Chapter 8
ZINA
I held the beer bottle to my lips and took a nice, long draw.
What a day. Between the surprise that I was going to be in charge of the Munyon wedding and the lip-lock with Alex, I wanted to lose myself for a little while in a local beer and a platter of chicken nachos while watching the high school basketball team take on their rivals from Swynton on the local station.
“Go, Beavers!” Zeb shifted on the stool next to me.
I turned, my mouth full of the giant bite of cheese-covered chips I’d just eaten.
It was one thing to get my brother out of the house for our weekly dinner together, but I didn’t expect him to actually engage in anything beyond a stilted conversation.
The fact he was cheering for the home team put a smile on my face.
Before I could swallow and comment on his enthusiasm, my phone rang.
Lacey.
Hadn’t we had enough excitement for one day? I turned it facedown and grabbed another chip.
The phone rang again and Zeb pointed to it. “Aren’t you going to answer your phone?”
I groaned and held it to my ear. “I’m at dinner with Zeb. What’s up?”
“Can you swing by the house tomorrow morning? Kirby wants to talk to us about starting a transportation service. I think he found an old limo or something and wants in on the wedding business.”
I took a swig from my beer. “Did you not hear the doctor? You’re pregnant.”
“Yeah. But it’s not a death sentence. I’ve got months ahead of me before I have to start worrying about an actual baby.”
She might have finally lost her mind. I’d heard other friends talk about pregnancy brain. Evidently it was a real thing. “You’re pregnant. Incubating another human. There’s an alien being growing inside you.” I waited for some aha moment to wash over her.
Instead, she cleared her throat. “Doc said as long as I take it easy, I can still work from my bed. That means I have plenty of time to make sure Ms. Munyon gets the wedding of her dreams and still be ready to welcome baby P into the world.”
“Baby P?”
“Yeah, like a pea pod. Bodie thinks the ‘P’ refers to Phillips, of course. But I know it really means ‘P’ for pea pod.”
“You’re bananas. Like certifiable, you know?”
“There’s a lot riding on this. I’ve got to make sure this wedding goes off without a hitch. It’s our chance to put Ido on the map.”
“Déjà vu. You do realize you said those exact same words last year when you were working with Adeline Monroe on her big wedding. Or don’t you remember what a shit show that turned out to be?”
Her laugh pealed over the phone line. “I got a husband out of it, didn’t I?”
I shoved another chip in my mouth, bracing myself for the inevitable speech that surely would follow. This was the perfect segue into her favorite topic of conversation: my love life.
“You know, Bodie’s got a new guy in his department. What if I order in and the two of you come to the house for dinner next week, and—”
“No.”
“But he’s perfect for you.”
Talking around the bite of nachos, I managed to ask, “What makes you say that?”
“He wants to settle down. He’s got a pension already going with the department and he’s super stable. Bought his own place just outside of town and has plenty of room for—”
“For what?”
She paused. “For pets and babies and horses if you want them. Come on, aren’t you tired of living paycheck to paycheck? You deserve some downtime, someone to take care of you for a change.”
I took a calming breath in through my nose. “You know I love you, right?”
“Of course.”
“And you also know that my love life is a no-fly zone. Seriously. Cut it out, okay?”
“Maybe you’re not interested since you were locking lips with a certain penguin trainer this afternoon.”
I just about choked on my chip. “Where did you hear that?”
“Kirby said he caught a glimpse of the two of you standing there in broad daylight on the side of the road. If you’ve already got your eyes set on Alex, that’s fine. Bodie’s coworker was just a suggestion.”
“What is it with married people wanting other people to get tied down so bad? We never had conversations like this when we were both single.”
“That’s right. We used to stay out until the sun came up and thought peeing in public was being efficient,” she said. “Times change.”
I eyed another chip. “What time do you want me to come over tomorrow?”
“Early afternoon? Say one?”
“I’ll see you then.” I hung up and set my phone back down on the bar.
Times may change but I didn’t. I’d never allowed myself to imagine the kind of things Lacey yearned for. Being on my own for so long, I knew the only thing I could expect out of life was what I took from it. I didn’t deserve a happily-ever-after any more than the next person.
Dreams were just that . . . dreams. My dreams had gotten me nowhere in the past and I’d finally stopped believing in them when I had to put in for an early hardship discharge from the military so I could come home and deal with my brother.
