Chapter Thirty-Seven Brunch Plans
Quinn woke up to an empty bed, feeling like her mouth was full of cotton balls. She groaned and dragged herself up to use the bathroom and rinse her mouth out. Then went down to the kitchen, where she immediately put the kettle on for her and Rilla and prepped the coffee machine for the boys. Looking around, she noticed Tenn had cleaned up the mess from last night, but he was nowhere to be found. Figuring he must be working out, she pulled out the stuff for breakfast and got started with blueberry scones. When they were in the oven, she began making apple pie pancakes with vanilla maple syrup while she waited for everyone else to wake up.
She hummed to herself as she cooked, feeling happier than she had in a very long time. She loved that Tenn was fitting in so well with her friends, although she wasn’t really surprised. If someone got along with both her and Quill, they generally got along with Rilla and Bishop as well. She was extremely happy Quill was planning to try to work things out with Chrissy. She only had to get through another week with Joel and then she would be free of him and free to be with Tenn. And just Tenn in general. He made her feel wanted and beautiful and she hoped she made him feel the same.
Rilla and Bishop came down just as she was taking the scones out of the oven, and she saw them exchange an amused look to find her humming while she cooked. “Morning Q.” Bishop kissed her cheek and grabbed a scone as he passed, tossing it back and forth between his hands. “Ow! Hot, hot, hot!”
“Literally just came out of the oven, Bish.” Quinn rolled her eyes as he took a bite and immediately started huffing air in and out rapidly to cool his tongue. Rilla chuckled as she made herself some tea, then handed Bishop a glass of cold water to soothe his tongue.
“That's when they're best.” He gasped, his eyes watering a little as he drank half of the water in a hurried gulp, and then he got an impish look on his face as he sat down. “Didn't hear any noise last night; don't tell me he's a dud in the sack.”
Quinn laughed, feeling her cheeks warm up. “I don't know the answer to that yet. He was a gentleman 'cause I was drunk, you guys were across the hall, and he was tipsy, and I passed out almost immediately after he told me that.”
“He's a good one.” Rilla nodded her approval with a huge smile, turned on the coffee machine and began washing Quinn's dirty dishes. “Where is he and your brother anyway? They were the least intoxicated; they can’t be that hung over.”
“No idea; I’m assuming Quill is still sleeping, and Tenn might be working out; he was already up and gone when I woke up.” Quinn flipped a pancake expertly, tossing it using the pan with practised ease.
“I'll go get them.” Bishop jumped up with a grin and disappeared down the stairs, only to come up a few minutes later with a frown. “They're gone.”
“What?” Quinn looked up in surprise.
“They aren't downstairs.” Bishop went to look out the living room window. “Quill's car is gone.” He called.
“Maybe they went to get coffee,” Rilla suggested as Bishop came back, looking sour.
“Maybe.” Quinn glanced at the clock. “They've been gone for over an hour. Maybe they went to the gym?”
“Tenn practically has a full gym in his basement; why would they go somewhere else?” Bishop grumbled, and Quinn laughed at his expression.
“Aw, are we feeling left out?” She teased, watching him sit at the table with his arms folded.
“Yes,” Bishop said immediately, making both Quinn and Rilla laugh.
“You still have us, Lovebug.” Rilla went and hugged her husband.
“If Tenn is gonna steal Quill, I'm keeping Quinn. It's only fair.” Bishop huffed, leaning into Rilla’s hug.
“Oh, come on, no one can steal Quill from you.” Quinn tossed him another scone. “You've been practically attached at the hip since you were eighteen.”
Bishop grunted and caught the scone, snatching it from the air before it hit Rilla in the head. “I like Tenn; he's a good guy and fits in much better with us than Joel ever did, plus he's pretty obsessed with you, which I get and approve of. If you won't be with me and Rilla, Tenn is an acceptable substitute.”
“I'm glad he meets your impossibly high standards.” Quinn met Rilla's eyes, and they both shook their heads while giggling.
“So, what's Chrissy like? Is she going to fit in?” Rilla changed the subject, and Bishop looked up curiously from the scone he was picking apart and eating.
