CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Charley had barely made it through the restaurant door before Alex and Bailey descended on her like two highly trained investigators who had just caught the scent of fresh dating gossip. Jessica joined them, providing additional commentary when needed.
Alex shook her head as she took a sip of her drink. “I can’t believe that you and Pierce are dating.”
Charley grinned. “Me either.”
“Yeah, ‘special friend’ my ass,” Bailey joked, referring to the endearment that Charley had called Pierce when Sienna asked who he was.
Charley laughed. “I mean, we’ve only been on one date.”
“Actually, three. Three dates,” Jessica chimed in.
Charley whipped her head around towards her friend. “Where are you getting three?”
“Dinner at my house, your coffee date, and then your date, date on Saturday,” Jessica said, counting them off on her fingers.
“I don’t consider your house and the coffee meet-up actual dates.”
“They sound like a date,” Alex teased.
Charley rolled her eyes playfully. She knew she wasn’t going to win this debate.
“I still can’t believe how you guys met,” Bailey said, laughing.
Charley felt the heat creep into her cheeks. “It’s not like I planned it.”
Alex shook her head slowly, a grin spreading across her face. “That is the most ridiculously romantic thing I’ve ever heard.”
“It did not feel romantic at the time,” Charley muttered. “At the time, it felt embarrassing.”
Bailey waved that off. “Nope. Doesn’t matter. Stranded on the water and rescued by a hot SEAL? That’s romance novel material.”
“That’s what I told her!” Jessica teased.
Charley snorted. “You guys are ridiculous.”
Alex’s smile softened as she reached for her drink. “For what it’s worth, Charley, you got lucky. Pierce is a really good guy. Quiet sometimes, but solid, loyal, and protective.” She tipped her head. “The kind you want in your corner.”
Charley’s chest warmed at that, because she already knew it. She’d seen it for herself. Still, hearing Alex say it made something soft settle inside her.
Her gaze drifted again toward the table where Pierce was sitting.
At the moment, he had Ace and Alex’s baby girl cradled against his broad chest like he’d been born knowing exactly how to hold a baby, one big hand spanning almost the entire length of her tiny back while the other adjusted the little blanket tucked around her legs.
The sight of all that hard muscle and quiet strength wrapped around a sleepy infant should not have been as distracting as it was, but Lord, it really was.
She could never tire of looking at that.
She had remembered watching him at Ray and Jessica’s house during the cookout when he was holding someone’s baby.
There was just something unfair about a man looking that rugged while bouncing a baby with patient, careful hands. It did things to her—embarrassing things.
And then, because apparently her brain had chosen chaos tonight, her thoughts slid right back to their date. To the beach. To the way his voice had gone rough and quiet when he admitted he wanted kids of his own.
Oh boy. Nope. Not yet, Charley.
Way too soon to be standing here watching a man hold a baby and mentally assigning him to some imaginary future family photo.
Bailey’s grin turned sly. “Where did you just go?”
Charley snapped her eyes back to her. “Nowhere.”
Alex followed the direction of her earlier glance and smirked. “Mm-hmm.”
“I hate both of you.”
“No, you don’t,” Bailey said cheerfully. Then she nudged Charley with her elbow. “Heads up, you’re being watched like a hawk.”
Charley frowned. “What?”
Bailey tilted her head toward the table.
Charley looked over and nearly laughed.
Sienna was standing beside her chair with both little hands planted on her hips, staring straight at Charley with the kind of dramatic impatience only a child could pull off.
Her tiny face was set in a deeply offended expression, like she had personally been wronged by the amount of time the adults had wasted talking instead of giving her the attention she was clearly owed.
“Oh no,” Charley said, laughing. “I guess I'd better get over there before I get in trouble.”
Alex laughed. “Too late. Look at that face. You’re already in trouble.”
Bailey grinned. “That child has been waiting for her Aunt Charley time, and she is not impressed by your priorities.”
As if her little ears had heard their entire conversation, Sienna lifted one hand and made a tiny beckoning motion that somehow managed to look bossy.
Charley pressed a hand to her chest. “Wow. Okay. I’m being summoned.”
Alex laughed harder.
“Go,” Bailey said. “Before her horns start sprouting from her head.”
Still smiling, Charley pushed off the small table they were sitting at and headed back toward the table with Alex, Bailey, and Jessica beside her.
As soon as Sienna saw her moving, her whole face lit up, her earlier impatience vanishing in an instant.
About an hour later, Charley pushed her empty plate aside and sat back in her chair.
She watched from across the table as Sienna stuffed half a chicken tender into her mouth like somebody might try to snatch the rest off her plate. The little girl didn’t even slow down, just kept chewing with the fierce determination of someone on a mission.
She had so much food in her mouth that her little cheeks were puffed out. It made Charley laugh, and that was exactly what she needed after the long day.
With the grand opening finally behind her, she was happily content with the people around the table, especially the man sitting next to her.
However, the night was just getting started.
