She tended to be late, but not this late. And he could see and hear the high school marching band now coming up the street.
The parade order was always the band with the “Happy Holidays” banner and all the high schoolers in their cute uniforms freezing their asses off, then the mayor on a float with the town council. Not freezing their asses off since they got to dress for the weather and probably took nips from their whiskey-filled flasks they had secretly stashed in their coat pockets. Unlike the teenagers.
After them, came Max, the town’s Chief of Police, usually freezing his sexy tush off as he sat on the back of a convertible, handing out Manning Grove PD patches to anyone who came up to the car and asked for one. If it was a kid, the child got a little bag of candy, too. Max tended to be very popular with the under eighteen crowd and also with women over eighteen. But for two different reasons.
One for handing out candy, the other for looking like eye candy.
Amanda had gotten herself a catch. But there was no way she was retracting her claws from her man. Not that Max ever looked at other women the same way he looked at his wife.
Teddy sighed.
He wanted what they had. He thought he would get it with Adam. He was starting to wonder.
Ugh, he overthought everything! If he wasn’t careful, he could push his lover away.
Oh, thank the best friend gods, there Amanda was, fighting her way through the crowd, her eyes on him and wearing a secretive smile.
What. The. Hell?
“You better explain that and you better do it right now!” he insisted as she settled into the seat next to him.
“Should I say hello to my spawn first?”
“No!”
Amanda laughed. “So, what do I need to explain?”
Teddy circled his hand in front of her face. “That look you’re wearing, like you know a good secret. You need to share that with your BFF.”
“Okay, I will...” Amanda leaned forward and called out to Leah. “Hey, Leah!”
A loud gasp escaped Teddy.
“Hey, Amanda!” Leah called back, unaware of the drama unfolding at their end of the group.
“Baby good?” Amanda asked. She shot a wicked look at Teddy.
Leah gave her a thumb’s up. “She’s good. I don’t know about me.”
“That wasn’t funny,” Teddy hissed. “BFF means best friends forever. That means it’s for-ev-er. You are stuck with me.”
“Damn,” Amanda muttered.
“Okay, dish, girl. What was with the secretive smile?”
Amanda leaned back in her folding chair, unfolding the blanket that had been left on it and throwing it over her legs. “Nothing. I was just thinking about the surprise we’re giving you-know-who tomorrow.”
You-know-who was Greg. Teddy chewed on that for a second. “I’m not sure that was it.”
Amanda sighed. “I swear. That was it.”
“Swear on your children’s life.”
“I’ll swear on Hannah’s but not Oliver’s.”
“Mom!” Hannah screeched next to Teddy. “I’m telling Dad!”
“See? This is why. You’re a snitch,” she told her daughter, struggling to keep a straight face.
“Snitches get stitches,” Ron announced from the other side of Leah.
“Grandpa!”
Ron shrugged. “Well, it’s true.”
Leah, who was sitting between them, had her head dropped forward and she was shaking.
“It’s not funny, Aunt Leah,” Hannah huffed.
“I disagree,” Leah said on an escaped laugh.
Hannah crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.
“Santa sees you pouting,” Ron reminded her.
Hannah quickly smoothed out the pout and then glared straight ahead, instead.
“I have no idea where she gets that from,” Amanda said under her breath.
Teddy snorted.
The marching band passed them, and they weren’t able to talk for a few minutes as the band was loud and they’d pause on every block for the girls to swing batons and flags and whatever else girls did in a marching band while wearing skimpy outfits.
He’d look good in one of those outfits.
Hmm.
Once the band moved on, the mayor’s float went by.
Next up was the 1965 Chevy Impala SS Convertible—Teddy hated that he knew those details, but it was the same vehicle the chief always rode in—with Dutch’s son driving. Dutch always volunteered Cage and his classic car for the parade every year. The only difference this year—and last—was that Cage had joined the MC that Dutch used to belong to.
He was now one of those leather-clad gorillas. As was the rest of Dutch’s manly, good-with-their-hands mechanics.
However, Cage was not wearing his club “colors” today out of respect for Max. Dutch did his best to stay on good terms with the PD since he worked on their vehicles, both police and personal.
But Cage was sexy as all get out, as was the rest of Dutch’s crew. Sometimes Teddy had the urge to flatten one of his own tires just to get one of them out to “rescue” him. Or at least bend over as they changed his tire.
However, Adam was proficient with changing flats, so if he found out Teddy called someone other than him, he might be a bit miffed.
“There’s Uncle Max!” Austin yelled.
“Max!” Greg echoed him, bouncing in his seat and waving at every participant in the parade.
“Hi, Daddy!” Oliver screamed, rushing to the edge of the sidewalk and waving to his father. Ron jumped out of his seat to hold on to the five-year-old so he wouldn’t dart into the street.
“Sometimes I still want to scratch your eyes out for taking my first true love from me,” Teddy muttered.
“You don’t want him,” Amanda said. “He’s stubborn.”
Teddy arched what he knew was a perfectly manicured eyebrow. “Oh, and you aren’t?”
“Not like him.”
Teddy snorted again.
“You have Adam. He’s cut from the same damn Bryson cloth.”
Teddy hmm’d. “That he is, girlfriend. But...”
Amanda’s head spun towards him. “But?” she yelled, catching her husband’s attention as he drove by.
Teddy waved a reassuring hand towards Max, letting the man know he didn’t need to save his wife from anything nefarious. Except Teddy’s woes.
Which he was about to unload on his BFF. “I had a little meltdown this morning.”
Amanda’s brow lifted and not in surprise. “Little?”
He grimaced. She knew him only too well.
He squeezed his index finger and thumb together just leaving a little space between them. “An itty bitty one.”
“There’s nothing itty bitty when it comes to you,” Amanda reminded him.
“I know, right? Rawr!” He made a clawing motion with his hand.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“But it’s true.”
“Something I don’t need to know.”
“But still fact.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“Just ask Adam.”
“I’m not asking Adam how big you are.”
“Why? He’d vouch for me.”
“Aaaaaanywaaaaay...”