Quinn flipped another pancake as she thought about Rilla’s question. “She seems very nice. I didn't have enough time to have a personal conversation with her though; it was mostly me convincing her that she wasn't just the girl he fucks on weekends.”
“It's been almost two years, and she still thinks that?” Rilla raised her eyebrows. “Who puts that much time into something and thinks she's just a convenient fuck?”
“Someone who doesn't think that much of herself,” Quinn explained, remembering Chrissy's nervous demeanour. “She said he wasn't just the guy she fucks on weekends, but she couldn't offer him anymore because of her daughter. I know Quill only met the kid a few times, but the fact that it didn't send him running says a lot.”
“So does the fact that he was willing to give her a second chance and wasn't too mad at you for poking your nose in.” Bishop pointed out. “We'll be meeting her in the next few months, guaranteed.”
“I didn't poke my nose in on purpose!” Quinn protested. “She showed up at my house!”
“Yeah, and you let your curiosity get the better of you and invited her in for tea, knowing Quill wouldn't like it,” Rilla smirked and got Bishop a cup of coffee, bringing it over and sitting next to him with her tea.
“I wanted to know if Quill was being his usual logical self and not seeing something that was practically slapping him in the face, and that's what was happening, so I fixed it.” She slid the last of the pancakes off the pan and shut down the stove. “I left my phone upstairs; can one of you text and let them know breakfast is ready, please?”
“I'll text Tenn. If they're in Quill's car, Quill is driving.” Bishop pulled his phone from his pocket just as they heard the front door open. “Perfect timing.”
“See?” Quill said as they walked into the kitchen. “Just in time for breakfast.”
“Where did you guys go?” Quinn smiled as Tenn came over to hug and kiss her before grabbing plates from the cupboard.
“I was showing Tenn some of the houses I have available for rent. I'm buying this one.” Quill explained as he grabbed a plate and held it out for Quinn to put pancakes on.
“Why are you selling your house?” Rilla looked around. “It's gorgeous.” Quinn had to agree; Tenn’s house was beautiful, and it was obvious he, and possibly Viki, had put a lot of effort into making it a home. She put a couple of pancakes on Quill's plate and brought the plate with the stack and the vanilla maple syrup over to the table so everyone could help themselves.
“I want Viki out as soon as possible,” Tenn explained as he sat down next to Quinn. “Quill and I were talking; I'm going to rent one of his houses; he's going to buy this place and take possession thirty days from next Friday. I'll be moving to the new place immediately after we serve them. I have to give her thirty days' notice to move out, and I'm hoping to force her to leave early when all the furniture is gone.”
“I have to give Joel thirty days' notice as well, so Quinn will be staying with me until he moves out.” Quill smiled at Quinn. “And I'll be installing security cameras inside the house next Saturday, so he can't damage anything between then and his last day there.”
“You can stay with us as well.” Rilla leaned over and hugged her. “Do you have to give thirty days' notice though? Can't you just kick them out?”
“In Joel's case, no.” Quill shook his head. “He signed the rental agreement, which means he's a tenant and falls under tenancy laws.”
“Viki will refuse to leave; this is her residence, and I can't legally kick her out without notice. I'm giving her thirty days, and then when Quill takes over, he'll change the locks. If she does any damage to the house in the meantime, we'll sue.” Tenn elaborated as he started to eat.
“Plus, Tenn has security cameras she's aware of, and he's also going to install hidden cameras that won't record audio, so she doesn't need to know about them.” Quill grinned. “We've got it all figured out.
It was quiet for a minute as everyone tried the pancakes and after a few minutes, Tenn looked at Quinn and swallowed slowly. “I may have just found a new favourite food.”
Bishop nodded enthusiastically. “Man, when I tell you my favourite foods change every time Quinn cooks for me.” He sighed happily as he cut his pancake. “I’m not exaggerating in the slightest.”
Rilla playfully shoved his shoulder. “Excuse me?” Quinn could hear the teasing tone in her voice and chuckled. Rilla was not a great cook.
