“Thanks for your permission.”
“You’re welcome.” I grin.
He rolls his eyes, but I can see the smile playing at the corners of his lips. “Now that we’ve got the okay to get started, I wanna thank you all for being here today. We’re here to talk about the fundraiser, so I’m gonna turn the floor over to Whitney.”
I can hear Renegade whistle loudly for his wife.
“Thank you.” She gives him a huge smile. “What we’re going to do is a bachelorette and a bachelor auction. Sullivan,”,” - she looks over at me - “when we were first talking about this, we didn’t know the two of you apparently have a thing, so both of you are going to have to participate.”
“Anything for the LSERT,” I shout.
“Thank you! Plan on having the auction three weeks from today. We’ll be doing it at the Laurel Springs Country Club. Thank you, Blaze, for getting us in.”
“No problem, it pisses my mom off, so it’s a win/win.”
Whitney chooses to ignore what Blaze said. “You’ll all need to be there an hour before doors open. I’m giving your supervisors the schedule. They’ve all agreed to let you off for the night. Does anyone have any questions?”
“What’s our goal?” someone asks from the back of the room.
“As much money as we can,” she answers. “We need some new water rescue equipment, and before we know it hurricane season will be here. As much as we can bank, we need to.”
“Well,” - Devante steps forward - “y’all can guarantee I’ll be getting the most money.”
“Ummm, excuse you,” a girl standing beside Karsyn says. “I’m new to town, I’ll get more money. I have the air of mystery around me.”
They get into a small one-up match, before I turn to Shelby. “Who is that?”
“She’s a new nurse at the hospital. Her name is Alisa. I’m not sure where she’s from, but her and Stella know one another. She was at our last girls night out. She seems nice.”
“Seems that lots of people are moving to Laurel Springs.”
“We should know,” she laughs. “We’re new here too.”
But it doesn’t feel like it. If I’m being honest, Laurel Springs feels more like home than Paradise Lost ever did.
I can see myself staying here for the rest of my life, and I admit for the first time I can see Shelby being right by my side.
Chapter 21
Shelby
“No, no, no,” I shout as my copier eats the paper I’m trying to copy. “Son of a bitch.” I brought it from Houston, and it was on its last leg then. “I just need you to last a few more weeks,” I beg it. In two weeks I’ll be going to the Laurel Springs PD to write out wills for any of the officers who don’t have one yet.
“Is everything okay in here?”
“I didn’t even hear you come in,” I tell Stella as I beat on the side of the damn machine.
“You were too busy yelling at the copier.”
“It’s lucky I don’t throw it out the window,” I groan. “What do you need?”
She has a seat on the couch in my office. “We’re having a girls night out. Come join us, we’ve all had a shitty week.”
“I am so there,” I groan again when the copier eats the paper. “Fuck this thing, when are we leaving?”
“Right now.” She laughs as I slam the top down.
“Let’s go.” I walk around my desk, grab my purse out of it, and turn the open sign to closed. “Who all’s coming?” I ask as we walk to the local Mexican food restaurant.
“I’m not completely sure, but there’s definitely a group.”
There usually is when we all get together. I’m so grateful to have met this group of people when I moved here. They took me in, and have been steadfast friends from the first day. Stella and I enter the restaurant and we immediately see our group. They’re seated in the middle, already with chips, salsa, and margaritas on the table. They wave us over, and I go like I have a fire under my ass.
“What can I get for you?” the waiter asks as I take off my suit coat, hanging it on my chair.
“Queso and a strawberry margarita.”
“Frozen or on the rocks.”
“What the hell, give me frozen today. I’m gonna live a little.”
Karsyn laughs. “Bring us a round of shots. If we’re gonna live a little, we need to really do it.”
“Something tells me we’re going to need some designated drivers.”
Stella takes a sip of her margarita. “Well since most of us know a police officer, I think we’re good to go.”
“If I call Tucker, telling him I need a ride home, I’m gonna never hear the end of it,” Karsyn groans.
“Offer to blow him on the ride home,” Stella says with a dead ass straight face. “Works every time.”
“Oh my God,” Karsyn laughs. “Is that what you do with Ransom?”
She grins. “I’m not one to brag, but it’s never failed me yet.”
“Have you done it in his patrol SUV?” I ask as the waiter puts my queso and margarita in front of me.
Everyone stares. “What? It’s a question I have.”
“It’s a question I have too,” Kels pipes up from where she sits.
Stella smirks, her eyes twinkling. “I may have.”
“You either have or you haven’t.” I pressure her, grabbing a chip and dunking it into my cheese. “There’s no may or may not. You started this discussion. Finish it.”
“Okay.” She takes a fortifying drink. “I have done it to him in his patrol SUV.”
“Was he on patrol?”
“He was on a break, thank you very much.”
“When?” Kelsea leans forward.
Everyone looks at her.
“What? I’m taking notes. It’s hard to get time alone with two kids in the house, okay?”
Stella rolls her eyes upward. “It was when Keegan was a toddler. I’d taken him over to Mom and Dad’s. I lied to them and said I had a couple of appointments, and they were going to keep him overnight anyway. Instead I went home and took a like four-hour nap. Ladies, I was rested up and ready to go.”
“You look so excited about it, even now,” I laugh.
“Because it had been months y’all, months. We’d been on separate shifts and even when we were home together both of us were so tired because of chasing after Keegan.” She has a smile on her face. “Let’s just say it was a good night.”
We all giggle as she flushes read.
“What was so good about it?” Alisa asks. “Remember I’m new here. I haven’t had a date since I moved.”
Stella takes a fortifying drink of her margarita, and just as she’s about to launch into what she and Ransom did, our waiter comes back to get our orders.
He goes around the table, flirting with all of us, making us all laugh and blush.
“Do you ladies need another round?”
“Yes!” Stella yells. “We definitely need another round.”