Zeb was doing better now thanks to the Pets for Soldiers program I’d managed to get him into.
But he might not ever be able to live on his own.
He’d always need me to check in on him, make sure he kept up with his meds, and that the horrors of his military career didn’t pull him back down into the darkness.
And that was precisely why I could be the honorary aunt to Lacey and Bodie’s baby, and care for the hundreds of poor pit bulls that made their way through the rescue and feel good about the difference I was making in others’ lives.
But dreaming about finding the kind of happiness Lacey had found? That was a waste of time.
Alex
I pulled to a stop in front of the Burger Bonanza.
Somehow, I’d managed to burn the macaroni and cheese Char had set out for me to make for dinner.
I was still trying to figure out how I’d accomplished that.
Might have had something to do with accidentally leaving the burner on while I tried to break up a fight over whose turn it was to brush the blond Barbie’s hair.
Didn’t matter. What mattered was I had to feed four kids and Gramps, buy a piece of poster board, help Izzy salvage her project, and get everyone settled down for the night before Char got home.
I’d tried to order pizza but there was only one place that delivered and they had an hour-long wait.
I figured I’d be better off just running to the burger joint in Ido to grab everyone a bite.
Everything would seem better on a full stomach.
“Everyone out of the truck. One, two, three . . .” I tapped the girls on the head as they piled out. Gramps stood on the sidewalk, the three older girls clustered around him. “Where’s Dolly?”
Izzy shrugged. Frankie messed around with something in her bag while Jordan’s fingers skimmed across the screen of her phone.
“Gramps? Where’s Dolly?” I peered into the back seat of the truck. It wasn’t that big. Nowhere for a kid to hide, not even one so small as my four-year-old niece.
Gramps shrugged and shuffled toward the door of the restaurant.
Dammit. The last time I’d seen my niece she’d been twirling around in that sparkly nightgown on the front lawn.
“Maybe you left her at home.” Jordan didn’t look up from her phone as she followed Gramps toward the door.
No. I couldn’t have left her at home. Could I? Char was going to have my balls on a skewer if I lost her daughter. And on my third night in town. “Gramps, take the girls inside and get a table. I’m going to run back and see if Dolly’s at the house.”
Izzy rolled her eyes. “Uncle Alex, Mom’s going to be mad.”
“You know, you don’t have to tell your mom everything.” I ushered the girls toward the door. “Jordan, you got this?”
She held the door open while Gramps and her sisters filed past. “Yes, Uncle Alex.”
“Good. I’ll be back in a minute.” I rounded the front of the truck and practically dove into the driver’s seat.
How could I have misplaced a kid? Visions of what my sister would do to me flashed through my head on the short drive home.
Char was like a mama bear. Cuddly, easy tempered, and sweet as honey until something bad happened.
Then she would rise up, bare her teeth, and rip apart anyone and anything that threatened her family.
As the truck screeched to a stop, I jammed it into park and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Dolly sat on the front stoop, her head in her hands. The sparkly pink dress was spread out around her.
“Hey, baby girl. You okay?” I sat down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder.
She glanced up, big, fat tears rolling down her cheeks. “You left me.”
My heart cracked in two. Like someone pounded a chisel into it and busted it open. “I’m so sorry. Everyone was in the truck. I know you were with us. I counted heads. But when we got to the restaurant, you weren’t there.”
“I had to get my tiara.” She lifted a hand to touch the rim of the plastic crown sitting crooked on her head. “A princess can’t leave home wiffout her crown.”
I took in a deep breath, trying to fill my lungs. “You ready to go get some dinner?”
She nodded.
I slid my thumb under her eyes, wiping the tears away. “You scared me, Princess Dolly.”
“I thought grown-ups didn’t get scared.” She gazed up at me with such trust in her eyes, it almost split my heart into quarters.
“Sometimes we do.” I took her hand in mine. “Now let’s go get you a giant milkshake.”
“Can I have strawberry?”
“You can have whatever you want.” I lifted her up and set her in the back seat. She settled herself in her booster and I shut the door behind her, my head pounding.
I wasn’t used to being responsible for anyone but myself. Thank God Dolly was okay. Tonight was a reminder that I needed to pay closer attention if I didn’t want to get my ass kicked by taking on new responsibilities.