Chapter 49
A couple of days later, Becca had her first in-person look at the inner workings of the Justice Ladies when she was summoned to HQ for an urgent meeting. Except for the members currently honeymooning out of the country, everyone turned up, even the three new mommies, all on maternity leave. Seeing her boss, Stephanie Dane, along with Heather Jensen, and Lacey Cameron, was great. Each lady gave a three-minute presentation with pictures to bring the group up-to-date on the newest additions to Junior Justice.
Then, shit got serious when Meghan took the floor and spelled out the surprising chain of events that triggered the meeting. Aided by a digital bullet list, she went through the main points one at a time.
Remington Bisset was pregnant.
Remy”s parents and sister were in Bendover for Jace”s wedding to Sophie and had stayed for the summer.
Finn”s parents—also Meghan”s—were also in town for the summer.
The pressure to put a ring on it while both sets of parents were present was already building. The surprise pregnancy added a sense of urgency.
Remy had been notoriously laid back to the point of dragging her feet about a wedding. Her issue isn”t marriage—it”s being the center of attention.
The leader of Junior Justice—Bella Mia Jensen, Heather”s daughter—was also Finn O”Brien”s most ardent admirer. The two enjoyed a quirky and close friendship. When Bella sniffed out Finn and Remy”s secret plan to have a no-fuss, casual Vegas wedding, she did not hesitate to reveal this confidential scheme to the Major himself, Alex Marquez.
The following bullet point was in all caps: There was no way in hell that the Major was okay with the two sneaking off to Sin City as if their marriage didn”t matter.
A plan was developing—two days hence, the entirety of Family Justice would board private planes, courtesy of Knight Phoenix Aviation, and fly into Las Vegas, where Alex, Paddy O”Brien, and Gabriel Bisset splashed out a wheelbarrow of cash to take over two floors of a five-star Vegas hotel.
Becca was astonished and speechless about everything—Remy”s pregnancy, the Bisset and O”Brien parents, private planes, classy hotels. Looking around at the group of high-powered, get-shit-done ladies, she felt like an outsider until Domineau pulled her in and included her.
That”s when the subject of Jamie Hunter came up. Would they share a hotel suite now that they were an official couple?
Her knee-jerk dismissal of the idea came swiftly. Kori would be along for the trip, so the answer was no to sharing a bed while her daughter was around.
She was now bringing Kori up to speed on the plan and had just explained their travel arrangements when her daughter asked a question.
”Can Pheebs come too? We can babysit as a team—no extra charge! That way, when we”re not helping, we can hang together and do fun stuff.”
”I don”t think that”s my call to make,”she admitted truthfully. ”But it”s a great idea, so I”ll put it to Meghan and see what she thinks.”
”Okay,”Kori responded enthusiastically. ”Call her now, Mom.”
Realizing she”d been outmaneuvered, Becca placed the call. Ten minutes later, Pheebs was cleared for inclusion, and at Red”s insistence, Becca”s hotel accommodations were upgraded to a Junior Suite with two bedrooms.
Finding herself part of Family Justice was a novel experience. There was never any worry about cost—everything was covered. It”s how they rolled.
”You”re good to go. I”ll call Holly and work out the details.”
”Oh my god, Mom! You”re the best,”Kori squealed, rushing to her for a hug. ”Can I get a new travel outfit? For the plane? Maybe Pheebs and me can coordinate.”
She didn”t bother correcting her daughter”s grammar, and she also didn”t shy away from indulging a little. An out-of-town trip was the perfect occasion to unlock her wallet.
With a light heart, she said, ”Cute idea, so yes, you may buy an outfit. And you know what? Maybe I”ll get in on that plan. What”s appropriate for flying a private jet? Is there a style board I can look at?”
”We don”t need it, Mom. This one”s a no-brainer. A travel outfit is easy to wear, comfortable, and loose. I”m thinking of cute rompers and sneakers. You”d slay in a jumpsuit with cropped pants.”
”Why cropped?”
”So you don”t look like you just came from the barn. Derrr, Mom!”
Oh! Her almost-teenager had a hilarious way of stating the obvious.
Fingering her paw necklace, Becca considered her wardrobe options and made a hasty decision.
”Bright and early tomorrow morning, we”re going shopping. In Phoenix, so do your research and be ready. Do you want Pheebs to come?”
”Of course! We can”t be twins unless we shop together.”
”Well,”Becca sighed. ”Looks like it”s you, me, and Pheebs on a day trip. It”s a long drive—I don”t want to hear any crap about it, okay?”
