“I love to bake.”
“Lemon bars?”
“Then there will be lemon bars. And thanks for the dinner invitation.”
Jessie was halfway back to her truck when she realized that she had just been invited to Austin Wilder’s house for dinner.
Likely, Millie was going rogue with the invitation. Because she could not imagine that Austin would be any too pleased about it. Hell, come to that, Flynn probably wouldn’t be too pleased either.
Jessie felt amused down to her socks.
When Flynn showed up at his brother’s house for dinner with a cooler full of elk steak, he was greeted with a phrase so insane, he was convinced that he had misheard it:Jessie ought to be here in about a half hour.
“Excuse me?”
His sister-in-law grinned at him. “She didn’t tell you? She stopped by the library and talked to me about the two of you doing a booth there tomorrow.”
“I hadn’t received those details.”
“I invited her to come to dinner, because honestly, I thought we should all have a unified story. Also, I want to make sure that I support her mission in any way I can.”
“Still feeling frosty toward Danielle?” Austin asked, from his seat on the couch where he was holding Emma.
“Yeah. I do. I don’t mourn the loss of Michael, don’t get me wrong, but I still think she’s an awful person. And I’m not over the things she said about you when we started dating.”
“Dating,” Austin said. “Is that how we are reframing that?”
Millie went scarlet. “Eventually we dated. Well, eventually we got married.”
“We never did anything half so civilized as date, Millie Mouse.”
Millie made atsking sound and moved to the couch to steal the baby.
“I’ll tell you what, Jessie Jane is smart,” Flynn said. “She managed to find a family with two built-in allies.”
“She did,” Millie said, holding Emma on her hip. “I’m more than willing to support a change in regime.”
“But Jessie Hancock?” Austin said. “I’m really not sure how I feel about this.”
“Why?” Cassidy asked, leaning in the doorway, holding a bag of chips. “I mean, if you don’t like Danielle anyway …”
“Better the devil you know?”
“I’d rather have the devil I don’t know,” Cassidy said. “It’s more interesting.”
“There you go. From the mouths of babes,” said Flynn. “Also, it makes a fucking difference to me, Austin.”
Austin looked sheepish. “Sorry. The thing is, I don’t think of them as your family. We’re your family.”
“Damn straight,” Cassidy said, talking around a mouthful ofcrumbs while she wiped her hand on her jeans. “And they don’t deserve any of the wealth they have. I’m all for this targeted takedown, even if it does involve the Hancocks. But none of us have ever had quite the beef against them that you have, Austin. You’re the one who needs to relax.”
The front door opened, and Flynn’s stomach clenched, until his brother Carson and his wife Perry walked in. Of course it was Carson and Perry. Not even Jessie was feral enough to walk in without knocking.
“Oh, am I missing the Flynn/Jessie Jane gossip?” Perry asked, looking genuinely upset that she might have.
“There’s no gossip. Anyway, Jessie is coming soon.”
“Really,” Perry said. “I am living for this.”
