I snort. “Whatever, Maggie.”
Ollie takes a sip of his soda and says nothing, his eyes meeting mine. I search his face for what he’s thinking, and I can’t tell. Which is hard, because we usually can have full conversations with just our eyes, and this time I don’t know where he’s at with his thoughts.
Jack barks out a laugh. “She’s not wrong.”
Owen beams like someone just handed him a puppy. “We kinda are. Ollie came and rescued me at my school the other day.”
“Does it have anything to do with what happened to your face?” Maggie asks.
“Yeah, he kinda helped me with that,” Owen says.
My heart does an Olympic-level backflip and lands straight into panic. Oh shit. I haven’t told them that story yet.
Ollie grins. “Of course I’m your family, bud.”
“We’re friends,” I say too fast. “He helps because he’s… helpful.”
Ollie gives me a weird look like, “Are you good?”
“Sure,” Violet teases, leaning her chin in her hand. “And when the wedding invitations go out, we’ll all act surprised.”
Ollie smiles widely, saying nothing. I shoot him a look likeyou’re leaving me hanging over here.
Owen squints as if he’s picturing said wedding. “At least there’d be cake.”
“I could make the cake,” Cami says with a smirk.
I shake my head and give her a look that says, “Stop encouraging this.”
“We’re just doing life,” Ollie says, trying to sound casual,but his voice does this little crack at the end that makes me swallow hard. “We’re all here for each other.”
Doing life is what we’re doing. And despite how hard things have been lately, life does feel pretty damn good with Ollie. I don’t know what I’d do without him, and I don’t want to think about that.
Owen tells them what happened with Coach Toddy and how Ollie is his team’s new coach. Cami scowls in my direction, shaking her head. I knew she’d be pissed. We all are. It’s not right, and it’s so disappointing how they let Owen down. I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do about Toddy.
She pats my arm, as if in tune with my thoughts. “We’ll plot Toddy’s punishment later.”
I snort laugh because I can’t wait to see what we all come up with. Toddy has bullied so many people in town. He deserves whatever he has coming to him. I haven’t had time to deal with him because I’ve been packing up our house and trying to figure out more pressing things like where we’ll be living.
We finish dinner, and Mack and Owen head out to the barn to check on the horses. It’s one of Owen’s favorite things to do out here at Walker and Violet’s.
Walker, Jack, and Ollie head into the barn to see the sheep Walker just got. Cami, Violet, and I are sitting at the kitchen island.
Cami looks at me and says, “You know, I think it’s about time Jeremy Toddy gets what’s coming to him, don’t you?”
Violet nods. “Never liked the guy. He’s always rude and arrogant when he comes into The Black Dog.”
“He’s like the tiniest man. The size of a Polly Pocket. I can’t believe he thought he could put his hands on Owen and get away with it,” Cami says, shaking her head. “Now it’s time for Polly Pocket to pay.”
“I don’t disagree,” I chime in, feeling better that they all know now and I can vent about it.
“I don’t know what to do about him, yet,” she says, like she’s mulling over Toddy’s fate. “But this isn’t going unpunished. It’ll come to me.”
“Well, your brother did punch him in the mouth,” I add.
Cami shrugs as if that’s perfectly normal. “Not enough punishment.”
Maggie looks over at us and says, “So, what’s going on with you and Ollie? Things appear to be...heating up.”