Just as she had done with Meghan, Kori urged her to call Holly and get the ball rolling.
”While I make the call, you go clean your room. And don”t forget to vacuum.”
Kori saluted and dashed from the room.
Before calling Holly, she wanted to check with Jamie to ascertain his status and thoughts. Then, she”d have a better idea of what to pack for the trip.
* * *
The last timehe”d been to Vegas, Jamie remembered losing his shit thanks to a windfall jackpot and blowing most of his winnings on fancy food, expensive liquor, VIP seats at a sold-out concert, and a goddamn Stetson.
He”d had fun because nobody in Vegas knew him, so he could be whoever he wanted, and on that occasion, he wanted to be a party guy.
Were lap dances in the platinum room something a party guy did?
Yeah. That happened.
”I”ll have Betty send you the itinerary when it”s ready,”he heard Alex say over the phone. My wife tells me Becca is traveling with Kori and her best friend. They”re booked for a junior suite, so my question is this—do you want to be near them, like on the same floor?”
He made a snap decision and acted on it. ”Adjoining rooms if possible. No time like the present to stake a claim.”
”So you two are really doing this?”
”Yeah,”he chuckled. ”I went from giving a relationship a chance to talking about changes of address and how many family bedrooms we”d need.”
”Fuck,”Alex laughed. ”You caved in record time.”
”When you know—you know. You know?”he satirically replied.
”Hell yeah, I know,”the big man replied, laughing heartily. ”Meghan rearranged my chess pieces with astonishing speed. Of course, I had a dickish moment that made her run away—that wasn”t fun.
”Really? What happened? I mean, I know what happened eventually, but what did you do about it?”
”There was groveling, and jewelry, and flowers. But before that, I took a hellacious dressing down straight to the face administered by my now father-in-law and her brothers. Ouch.”
Jamie tried to imagine what taking the Major down looked like. It was a testament to the guy”s feelings for Meghan that he took it on the chin.
”You”re in good company, Doc. All of us faced a come to the lord moment. Welcome to the world of domesticated lone wolves,”Alex snickered.
Domesticated lone wolf. Jamie liked how that sounded.
”Bendover has been good for me,”he admitted.”Justice is a perfect fit.”At a loss for better words, he muttered, ”It”s hard to explain.”
”Nah, I get it. You”re a tumbleweed, Jamie. We all are—even the women who call this place their forever home. Life blew you here, but the decision to stay was all yours. Same for Becca. Now that you see the future instead of running from the past, you”ll look at many things differently. I”m glad you made it, man. For real. Not every tumbleweed has what it takes to go the distance.”
”Shit, Alex. That”s one hell of a pep talk.”
”Just telling it as I see it.”
For too many years, Jamie had been running from people, from making friends, from allowing others into his life. All of that came to a screeching halt, thanks to Rebecca Tate. She wasn”t there when he packed his bags for the move to Bendover, but she might as well have been. Her energy lured him out of his self-imposed bah-humbug phase and forced him to look hard at what remained of his life.
”Oh, B-T-Dub, I penciled you in for poker,” Alex informed him. ”Sheriff Dohlavi is hosting the next game.”
”Alex,”Jamie muttered. He was going to decline because that”s what he always did.
”The proper response is, ”Yes, sir.””
Fuck.
”You”re pushing my buttons.”
”Don”t I know it,”the man wielding all the power barked with a laugh. ”It”s good to be me.”
What could he say?”Yeah, well, I suppose I owe you, so this one time, you get a yes, sir.”
The call ended, but Drae rang before he had a chance to process anything.
”Dude,”Drae chuckled way too happily. ”Rafe”s bachelor gig has been rescheduled. I”m sending you the Plan B outline. Instead of a week and a half from now in humid and sticky Florida, we”re moving it up to this week in hot as-balls Las Vegas. Cam is coordinating the details. He”s in touch with Rafe”s mom. They”ve got a cahoots thing going on that is off-the-chart hilarious. Lisette D”Alessandro is not what you”d expect of a middle-aged bestselling author with a global audience. She”s what my wife calls a gracefully aging hippie wild child. The lady has a wicked sense of humor and enjoys the absurd as much as we do. Lisette has been all-in with providing Cam whatever he”s requested.”
”What do you need me to do?”
”Since you”ll be able to identify most of the guests on the list visually, we”re putting you with security at the door. Restricted access only. The engaged couple has some interesting friends if you catch my drift. People who would not react favorably to having their faces splashed across social media.”