“Gorgeous, you know I love you, and you make bomb macaroni and cheese, but I’ve also seen you burn water.” Bishop leaned over and kissed her cheek as the others laughed. Tenn raised his glass to her.
“I’m right there with you, Rilla.”
----------
“Alright, so for the party on Friday, who are we inviting?” Tenn asked as they all finished eating. Quinn pulled out her phone and pulled up the Notes app to start making a list.
“Obviously Rilla, Bishop, and Quill.”
“My friend Ron, He's the PI. My parents, James and Gigi, will come. They don't understand my job exactly, but they're very supportive.” Tenn added. “Del and his wife, Trisha, Kota and her partner Greg, and Ginny and her husband, Kirk. I think Kota and Greg will come; especially if Mom and Dad do, I have no idea if Ginny and Kirk will make the trip from Washington, but she'll be pissed if she doesn't get an invite.”
“Queenie and Killian.” Quill smiled. “Just because I want to see her face when she realises Joel is a cheater too.”
“She might divorce Killian and hook up with Joel.” Quinn muttered as she added their names to the list.
“Nah, he can't afford her lifestyle; she just likes that he flirts and gives her attention.” Quill reassured her. “Do you want to invite Dad?”
“If I thought he would show up without Mom, I’d be happy to invite him.” Quinn frowned. On one hand she kind of did want to invite him so he would see her husband wasn’t as great as he thought, on the other, she knew he’d bring their mother and she would blame Quinn and her weight for Joel cheating. “But since we all know he’s completely under her thumb, he can find out from Queenie.”
“Dad will love to watch Joel go down though.” Bishop said gently. “So, make sure you invite him and Mom.” Quinn nodded and typed into the phone.
“Annie and Tim Nyland. Viki's best friend and her husband, who is apparently cheating on her and addicted to coke.” Tenn suggested. “Although to be honest, I’m not sure they’re still friends. I haven’t actually seen her in months.”
Rilla's eyes widened. “Oh! That reminds me! We had the white powder you found in Viki's purse tested. Bishop reached out to one of BPD’s finest, who gets a new tattoo every three months, and asked if he could test some potential cocaine we’d found.”
“Yeah, that was a fun conversation,” Bishop grumbled. “Convincing him that we’d actually found it.”
“Anyway,” Rilla put her hand on Bishop’s knee and patted it gently. “He came over with a test kit; I explained in a little more detail why I had it; he tested it, and it had no reaction at all, so he tasted it and said it was cornstarch. I don't know if she got ripped off or if she planned to plant it in Quinn's bag so Joel would think she was using it again, but yeah, it wasn’t cocaine.”
Tenn burst into laughter. “She got ripped off. I confronted her the next morning, and she confessed to holding on to it for Annie, who found it in her husband's pocket. If it was just cornstarch, she would have denied it being coke and told me to get it tested.” Rilla and Bishop started laughing, too, but Quinn and Quill looked at them in confusion.
“What are you guys talking about?” Quinn asked. “What coke?” Tenn wiped his eyes, apologized, and explained what happened at bowling. “Wow. She is something else.” She didn’t know what else to say. She didn’t even know how to feel. She glanced at Quill for some kind of cue and was relieved to see he was pissed for her.
“Something else doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Quill snapped angrily. “She could have gotten you arrested or worse.” He glared at the other three. “What if it was cocaine? What if Quinn got pulled over, and they found it? She would have been arrested, lost her licence, lost her job, and either would have had to pay a huge fine or spend a year in prison! It doesn’t matter that it turned out to be cornstarch; Viki thought it was real, and she was willing to give someone she thought was a coke addict her drug of choice to make her relapse! She’s fucking psychotic!” He stood up and left the room; a few seconds later, they all winced as the front door slammed shut.
“He’s right,” Rilla said, looking appropriately chastised and horrified about what Quill had pointed out. I’m so sorry, Quinn, we really mishandled that.” Bishop stood up and squeezed Quinn’s shoulder as he passed.
“I’ll talk to him.”
Tenn cleared his throat, remorse all over his face. “I’m really sorry too.” He reached for Quinn’s hand. “I think we just didn’t know what to do in the moment.”
