Meg laughed. "He is quite attractive, isn't he? He has that whole dangerous-yet-protective FBI aura going on."
Garrett was struggling to maintain a straight face, and Hunter was quietly dying of unrequited love beside me.
"I think I'll take my hot blond guy though," Josie said, winking at me.
Meg leveled her gaze at Hunter. "I suppose blonds do have more fun."
65
Josie
Iwondered what was going on with Meg and Hunter. She seemed a lot more relaxed with a glass of wine in her at dinner. I might have to drag her out to a bar one night and make her spill. I loved a good story. From the way Garrett was looking between the two of them, he must have thought there was something there too. If he was going to push those two together, or back together, whatever the case may be, I wanted in.
But first I needed to fix my own love life.
"I thought Mace said he forgave you," Willow said as we bounced along in the school bus. One of Mace's brothers had commandeered my car, and Remy was nice enough to chauffeur.
"He did, but he's such a sweetheart, and I still haven't forgiven myself. Hopeful this will fully redeem me. I also don't want his brothers to think badly of me."
"I thought you were going to be doing some work with Weston and Blade though, right?" Willow asked. "So they can't think you're that bad."
"I need to do this for me," I reiterated.
"And me," Adrian said, piping up from a seat behind us.
"Did they recover the money?" Willow asked.
"Apparently Anke's trying to include the return of the money in a plea deal," I explained.
"She always has a scheme going," Willow said, shaking her head.
"It doesn't matter. My brothers think I'm dumb. I should have known better," Adrian said dejectedly. "If Josie needs to redeem herself by convincing all of Ida's crazy old friends to sell their property, then I want some of that goodwill to run my way."
"No promises," I warned. Adrian had snagged my presentation off the PharmaTech servers. I was feeling confident when we walked into the bingo hall.
"You're here!" Ida exclaimed, hugging me. "Art brought cider, and I brought snacks and wine. They're nice and marinated for you."
"I hope not too much. I need them to actually remember the presentation," I joked.
"Mrs. Ida." Remy greeted the elderly woman with a big hug then headed off to fill up a plate with cheese and fruit.
"Now there's a man!" Ida said.
"What about Bert?"
"Oh, lassie, I'm just looking. He's too young for me. Couldn't keep up! Speak of keeping up"—her voice went into a stage whisper—"I saw the car chase on TV. So much drama for Harrogate! It was on the national news and everything."
"I hope it wasn't too salacious," I said with a grimace. "There is such a thing as bad publicity."
"Can we get this show on the road?" complained a tiny older woman wearing a neat suit.
"Judge Edna, also known as my sister," Ida said, rolling her eyes. "We're waiting on the lieutenant mayor."
"I'm here," Meg said. She shook my hand. "As much as I like fucking with Hunter, we should try and come to a resolution."
Ida elbowed me as Meg went off to shake hands with the judge and other attendees. "Fucking Hunter, eh?"
"You have a filthy mind," I told her and walked to the front of the room to start the presentation. There was one word on the screen.
