Hamish and Meadow McAllister were the resident hippies in Lyntacky. With four kids, one of whom was Blue Jay, they lived their lives exactly as they wanted.
“Those veggie burgers were good, though, bud. Admit it,” Jay said, watching the couple move like they were sky dancers you sometimes saw at events.
“They look like those inflatable things,” Dan said, his thoughts mirroring Jay’s, as they often did.
“Sky-dancers or tube men, I believe they are called.”
Dan pointed his beer bottle at Jay. “And that’s why you are the genius and I’m not.”
“Right, because that name makes me a genius and not that I actually retain what I listen to or read.”
“What is 2,345 + 3987 - 65 - 6,267 ÷ 9?” Ryder asked.
“5570. Plus a lot of 6s,” Jay answered.
“And I have made my point,” Dan said.
“I could be lying,” Jay said.
“No way we can check without a calculator either,” Ryder said.
“You know there is one on your phone, right?”
The Duke brothers looked at Jay with surprise, but he knew better. These guys were smart and savvy, and they were messing with him.
“Whatever, losers,” he muttered.
“He and Sadie get into it again?” Dan asked, nodding to Leo, the youngest of the next generation of Dukes.
“He wants more cake, and his mom won’t let him,” Ryder said, rocking the boy from side to side.
Dukes were naturals when it came to parenting because they were still surrounded by the same role models who had raised them right.
Jay hadn’t understood that until he’d met them.
“What a terrible mother,” Dan drawled.
“And then some,” Ryder said with a smile.
He was one of the middle Dukes and the most laid-back of the bunch.
“Blue!” Meadow McAllister cried. She then ran away from her life partner, as she preferred to call Hamish, arms outstretched.
Jay turned fast and saw her. Blue Jay McAllister. The shock rocked him backward, and he fell.
“I told you not to let him drink too many of those. He’s a lightweight,” Ryder said as Jay rolled sideways and then regained his feet.
“Blue’s back,” Dan said, smiling. “Love that girl. Are you all good there, Jay Jay?”
“Peachy,” he said, dropping back into his now righted seat.
People were coming from all directions—mainly women screaming their excitement.
Birdie handed her daughter, Sadie, to Sawyer and hugged her sister.
Jay couldn’t see much of Blue Jay from his position, but he noticed enough to know she was still the hot woman he’d slept with that night in New York.
Of course she is, you idiot. It’s only been three months.
