“Thanks, Ember. I really appreciate your help.”
“You saved my daughter and my sister from an unspeakable situation. You can have all the unplanned cookouts you want.”
“I’ll try to keep them to a minimum,” I promised.
“Mmm-hmm,” she said as if she didn’t believe me. “All right, I’m going to place the order and send out the text. I’ll see you in the morning.”
By the time I got home, I’d received the group text from Ember, as well as the text with the pickup information. I groaned when I saw it was scheduled for eight o’clock, but I couldn’t complain. If I had to get up early on a Saturday to see Presley, I’d happily do it.
7
PRESLEY
After spending most of the morning in a state of anxiety while changing clothes more times than I cared to admit, I arrived at the clubhouse a few minutes after two. Just like Ink said, I gave my name to a young man at the gate, and he buzzed me through. Once I parked, I took a deep breath and sent a text to Ink.
Assuming it would take him a few minutes to get the text and make his way to the front, I took my time gathering my things and checking my appearance in the rearview mirror, which is why I flinched and let out a small yelp when he tapped on my window.
He held his hands out while he tried to hide his amusement. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“I should’ve been paying attention,” I said as I opened my door and got out of my car.
Ink immediately took the large container from my hands. “What’s in here?”
“Cookies. I wasn’t sure how many to bring, but I didn’t want to show up empty-handed.”
“You didn’t have to bring anything, but you’re definitely going to make some friends with these,” he said.
He led me into the clubhouse and over to a table where Ember was putting out bowls of chips and other snacks. “Got room for cookies?” he asked.
Ember gasped dramatically. “Oh, thank you! I forgot to order sweets, and we didn’t have a lot here to choose from.”
Ink pointed at me. “The credit goes to her.”
“Thank you, Presley. I’m glad you could make it. Is Ariel here?” she asked.
“No, she’s spending the weekend with my parents.”
“Well, for future reference, she’s welcome at any of our cookouts. I can promise those are always family-friendly events.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I’m sure she’ll be disappointed she missed out on the fun.”
“If you don’t need any help, I’m going to introduce Presley to some of the members she hasn’t met,” Ink said.
“I’ve got plenty of help around here,” Ember said and waved her hand at the numerous people standing around talking. Then she looked directly at me. “Don’t worry about remembering the guys’ names. It’s on their chest,” she said and pointed to a patch on Ink’s chest.
“Thank you,” I said. I’d been trying not to acknowledge the large number of people in the room.
“It’ll be fine,” Ink said. “No one expects you to remember everyone’s names the first day.”
“The first day? You say that like there’ll be a second.”What was I doing?Trying to flirt was what I was doing, and I sucked at it.
“There will be,” he grinned.
We were aboutto start a game of pool with Dice and Daphne when my cell phone rang. I smiled when I saw Ariel’s name on the screen. “Excuse me just a moment,” I said before answering her call.
“Mom.” The sound of her shaky voice had me instantly on alert.
“What’s wrong?”
