“Oh, did you? My memory must be going.” Dori taps her temple. “It’s not so good anymore.”
“I’m the matchmaker. Colton is getting married, remember?” Juno’s voice has an edge to it I’ve never heard directed toward Dori.
“You are not too old for me to take you over my knee, Juno.” Dori’s stern voice says she’s serious.
“I would have helped you with all this anyway.” I straighten some of the partitions. “This is ingenious. Where did you get the idea from?”
“Kingston. Go figure, but it’s pretty cool, I think. It’s a bit of a twist. Hopefully, it will pull some people in.”
“Definitely.”
A waitress comes into the room and asks if we need anything, so I order a beer. She nods and walks away.
“Anyone else coming besides Kingston?”
Juno bends over to retrieve something from her bag and her ass is in my face. Her ass has been in my face plenty of times, but this time it’s a struggle not to grab her by her hips and pull her into me.
I have a lot of guilt for not telling Juno why I’m marrying Brigette, but I can’t chance it getting out. No one but Brigette and myself knows this is a green-card-only kind of marriage, and if something leaked, I could be in some serious trouble.
The waitress returns and places my beer on the table. “You have some women who just came in. Micah is getting them a drink, then they’re on their way back.”
“Great.” Juno’s eyes get all wide and excited like they do when something she’s been anticipating finally arrives. “Kingston and some of his firefighter buddies are coming tonight too. So at least I’m offering some good-looking guys.”
I haven’t asked her why she’s doing this. She’s always done strictly matchmaking with a personal touch. But I’m not going to ask her right now in front of everyone.
“Rummy!” Ethel screams and puts her cards on the table.
Dori scowls and tosses her cards on the table. “I gotta pee.”
Dori stands and leaves for the bathroom, Ethel following as if their bladders are in sync.
A woman pops her head into the room. “Is this where we’re supposed to be?”
Juno rushes over. “Yes. Yes. Come—” She abruptly stops speaking, making me look over. “Stella?”
“Kingston’s Stella?” I whisper more to myself as Juno looks over at me.
But it’s Stella who looks as if she might faint.
Fifteen
Juno
Holy shit, as if Colton showing up wasn’t enough of a surprise, Stella Harrison is here.
In Alaska.
In Anchorage.
Not in New York.
“Stella?” I say.
She catches her drink before it falls. “Juno?” Her eyes scan the room. “Colton?”
The last time we saw Stella was at Holly and Austin’s wedding, which seems like ages ago. She and Kingston talked the majority of the night, but after that, nothing that I know of. If he knows she’s back in town, he hasn’t shared it with me.
“Oh, um, you’re running this?” Stella says. “My friend from work thought it’d be fun.”
She’s been here long enough to have friends at work?
Dori and Ethel’s arguing rings out of the hallway as they come out of the bathroom.
My eyes widen. “Oh my God, hide.”
Her friend’s attention darts between Stella and me as though she’s asking, “Is this chick serious?” But Stella must hear it in my voice because she disappears behind the partitions and hides in one of the booths I’ve set up.
“Oh, someone showed up.” Grandma Dori beams as though she’s surprised.
Thanks for the encouragement, Grandma.
“Colton’s going to drive you home now.” My eyes widen at Colton, who’s sipping his beer.
“He’s drinking. I told my son I never drive with someone who’s been drinking,” Ethel says.
Colton stares at his beer. “I’ve had about two sips.”
“Drinking is drinking. I don’t know your tolerance. Maybe it’s zero. I’ll drive us.” Ethel puts her hand out to Colton for his keys.
He stares at her hand then lifts his gaze to me with an expression that suggests I would never make him do such a thing as drive all the way back to Lake Starlight with Ethel behind the wheel of his truck. But I know Grandma, and if she sees Stella here, all hell is gonna break loose. Rumors will spread, and if Stella’s been hiding out in Anchorage, she’s not ready to face what happened all those years ago.
I always felt close to Stella, what with her only being a few years younger than me. When the guys wanted to start a band, she’d hang around the garage, and she was my bleacher buddy during the baseball games.
“Just let her drive,” I plead.
“And your name is?” Dori asks Stella’s friend.
“Cami.”
“Well, Cami, this is Juno. She’s my granddaughter and a real matchmaker. It’s been in her mother’s blood for generations, so you should trust her with who you should be matched with tonight.”
“Grandma, it’s a speed dating thing.” I kiss Grandma Dori on the cheek with the hopes it gets her out of here.
Colton is still sipping his beer.
“You took another sip,” Ethel says like a sibling who wants to get their other sibling in trouble.
“Just let her drive?” I say to him, trying to pull him to the door.
“But my truck?” he says as if I’m crazy.
I probably am, but I really need to get Dori out of here and tell Stella to leave before Kingston shows up, otherwise, my entire blind speeding date thing is gonna be a bust and I’m never going to be able to pay my bills. “What harm can it do?”
“Are you seriously asking me that right now?” Colton says.
“I need Dori out,” I whisper.
She’s busy naming off my qualifications to Cami, Stella’s friend.
“I get it, but it’s my truck, Juno.”
Ethel watches like a hawk to see if Colton has another sip of beer. I know that the only way they’re leaving is if Colton gives her the keys. Eventually, Colton realizes it too.
“You so owe me for this, and I mean huge.” Colton stands, downs the rest of his beer, but right before Ethel is about to say something, he drops the keys in her hand. “Bigger than that time you accidentally kneed me in the nuts when we were wrestling.”
I giggle, remembering how his face turned blue. I felt so bad. I hope he can still have children. I rise up on my tiptoes and kiss his cheek. “I owe you big. Promise. Name it and I’ll deliver.”
He wraps his arm around my waist and turns his face to me. We’re millimeters apart and my heart pounds.
“No take-backs,” he says.
“No take-backs. I promise.”
Then he kisses my cheek and releases me. Now I’m not so sure I want him to go.
“Let’s go, Golden Girls,” Colton says. “We will be driving five over the speed limit.”
“I can’t lose my license, Colton Stone,” Ethel says.
He winks at me one more time before the three of them leave the room.