nods, answering a question Vi asks her that I can’t hear. Penny stands close by, her hand on Hollie’s back.
A wiggle out of the corner of my eye brings my head around in time to see Bea wake, and within a heartbeat her little face has contorted into an angry pout. She lets out a disgruntled cry as I stand and reach into the stroller to pull her out. I settle back on the bench and grab the lightweight blanket I keep at hand.
We’re still the only ones at the park, but I quickly adjust the top of my tank top, and within seconds she’s settled in to nurse. I drape the lightweight blanket over her, but she flails her arms and drags it down off of my shoulder. I lift it again, adjusting it to cover her, but she kicks her legs at the same time as flailing her arm wildly again, dragging it completely off herself and my shoulder, and I shake my head as I stare down at her.
“Bea, you tell your momma, ‘Mom, it’s too hot under there’,” Vi coos as she comes back to sit down. Thank God for mom friends who don’t judge, honestly. I don’t know what I’d do without Vi. Speaking to Bea at my breast, she teases, “Askherif she wants a blanket over her head while she’s trying to eat and see how she likes it!”
Bea’s brown eyes are wide as she stares at Vi over my arm, and her hand is thumping the top slope of my breast animatedly. I laugh, rolling my eyes, then exhale slowly. I needed this time with Vi.
The door of the bar swings shut with a dull clang as I walk in. Jack Taylor—our old Squad Leader back when my dad had still been alive—had retired and he and his wife, Mae, had taken over running the pub.
Lou, our regular bartender, is off tonight. Violette Taylor, Jack and Mae’s daughter and King’s new lady, is standing behind the bar. Her brother Jacob was on my crew when my dad died, and he’d been best friends with King. Too many of us know what it’s like to lose family to a fire. In the same year that I’d lost Dad, Jacob had died on a fire, too. It was one of the worst years in my life and my career. King had never been the same afterward, and I don’t think Violette ever fully grieved, either.
Fuck, losing Jacob was tough on me, too. My first season as Sup, having lost my dad at the beginning of the season, and then losing him at the end of the season was brutal. Working with Jack, I’d known Jacob and Violette since they were kids. Shit, I had practically watched them grow up. I liked to think that I was the cool uncle figure for both of them. Then I’d had to stand with Jack while he buried his son. My own guilt had eaten at me, but I know it was harder on King. He still blameshimself for getting his best friend killed, even if it wasn’t his fault.
When Violette sees me walking across the floor, she pulls a bottle of PBR out of the cooler, and it’s waiting for me as I fold myself into one of the barstools next to Rowan Kingsley. I nod to her in thanks.
The man is dopey over his lady. She flashes me a smile and I can hear King grumble next to me about ‘get your own woman’. I chuckle just to get on his nerves, but ignore the remark, tipping my beer up to my lips as the door opens again. Cal and Scottie walk in together, and then Cal is sitting to my other side after Scottie takes a seat, too.
Violette already has a bottle of Coors opened and is setting it in front of Cal, then slides over to pour Scottie’s whisky into a highball glass. She may be twenty-eight, but it’s still weird seeing the kid I knew standing behind the bar I’ve been coming to for too many years. She smiles over at Scottie as she slides the whisky over. I know that Violette and Scottie have become friends since Violette started dating King, and that Teddy is friends with Violette, too.
My thoughts drift to the woman I can’t seem to get off my mind, and I glance at the watch on my wrist, wondering briefly if she’s still awake at the townhouse. I haven't seen her since this morning outside the coffee shop, and I’m half tempted to wrap up this excursion and head home early, just on the off chance I’ll run into her.
It’s almost as if Cal can read my damn thoughts as soon as I think them, because he braces his forearms on the ledge of the bar and leans forward so that he can look at me in profile, and says, “So are you staying at the bunkhouse tonight or are you heading home to?—”
I glare over at him over the edge of my beer bottle as I tip it up to my mouth again. He's grinning. The fucker is such a shit-stirrer.
“Yeah, where the hell have you been lately?” King asks, leaning forward, too. “If we’re not out on a fire, you’re never around. You getting tired of us young bucks, old man?”
I roll my eyes at him and try my best to change the subject. “You’ve got a big mouth for someone that still can’t beat my mile time?—”
“He’s not getting tired of us, he’s just found something that makes it more enjoyable to be at home,” Cal mutters across me, not letting me off that easily, his grin widening. Scottie leans forward, too, her strawberry blonde hair pulled back into a messy topknot on the top of her head, a shit eating grin pulling at her lips as she looks at me. I fix Cal with my hardest stare, but it doesn’t deter him in the slightest. “The man damn near fell all over himself today at the coffee shop when he saw?—”
“Dude,” I grumble, throwing myself back in my chair. Everyone thinks teen girls gossip a lot, but they’ve got nothing on grown fucking men, apparently. “Leave her out of this.”
“Oh, there’s aher?” King asks, his interest piqued, and I groan, rolling my head so that I’m staring up at the wood beamed ceiling. Christ, I should have just gone home. You’d think Cal wouldn’t want this to be broadcasted, since she’s his sister and all.
Guess payback is payback, though. He’s going to milk this for everything he can.
Cal takes a drink of his beer as he slaps me on the back roughly and I groan at his next words. “You think I’m going to take it easy on you just because you’ve got the hots for my sister? You’re in for a rude awakening, sup.”
“Ooohh, I knew it!”
I bring my head back down at the excited gasp. Violette braces her hands on the edge of the bar from the other side and her smile is wide. My eyes narrow. “Knew what?”
Violette’s smile widens. “That you’re sweet on Teddy.”
Scottie leans forward again to brace her elbows on the bar infront of her so she can look around Cal toward me. She winks, grinning, and I roll my eyes. “Oh, without a doubt. He’s got a crush on his best friends’ sister.”
I groan audibly, letting my chin sink forward until it almost touches my chest. Fuck. My. Life. “I do not have a crush on Cal’s sister.” It’s a blatant lie.
Violette taps her nail on the bar top in front of me, bringing my attention back to her. “No, sir. There’s no lying in this bar. House rules.”
From beneath my lowered brows, I glower at her without answering. The guys to either side of me aren’t going to let me live this down. Dammit to hell. I kill the rest of my beer and set the empty bottle down on the bar between us.
“She had her hands full with all three kids?—”