Quinn shrugged. “I get why Quill’s upset. If it was real cocaine and she had planted it on me, it had a real potential to destroy my life, and the fact that it turned out to be cornstarch doesn’t really take away from the fact that she thought it was cocaine and she had no thought for the consequences I would have faced as long as she got what she wanted.”
She gave them a small smile. “But I get your side too. You guys didn’t want my night to be ruined and you stopped her from whatever it was she had planned. I’m not a cocaine addict, and she didn’t actually plant it on me when she realized Joel lied. Quill is upset because you never brought it to his attention so he could protect me.”
“Yeah, we really messed up,” Rilla admitted with a sigh, and Tenn nodded.
“Did you though?” Quinn leaned back and stretched. “Can you imagine the hell Quill would have raised if it was brought to his attention that night? He would have thrown her and Joel through a window and gotten himself arrested.”
“This is also true.” Rilla nodded and turned to Tenn. “You should have seen him when Joel told him why Quinn was in the hospital. It took two hospital security guards and Bishop to pull him off Joel. I didn’t know Quill had it in him.”
“He beat him up in the hospital?” Tenn raised his eyebrow in surprise.
Rilla nodded. “Yeah, in the hallway outside Quinn’s room. That’s why he was arrested and spent the night in jail. B.R. and Bishop pulled a lot of strings and called in a few favours to get him released as fast as possible.”
Seeing the confusion on Tenn's face, Quinn smiled and elaborated. “You aren't from Boston, so you wouldn't know, but the Deerings have a very long history in law enforcement here. Bishop’s uncle is a judge, his grandfather was chief of police for ten years, his aunt is a forensic psychologist, and he has several cousins who are lawyers or police officers. It goes so far back that one of his ancestors was a judge in the Salem witch trials.”
“But we don't talk about him.” Rilla chuckled as she stood up and started picking up their dishes. “Anyway, Quill ended up only spending a night in jail. Joel refused to press charges, and he agreed to do some pro bono renovations at the hospital so they wouldn't ban him from building.”
“I knew Quill beat the shit out of Joel, but I didn’t realize it happened at the hospital.” Tenn leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “That’s crazy.”
“Yeah…” Rilla smiled and leaned down to kiss Quinn’s cheek as she passed. “He’s a little overprotective of his lil’ sister.”
Quinn rolled her eyes. “So, yeah, I wouldn’t worry too much about his reaction. Bishop will talk him down. Who else are we inviting?”
“Viki's mom, Frannie Yates.” Tenn smiled, looking relieved and amused by their exchange. “I'm sure she'll be wildly disappointed in her daughter. What about Joel's parents?”
“Deacon and Gladys Hudson,” Quinn added them with a smile. “And his older brother, Billy.”
“Wait.” Rilla started to giggle. “They named their sons Billy and Joel? Like Billy Joel?”
“They're huge fans of his music.” Quinn grinned as Bishop and Quill came back in, Quill still looking vaguely annoyed but much calmer. “Do you want to invite Chrissy, Quill?”
“Yeah, why not? She could probably use a night out full of drama.” He dropped into his seat with a shrug.
“Anyone else?” Quinn added Chrissy to the list.
“Deedee.” Tenn reminded her. “That brings the total to twenty-five, and it's just supposed to be a small gathering of our close friends and family to celebrate the lecture series.”
“True.” Quinn nodded. “We have to put together a slide show of all the pictures Ron got of them together.”
“I scanned them and saved them to my online storage,” Tenn said as he stood up and stretched. “Quinn has access to them; it's a shared folder. Breakfast was incredible, thank you.” Quinn turned her cheek up so he could kiss it with a grin.
“You’re very welcome.”
“Bring me a laptop.” Rilla cracked her knuckles. “And let me and Q get to work. You boys go amuse yourselves for a little while.”
Tenn, Quill, and Bishop looked at each other. “We could set up in the basement and introduce Tenn to DragonQuest,” Quill suggested as Quinn got up and went to get her laptop.
“After you've cleaned the kitchen, of course.” She called over her shoulder.