“Same, man. How is big city life treating you?”
“Mostly good.”
He arches a brow in silent question.
“This isn’t the time or place.”
“Got it. What can I get you two to drink?”
“White wine for Shandra, and I’ll take a beer.” We’re staying at Kai and Abby’s place tonight, so I plan to leave my car here and retrieve it in the morning before we travel back to the city.
“Coming right up.” He walks off just as someone from the catering staff walks toward Athena.
“Excuse me for a sec,” Athena says, shooting us an apologetic look.
“No worries, Thena. We need to talk to the birthday girl anyway,” my wife says.
Shandra leads me over to the patio area where most of the women are sitting on couches while the men stand around behind them drinking beer and talking. Olivia is in her element with Jane and Talia on either side of her, Sylvia and their two best friends on another couch, and Abby, Demi, and the rest of the girls spread out among the others.
“Happy birthday, Olivia.” Shandra leans down to kiss her. “This is for you.” She hands her the wrapped frame, glancing nervously over her shoulder at me.
Shandra adores Olivia, and she wanted to give her something special. It was really hard trying to find something appropriate, but we found an old photograph of the original Manning property dating back to 1860 during a search of the property archives, and we had it restored by a leading expert. Shandra checked with Abby first to see what she thought of the idea because Olivia has a checkered history with the old house. Abby thought it was a great idea and didn’t think her mother would have any reservations because it’s a part of her history and one she is keen not to forget even if all her memories of living there aren’t pleasant.
“You didn’t have to get me anything, sweetie.” Olivia rises to her feet. “Having you both here is gift enough.” She leans in and hugs me. “How’s my boy doing?”
Only Olivia Manning could call my forty-five-year-old ass aboy.
“I’m good, Mom. Happy birthday. You look beautiful.”
“Always the charmer, Maverick.” She pinches my cheeks. “When are you going to give me some grandbabies, hmm?”
“Mom!” Abby shrieks, jumping to her feet. “Please don’t start. You need to respect Rick and Shandra’s wishes.”
“You can’t help a mother for trying.” She shrugs and smiles.
“It’s your prerogative,” I tease, not in any way mad or upset. We’re well used to nosy questions about why we don’t have kids. We just say it was a choice we both agreed on and leave it at that. I don’t discuss my private business with strangers, and our friends know and respect our decision. It’s not like we don’t love kids or adore our nieces and nephews because we do. If we were around more, we’d happily sign up for babysitting duty as long as we can hand them back at the end of the night.
“Sorry about her,” Abby says, pulling Shandra aside. “I’m beginning to worry she has Alzheimer’s or dementia.”
“Not a chance.” Kai appears with a wide smile and a tray of drinks. “She’s just being a busybody.”
“It couldn’t possibly be because she doesn’t have enough grandchildren,” Abby quips, waving her hands in the direction of all the kids around the place.
“Enough isn’t part of Olivia’s vocabulary,” Zayn says, coming up and thumping me in the arm. “Good to see you, big brother.”
“Likewise.” I pull him into a hug. “You talked to Roman lately?”
Zayn nods. “Spoke to him a couple days ago. He’s in South Africa doing some shoot. He tried to get out of it so he could fly in for the party, but he wasn’t able to.”
“Last time we talked, he said he was hoping to come back for Christmas.”
“As far as I know, that’s still the plan.”
“Good. We don’t see enough of him or Harley.” A splash of vibrant color catches my attention through the corner of my eye, and I glance over Zayn’s shoulders. My jaw trails the ground, and I rub at my eyes, sure I must be hallucinating. “Did Joaquin bring adate?”
“Yep. Shocker, right?” Zayn smirks before looking over his shoulder.
All of us are convinced Joaquin will be an eternal bachelor. All the girls have tried setting him up with different women over the years much to his consternation. It’s not like he’s incapable of finding his own dates even if our wives think he goes for the wrong women. He’s constantly got some woman on the go though he never brings them to meet the fam, so this is definitely an interesting development.
