“Sherlock misses Luna,” Isabella relayed.
“Aww,” Cheyenne responded identically to Isabella.
Since I knew that as soon as my brother stopped being butthurt about the dog missing Luna he’d be whining about food, I walked into the kitchen to pull out the spread. It had been a while since I’d been the one who called a family meeting. The last time I had, it was after the reading of Pops’ will after Cheyenne showed up out of the blue.
Now it wasn’t just our sister that had been added to the mix, it was also both my sisters-in-law to be. I’d tried to adjust accordingly. I knew that I wasn’t the warmest person in the world, but I wanted my brothers’ significant others to feel welcome. I knew that would have been what our mom would have wanted. Also, I needed their help and I figured stacking the deck in my favor wasn’t a bad idea.
I pulled out a tray of sandwiches and also a tray of fruit.
“Holy shit!” Jimmy’s eyes widened as he reached for and grabbed two sandwich halves. “What’s with the spread?” he asked as he stuffed it into his mouth.
As I sat there and watched my baby brother acting like a literal pig at the trough as his fiancée picked up a few grapes, not at all turned off by his behavior, I could feel our mom smiling down on him, happy that he’d found his person.
We all sat down at the table but before I could speak Billy asked, “What did he say?”
Shit. He thought I’d called the meeting because I’d spoken to Jerry. I’d been so worried about this damn birthday party, I hadn’t considered that would, of course, be what he thought this was about.
“That’s not what this is about.”
The subject hadn’t come up since the day Billy called me over to Southern Comfort when Skylar showed up asking for an application. I knew he wasn’t going to let it go forever, I just figured he might be so wrapped up in the wedding, which was coming up, that he’d be distracted.
“Have you called him?” Billy questioned.
“No.”
“What are you waiting for?” he snapped.
The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. I could see that everyone wanted answers, not just Billy. And why wouldn’t they? My decision affected them. I knew this wasn’t just about the money. That was part of it, but mainly, I think they just wanted the truth. But that was only because they didn’t know what the truth was.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly.
“So, what did you call us here for?” Reagan asked, not-so-subtly steering the conversation away from the hot button topic.
She was probably the only person in the room that could’ve gotten away with it. Billy wouldn’t have let anyone else do that. As it was, he didn’t look too thrilled that Reagan had.
“I need your help.” I’d never said those words out loud before and it felt strange to say them now.
From the looks on everyone’s faces, I wasn’t the only one who thought it was strange. Billy’s mouth dropped open. Cheyenne just blinked at me. And Jimmy’s head tilted like the RCA dog. Even Isabella and Reagan, who had only known me a few months, looked confused.
“What?” Jimmy asked and he wasn’t being a smartass, I could see he honestly wasn’t sure that he’d heard me correctly.
I figured that instead of just repeating what I’d said, I would give my request context. “I need help throwing a baby shower.”
“Whoa, and I thought I moved quick.” Jimmy wrapped his arms around Isabella and kissed her neck.
“Skylar’s not pregnant.” Or at least I didn’t think she was. If that was the case, it definitely wasn’t mine. But the thought of her carrying my baby did have a lot of feelings coming up that I hadn’t felt in a while. I ignored them and pressed on. “It’s a birthday party, for Luna. It’s her birthday today. She’s five. She was supposed to have it in Seattle, but they can’t now.”
“Oh…I thought you said baby shower,” Cheyenne’s brows knitted together.
This was not one of those times that people were asking questions that they already knew the answers to. This was a time that people actually needed information that I had. “Luna’s babysitter in Seattle had a baby six months ago. Luna loved the baby shower and she asked for a baby shower themed fifth birthday party.”
Everyone was still staring at me like I’d grown two heads.
Jimmy stood up and started looking around the house.
“What are you doing?” Isabella asked.
“I’m looking for the hidden cameras.”
Now he was being a smartass.
“Wait. Are you serious?” Billy questioned.
“Yes.”
“You’re going to throw a baby shower themed birthday party?” Billy said slowly.
“Yes.”
“When?” Billy asked.
I glanced at the clock. “In two hours.”
I’d thought that I could pull it off on my own. Things at work had been crazy the past three days and instead of the sixteen-hour days I’d thought I’d be having, they ended up being twenty. I was able to get a lot of the leg work done, but it was just too much to finish now that it was down to the wire.
“Is that a friendship bracelet?” Cheyenne pointed to my wrist.
“Yes.” I answered, ready to take whatever heat was coming my way for wearing it.
None of the guys that worked for me had said anything to me. I’d seen the looks but since I signed their paychecks, they’d kept their mouths shut. My family was a different story.
But instead they all just stared at me like they were trying to solve the Da Vinci code until Reagan spoke.
“What do you need us to do?”
I handed out the lists I’d made of what needed to be done and Reagan and her type-A personality got right down to business doling out tasks. Thankfully everyone else followed suit.
I knew they’d have questions, probably a lot of questions, later. But right now, we had a surprise baby shower birthday party to pull off. Something I never in a million years thought I’d be doing.
CHAPTER 25
Skyler
“Welcome to Firefly Island Trolley Tours. My name is Stewart, but you can call me Stewie.”
As we climbed onto the trolley, Luna held Ashley’s hand and drug her to the back row. “Come on! This is where we sat with Mr. Hank.”
“Oh, you did, huh?”
Ashley gave me the same look she’d been giving me all day whenever Luna mentioned Hank’s name, which was averaging about once every thirty seconds.
I knew that the moment we were alone, my sister was going to be giving me the third degree. About a lot of things. We still hadn’t discussed in detail the situation with Richie. I hadn’t even told her about his parents calling a few nights before. She had no clue that he’d told them if they didn’t give him fifty grand he’d be dead.
As much as I knew that she’d be interested in all of that, I had a feeling she’d be most interested in finding out about Hank.
I held the railing as I lowered down in the same seat that I’d sat on just a couple of weeks ago. I completely tuned Stewart out as he gave the same spiel he had the first time we’d ridden it, asking everyone where they were from.