"Yeah, I'm not stressing over it. You want to come in and help me with snacks?
"Sure."
We rose from our loungers. Bobbie reached for a sexy mesh cover up and slipped into it while I grabbed my short floral wrap and brought it around my hips.
"We're going to fix some snacks," she announced when we neared the shallow end of the pool. "Any requests?"
"Fruit." Raven grinned up at us. She was being extra careful with what she ate these days.
"Cheese," Ellie said. "And alcohol of some kind."
Everyone laughed at that.
"Do you have anything sweet?" Samuel was floating on his back, and JoJo slowly removed her hands from beneath him where she'd been supporting his little body.
"I made a dump cake, will that do?"
Raven gushed. "I love dump cake!"
"And it has fruit in it," Bobbie laughed as we continued into the house and to the kitchen. "What about you, honey?" She headed to the fridge.
"I'm good with all of it," I joked. "What do you want me to do?"
Bobbie stopped and thought for a moment. "I think we'll just set it up buffet style and everyone can come in and help themselves. It's too hot to take it outside. Why don't you hunt for the paper plates, napkins, and silverware. There are some plastic forks in the drawer next to the dishwasher."
She turned back to the fridge, opened the door, and started digging around for stuff. Since I knew where Bobbie kept everything, it didn't take me very long to set up the things we needed.
"What are you doing this coming Saturday?" She'd taken out a package of Brie and smoked Gouda and set them onto a paper plate.
I thought for a moment. "Just work that night. Why?"
"We're throwing Raven a baby shower in the afternoon."
"What time?"
"Two." She arranged some crackers around the cheese. "She doesn't know."
"I could come for about an hour. What do you want me to do to help?"
Bobbie set the dump cake down and my mouth immediately started to salivate. "Oh, God, that looks yummy!"
Bobbie laughed. "Thanks. If you can come around twelve you can help us set up. Cole is going to keep Raven away until it's time, then make up some excuse to get her to the clubhouse."
"Sounds like a plan." I was already thinking about what I could get her for a gift. Something practical or something fun? Since they were waiting until the baby arrived to find out the sex, it would have to be something unisex.
"You want to let them know snacks are ready?" Bobbie set out a bowl of fruit and an assortment of White Claw beverages.
"I call dibs on the mango. I've wanted to try that flavor."
A chuckle sounded from Bobbie. "I've got more. I've got to go to the bathroom."
As I called the girls into the house, I received a text from Jolene.
havin fun?
loads
u off fri?
yea
dont u ever work? off today off fri
lol, an wed
lol
why r u buggin me?
girls nite fri spread the word
where
grinders 9
I frowned. We usually went to a club for girls' night. It was odd that the plan was to go to a place owned by the club when the whole idea of girls' night was to get away from the men for a while.
explain
LD wants us 2 stay close says we'll b safer at a place owned by the club
Hmm. I knew that security at Grinders had been beefed up since the trouble had gone down, and all the women had someone from the club watching them. Until our men were done dealing with whatever was going on, our options for going out were limited. I didn't necessarily want to go out to a place where I worked, but I felt safe there and could use a night out.
hope i can find a sitter
ask lulu
she'll most likely watch izzy an samuel
There was a short pause before Jolene came back with, there's a club girl at LD's i'd trust, she an lulu could team up an watch them all
idk… I wasn't eager to let a stranger look after my daughter.
hon i promise u carmen is lulu's doppelganger in character
I smiled and reminded myself that Jolene would never steer me wrong.
my house is small but they could all go there
work it out, c u fri 9
"Who are you texting?" JoJo was trying to fix a plate of food while holding her squirming son in her arms.
"Jolene. Girls' night this Friday, nine o'clock at Grinders."
"Figured the alpha assholes wouldn't let us hit a real club," Bobbie snorted, entering the kitchen at the tail end of our conversation. She picked up a plate. "They're so protective." It sounded like a complaint, but I knew better.
"Who's going to watch our little monsters?" Ellie set Izzy down and reached for the dump cake.
"That's for dessert," Raven pointed out.
Ellie winked. "I'll have a piece for dessert, too."
"I'll watch the kids. I can't drink anyway."
I reached for a small slice of Gouda and popped it into my mouth. "No, Raven, you're going, too. Jolene suggested we get Lulu and some woman she knows named Carmen to watch them together." I noticed that Raven was having a hard time fixing her plate and holding Ava at the same time. "Here--" I moved around the island. "Let me take Ava." Ava's little arms reached out for me when I got close. I gave her a sloppy kiss, or rather, she gave me one as I cuddled her close. "Ya'll are coming to my house."
"Who's Carmen?"
I couldn't blame JoJo for the suspicious tone, which matched the frown on her face. "Someone Jolene swears is Lulu's doppelganger."
"I trust Jolene's opinion," Ellie quipped. "I'm cool with that." She stuffed a forkful of cake into her mouth.
"Um, are you planning on feeding Izzy anything?"
We laughed as Ellie glanced down toward the floor to her daughter. When she looked up her face was red with embarrassment, and it was clear that she had forgotten Izzy was there.
She swallowed. "Oops!" She reached for a banana, broke it in half, peeled it, and handed it down to Izzy.
"Well, I guess we know cake is your weakness!"
Bobbie's comment drew a laugh from all of us, a reference to the last movie that we'd watched while on lockdown, Jumanji. In it, cake had been one of Kevin Hart’s weaknesses.
Annie chose that moment to walk in from outside. "Ya'll bitches totally forgot me."
I couldn't help but laugh at the sleep line running down her left cheek. "Have a nice nap?" I teased.
She nodded. "Colton and I are trying to get pregnant, and I swear that man has the stamina of a twenty-year-old. Keeps me up all night. When I do get pregnant it'll probably be with triplets."
"Careful you don't jinx it, honey. My best friend, Bailey, has triplets. I helped out with them in the beginning, and they were a handful."
"Is that why she doesn't hang out with us? Too busy?" Bobbie opened one of the White Claws and took a drink.
"Well, she is busy, and she's actually pregnant with number five right now."
It suddenly occurred to me that Bailey hadn't been included in a lot of the club events, and I had assumed that it was because Moody didn't belong to any club.