He goggled at her before joining in the fight.
It only wound down when Top made an appearance, asking about all the damn noise. But Top, of course, dodged the two balloons thrown at him. He looked like a thundercloud as he saw what had become of his pristine garden.
Then Sam grabbed his gun from Benji and took a knee, sighting in on Top. “Freeze, Marine, or this breath will be your last.”
“I’ve got grenades,” Rylan warned, holding a balloon in each hand as he stood behind his brother.
Adam chuckled. “Don’t worry, Top. We’ll clean it all up.”
“Damn right,” Top grumbled and held up his hands. “Well? What are the rest of you gonna do? Put up with this insurrection or take out the enemy while I’m distracting them?”
Xavier shot a balloon at Adam while Justine took a hit from Benji, not sure whose team she was supposed to be on.
Top went down in a blaze of water, while the teenagers and Xavier kept trying to pelt each other. Xavier paused at one point to share a grin with Justine.
The moment was so perfectly fun and joyous, she never wanted it to end.
Chaos reigned.
And Justine had never had a better time.
CHAPTER 15
Justine woke up Saturday morning confused. She lay in her bed as the phone buzzed and gradually recalled an amazing water fight last night, followed by a warm bath and frozen pizza. While eating, she’d taken out her special notebook and continued doodling ideas for logos for her brand new business, one in which she’d work regular hours and have only the best-paying and most pleasant clients on hand.
The phone stopped buzzing. Finally.
It started again.
With a groan, she turned to see her boss calling.
“No. I’m not doing this with you today, asshole.” She ignored her guilt in referring to her boss as such, at her core always so uncomfortable fighting against authority. But hell, she’d worked a sixty hour week and hadn’t seen anything positive for doing so. Frank’s attaboys had long past lost their luster.
She couldn’t believe his temerity when the phone rang again, only to find the call from her mother. Justine told herself not to but decided to answer it anyway. She’d left her last conversation with her mother on a good note. Everyone had their jobs to do for the wedding, and since Justine had already done most of her part by designing the wedding invitations and website, shehad little more to do than help the others with small things. Something she didn’t mind since it kept her in her parents’ and Mallory’s good graces.
She answered, “Hi, Mom.” She still felt relaxed from her fun evening. Clad in her favorite sleepshirt and tucked under her warm blankets—much needed thanks to Seattle’s cool evenings—she heard birds chirping from outside and saw the sun filtering through the window, shining light onto the foot of her bed.
The world seemed right, her happiness still a fuzzy remnant making waking up less of a chore and more of a good start to two blessed days off.
“Oh, Justine. I’m so glad I caught you.”
“What time is it?”
“Um, nine o’clock. Sorry, nine-fifteen.”
“In the morning?”
“Very funny, dear.” Her mother sighed. “I’ve been waiting on you forever, and I just had to make the commitment. I’ve added Cal as your plus-one for the wedding. We needed even numbers, you know. Now you?—”
“You can’t,” Justine blurted, so opposed to being made to do something she didn’t want to—at the ripe age of twenty-nine, for God’s sake.
“Honey, we’ve told you over and over again you need someone to accompany you. We’re all coupled up, and it would be odd if you weren’t. Now, if you’d rather go with Nick, we can fit him in instead. The girls and I thought you seemed more comfortable with Cal, but if?—”
“I already have a date.” She couldn’t stop the lie from tumbling from her mouth.
“Oh?”
Too late to take it back now. “Yes. We met and hit it off, but I was waiting to make sure he had the date free before letting you know.”
