Ivy waddles in behind them, pregnant and glowing and terrifyingly energetic. Pickle, the French bulldog, is under her arm, snorting judgment.
“Boone!” Ivy calls. “Where’s my girl?”
“She’s out for the morning, busy in town,” I answer. “And she doesn’t know.”
Ivy’s grin turns feral. “Perfect.”
Olivia shows up with Jesse and the other firefighters, and the moment Jesse steps onto the property, he starts bossing people around as if it’s a fire scene.
“Okay, listen up! Lights go there. Food goes there. No one trips over a cord and dies, because I’m off duty and I will not do CPR at a party.”
Leo and Karl roll their eyes and keep hauling things. Olivia hugs Sadie, then hugs me, then gives me a look that says she understands more than I’m comfortable with.
“You did good,” she murmurs.
I grunt. “We’ll see.”
Sloane arrives last with Wild Reverie, and suddenly, the ranch gets louder. Not in a bad way. In acelebrity band just showed up in your yardway.
Roman claps me on the shoulder. “Boone. Man. This is solid.”
Creed nods once respectfully, and Ezra gives me a small, quiet wave, saving his energy for the stage.
Silas goes straight to Roman. “You brought guitars.”
Roman grins. “We brought everything.”
I glance toward the back of the truck where they’ve unloaded sound equipment, and my stomach drops a little.
“What’s ‘everything’?” I ask.
Sloane’s smile is too bright. “A short set. Just a few songs. Nothing crazy. I did tell you I had a good idea, and when you didn’t respond, I took it as a yes.”
I roll my eyes. I have too much to do to argue this.
Tables get covered. Ivy sets up a dessert station as a military operation. Olivia arranges flowers. Sloane strings lanterns. Caleb checks cords and stability as if someone might die if a centerpiece falls over.
Silas tries to hang a banner Sadie made that says:
WELCOME DELA…NE
(with a sticker over the missing Y)
I stare at it.
“Sadie,” I say slowly. “Why is there a sticker?”
She grins. “Because I ran out of space.”
Silas slaps a hand to his chest. “It’s art.”
“It’s crooked,” Caleb points out.
“It’s expressive,” Silas counters.
I let them fight and go check the perimeter, because that’s what I do when I’m nervous.
Then Silas runs up to me, eyes wide.