”Understood.”
”Okay. Good. I gotta go. The kids are rambunctious, and my wife is busy working the phone—coordinating travel shit with the ladies.”
The ladies. Rebecca was now a Justice Lady. The thought gave him much satisfaction.
Putting the phone away, he reached for Cat and lifted her off his boots where she”d been circling and meowing.
He needed to call Rebecca, but first, he had to finish putting things away in the pantry. Leaving things half-done was not his thing.
”C”mon,”he told Cat. ”You can help me stack cans.”
Jamie honestly could not understand how people lived without a proper pantry. Even his modest childhood home had one, although it started life as a coat closet that his father converted.
Jamie”s OCD was most evident in the walk-in pantry. He couldn”t handle disorganization—it drove him crazy, especially since so many things these days have expiration dates. Rotating stock and supplies was a major protocol at the clinic, so in his mind, it really shouldn”t come as a shock to people that he followed the same routine at home.
Ceiling-to-floor shelving covered the pantry”s back wall and both side walls. His expensive freakout in a warehouse-sized container store gave him a ton of cool accessories, and practical equipment like tiered risers, stacking bins, Lazy Susans, and turntables grounded the space.
A large sign took up the middle section of the shelving on the back wall. Painted and distressed rustic wood planks—one of those things you create at a craft workshop—held ten words, chosen by his smart-alecky sister. It read: AN ORGANIZED PANTRY IS THE SIGN OF A SICK MIND.
He put the cat on the seat of a rolling chair he kept handy for when he wanted to be closer to eye level on the bottom shelves.
”Look,”he told her. ”I”ve made you a dedicated section on this shelf.”
Stacking cans of cat food by flavor and labeling a treat canister took no time.
His phone rang. He looked at the screen to see who was calling and experienced a powerful jolt of elation when he saw Rebecca”s name.
”Hello, pretty lady,”he answered.
”Hello, handsome doctor,”she replied with a laugh. ”Do you have a minute?”
”For you? I always have time for you,”he told her somewhat gruffly. ”What”s up?”
He heard her quickly clear her throat. Nervousness?
”So, I”m assuming you”re up to speed on Vegas.”
”Mm hmm.”
”Well, things happened rather quickly. An idea became a plan, and then everything steamrolled. I realized afterward that I should have talked to you before making decisions.”
”Which decision are you referring to?”
”Uh, the sleeping arrangements.”
”Rebecca, are you worried that I expected you to share my bed on a trip including your daughter?”
”It”s more than that, Jamie. We”re talking about forever after and making a family. It felt weird getting a room for Kori and me only. And as for your question, what would feel weird is if you didn”t expect us to share a bed.”
”Are things moving too fast for you?”He needed to know.
”No. I”m just not used to being in a couple. It”s confusing. I don”t know where the boundaries are now that everything is shifting.”
He was happy that she called and had no problem speaking honestly.
”Take a deep breath, honey. Everything is good, okay? You made the right call because, the way I see it, the most important boundary is the parenting thing. We”re finding our way in a relationship while a savvy kid looks on. Sleeping together while she”s around feels icky.”
”I know, right?”she muttered. ”I mean, Kori isn”t dumb, and she has asked about us, um, having sex.”
Jamie chuckled. ”Oh god, for real? Shit, Rebecca. What did you say?”
”I told her the truth—that unicorns and Disney heroines are real.”
”Ah ha ha ha ha,”he boomed. ”So the kid knows we”re doing it, huh? Terrific.”
”Jamie,”she sniffed in a scolding voice.
”Come on—it”s funny, and you know it.”
Hearing her soft giggle broadened the smile he wore.
”Yes, well, her knowing is one thing. Her seeing or hearing is a whole other issue.”
”You are loud when you come,”he teased.
He wished he could see her as she sputtered and made disagreeable sounds.
”I have a workaround,”he told her. We”ll ask for adjoining rooms. You and Kori in a two-bedroom suite, and me next door.”
”Kori is bringing Pheebs.They”rea babysitting team, and when they aren”t helping with the kids, they”ll have each other to hang out with.”
”This will be my first time as the dad figure around her and her friends. I”ll need pointers.”
He thought deferring to her parenting experience was the right thing to do—after all, what the fuck did he know about being a father? Her guidance was critical.
There was a pause before she replied with a statement he would continue to think about all evening.
”Jamie, you”ve said all the right things—and that”s saying a lot because I didn”t realize what the right things sounded like until now.”