Chapter 22 #2
Now Jack and Decker are glaring at me again too.
“Would’ve said thanks before you said I was welcome,” I tell Lucky.
“Hey,” Margie says behind them. “Do you know I haven’t gone hiking at all since I got here? And I have to work tomorrow. Do you all hike, or just you, Jack?”
“We came to invite you to a party at Sabrina and Grey’s place,” Jack says. “Unless you’re…busy?”
“Don’t you ever get tired of people?” I ask him.
“Yes,” Decker answers first.
“Not really,” Lucky says.
Jack shrugs. “Sometimes, but not today.”
“You want to come?” Lucky says to Margot—Margie. “Only nice people. No parents. And Sabrina knows.”
“Grey—is he one of my bosses?” Margie asks. “Would that be weird?”
“He’ll be chasing Henry and trying to keep him from eating dog fur,” Jack says.
“Henry’s their kid. He’s almost two,” Lucky supplies.
“Also, we’ll give you a hundred bucks to say you’re the one who brought the cheese puffs to share,” Jack adds.
“Okay, that part’s funny,” Decker mutters.
Margie looks at me.
I shrug. “No idea. I’m missing something too.”
“When Sabrina and Grey were dating—” Lucky starts.
“Pretending they weren’t dating,” Jack interrupts.
“Yeah,” Lucky says. “When Sabrina and Grey were pretending they weren’t dating, they had this…incident…with powdered cheese.”
Even Decker’s grinning now. “So we bring cheese puffs or cheese popcorn every time we see them.”
“They were orange for days,” Lucky says.
“They weren’t, but that’s the story we tell everyone,” Jack corrects.
Margie smiles at all of them. “And you had nothing to do with it?”
“No, that was all—” Lucky stops himself and clears his throat. “That was someone who’s no longer with us.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“We’re not.” Jack grimaces. “He was a fuckmuffin. And he’s not dead. Just basically banned from town.”
“I see.” Margie clearly doesn’t see.
I don’t see fully either, but I’m going to assume it has something to do with the cousin they don’t talk about anymore.
“Will they be the only other people there? Sabrina and Grey?” Margie asks.
“And Zen. They’re cool. You’ll like them. Plus Theo and Laney will be there with their kids,” Jack says.
Lucky nods. “And Emma and Jonas too.”
Margie flinches.
“Don’t let the movie star thing intimidate you,” Jack says, completely reading the flinch wrong.
“He’s a nice guy. Mostly normal. Especially when Theo and Grey trick him into drinking the alcoholic kombucha.
Then he’s just funny. Dude’s a lightweight and always gets three in before he realizes he didn’t look at the can. ”
“We told him he has to be nice to you and not talk to you unless you approach him,” Lucky adds.
“And no pictures so no one can say you’re getting special treatment at work,” Jack adds.
Margie looks at me.
I shake my head no as subtly as I can.
The slight lift of her brows clearly replies no shit.
“C’mon, Margie, it’ll be fun,” Decker says.
Decker.
Mr. Grumpy wants his sister to come have fun now.
The fucker.
“Plus, if you come, we win a bet with Theo,” Jack adds.
“A normal kind of bet?” Margie asks.
The three of them grin at each other, then at her.
“Only way to see is if you come,” Lucky says.
Jack gets in on it too. “Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity here. Sabrina and Grey almost never host anything since they’re always running everything at Bee & Nugget.”
“And that means it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to peek inside Grey’s kombucha cellar,” Decker adds.
“Dude. You’ve been in the kombucha cellar way more than once in your lifetime,” Jack says to him.
“You can never spend too much time in the kombucha cellar,” Decker retorts.
“It’s a special kombucha cellar,” Lucky side-whispers—loudly—to Margie.
“Clearly,” she murmurs.
“Glad you’re in,” Lucky says. “Because they’re actually having a party just for you, which we weren’t going to tell you so you wouldn’t feel obligated to come.”
“Absolutely,” Jack agrees. “We don’t manipulate people.”
Decker shakes his head. “Nice going, dumbasses. Way to be subtle.”
“Subtle’s your thing,” Jack replies.
Lucky nods. “So much so that sometimes people don’t understand your books at all.”
“Plus, if we wanted to manipulate anyone, we’d mention the Hatch green chile bison burgers,” Jack adds.
Lucky nods emphatically. “No one can resist the Hatch green chile bison burgers.”
I look at Margie again.
Total poker face. “The fact remains that you’re asking me to go to dinner with my bosses.”
“Who aren’t involved in operations at all,” Jack responds instantly.
“They’ll be offended if you don’t come,” Lucky adds.
“They’re our best friends,” Decker says. “They want to meet our sister.”
Fuck.
She can’t say no to that.
Not when Decker’s owning her as a sister.
Sure enough, she’s now smiling brightly at the triplets with a smile that I’m positive is forced and fake. “Then I guess it’s settled. We’re going.”
Bad idea.
But if it’s a bad idea, it’s a good bad idea.
She gets to hang with her brothers.
I get a green chile bison burger.
And to watch her hang with her brothers.
And hopefully another opportunity or two to be her hero.