Charley should’ve known better than to ask Sienna a question in public because Sienna didn’t just answer the question.
She performed answers like full volume, full commitment, complete with sound effects and hand gestures that could probably qualify as an interpretive dance.
“Hey Sienna, how was your camping trip with your mom, dad, and your grandparents?”
Sienna’s head snapped toward her like she had been waiting her whole life for someone to ask. Long forgotten were those chicken tenders she had just been stuffing into her mouth moments ago.
Charley also didn’t miss how Irish’s hand froze with his fork halfway to his mouth, or the way Bailey’s eyes widened in immediate panic.
And just from the gleam in that little girl’s eyes, and her parents’ reactions, Charley knew she had basically just lit a fuse and handed a six-year-old the match.
Of course, the others at the table noticed as well. And judging from mom and dad’s reactions, Charley had a feeling that she should have ordered some popcorn before this discussion.
“IT WAS AWESOME!” Sienna announced so loudly that half the restaurant had turned to look at their table.
“Sienna, honey, inside voice,” Bailey said, with a look on her face as if she was pleading with her daughter not to say whatever it was she was about to.
“I am using my inside voice,” Sienna insisted, then immediately raised it another notch as she planted both of her hands on the table and leaned in. “The best part was when Grandma and Pop Pop took me out to get ice cream.”
“Oh, for fucks sake,” Irish mumbled, but Charley ignored him.
“You got to have ice cream?” Charley asked, and Sienna nodded.
“Yep. But wait until you hear what happened when we got back to the camper.”
Charley leaned in, acting as if she was on the edge of her seat.
“What happened?”
“When we got back to the camper, mommy was fighting a big bear!”
Charley, of course, could not resist. “Your mommy was fighting a big bear inside the camper?” she asked before taking a quick glance at Bailey, only to find that her face was as red as a stop sign.
Sienna nodded so hard that her pigtails were bouncing.
“Yes! And the camper was rocking like this.” She then grabbed the edge of the table and shook her whole upper body, making the silverware rattle.
“Like, WHOO—WHOO—WHOO! And mommy was screaming at the bear, and I think daddy was helping too, but I only heard him grunt a little.” She pinched her fingers close together to demonstrate a little.
Irish dropped his fork onto the plate with a clink and stared at the ceiling like he was trying to mentally request an emergency extraction.
Bailey’s eyes were squeezed shut, trying to use her napkin as a shield.
Ace and Ray’s shoulders were shaking. Both Alex and Jessica made a noise that sounded like a cough covering up a laugh. And Pierce had his hand over his mouth.
Charley, however, was enjoying this way too much. She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. “Then what happened?” Charley asked.
“I wanted to help mommy and daddy, and tried to run into the camper, but Grandma grabbed the back of my hoodie and pulled me away. She said that Mommy was brave and could handle the bear. Then Pop Pop said we should look at the stars, and Grandma told him that there were stars because it was cloudy. And Pop Pop said, ‘Then we’ll look at the clouds.’”
Seinna then leaned in closer, lowering her voice dramatically, but still loud enough for the few tables around them to hear every word spoken.
“But then, as Grandma and Pop Pop were taking me to look at the clouds, I heard Daddy yell to Mommy that she was squeezing it too hard and then Daddy screamed.”
Charley grinned as she rested her chin on her hand. “Your Daddy screamed? Was it like…ahh! Or more like…AHHHHHH?”
Bailey made a choking noise behind her napkin. “Charley, stop encouraging her.”
Charley widened her eyes in mock defense. “What? I’m not encouraging. I’m clarifying.”
Sienna nodded, as if pleased to have a supportive audience. Then she continued. “I heard Pop Pop say that he sounded like a dying seagull.”
Charley leaned forward, pressing her fingers against her lips to keep from laughing because everyone at that table, except for Sienna, knew exactly what was going on inside that camper. “What do you think Mommy was squeezing?”
Sienna rolled her eyes, as if Charley had asked the dumbest question. “The ketchup bottle. Grandma said that Mommy and the bear became friends, and she was trying to put ketchup on their hot dogs.”
Charley couldn’t take it any longer, and she lost it.
A laugh burst out of her before she could stop it.
Ray broke next, a bark of laughter escaping him.
Pierce was followed, his coughs turning into laughter.
Jessica laughed so hard that she snorted.
Alex sat there dabbing her eyes like she was at a funeral for Irish’s dignity.
Ace was full-on laughing and giving Irish a look that said he couldn’t wait to tell the team about this.
Both Irish and Bailey looked at Charley, giving her a look that said, “Paybacks are a bitch.” But then they too started laughing.
“So, yeah. Camping was fun,” Sienna said, sitting back and popping a fry into her mouth as if she had just delivered a TED Talk.
As Charley laughed, Pierced leaned in and whispered to her, “You’re enjoying this way too much.”
Charley grinned. “I mean, that’s half the fun of family, isn’t it? Loving them and giving them a hard time in equal measure.”