Page 72 of Brazen

Shit. I hadn’t put up the closed sign yet. Now I had to deal with customers before dinner.

I sighed and headed out to the front lot only to see Remy and Joy climb out of the passenger side of the minivan, along with Becky, a woman I’d met at the pack barbecue, who was unbuckling a two-year-old from a car seat. Another woman I recognized from the barbecue got out of the SUV and unbuckled a preschooler from the back seat.

“Remy!” JT shouted gleefully, dashing out to her at top speed. I had to put my hand on the wall to keep from being bowled over.

“Slow–oh. Nevermind,” I said, still not used to JT having friends he didn’t have to hide his true nature from.

“It’s not an ambush,” Joy called out with a smile on her face. She held up a bottle of red wine. “We brought wine!”

“And charcuterie!” said the bespectacled blonde with the preschooler who wiggled out of the car as she grabbed a grocery bag from the floor of the minivan. Audrey, if I remembered correctly. She was the wife of one of the Wolf brothers. The one who was also a rodeo star.

Joy walked over, cautiously sizing me up for my reaction.

I threw my arms around her.

“Oh, honey. I’m so sorry.” Joy squeezed me back.

God, I’d needed a friend–even if these particular friends were related to the pack that I wanted no part of.

But I wasn’t even sure if that was true anymore.

All I knew was that I was hurting and didn’t know how to stop the bleeding. Friends of any kind who I could at least talk to about the situation were welcome. At least I could speak openly with them and not eat every other word, so I didn’t mention wolf shifters.

“Come in. Come on up. I was just closing up shop.” I jogged into the office to turn around the closed sign and lock the door. “JT, bud, why don’t you take Remy and the other kids upstairs?”

“Want to see my room?” JT asked.

“Yeah!”

He and Remy took off racing, leaving the women and little ones in the dust.

“Sorry,” I said when I emerged from the office. “We haven’t honed his hosting skills yet.”

The women laughed. “We don’t need to be hosted. We brought the party to you. I’m Becky, and this little one is Lily,” she said as she set the toddler down.

“I’m Audrey, and the one who’s leading Lily is Lizzie.” She set her hand on her chest and smiled. “Please don’t stress about anything, especially since we’re barging in.”

“Barging in with wine is allowed,” I said and smiled.

I was first up the steps then directed them to the kitchen. I pulled out a wine key and glasses from the kitchen as they unpacked the grocery bag full of cheeses and crackers, grapes, raspberries, olives, pickled artichokes, and cured meats.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll just grab a couple of plates to arrange this?” Joy asked, already opening my kitchen cabinet doors, searching for what she needed.

“Make yourself at home.” It wasn’t green sandwiches, but it looked good. And there was wine.

The relief at having another adult around to make decisions and take charge of things after I’d barely been functioning nearly made me cry.

This was that sweet small town life. My business was everyone’s business, which meant I wasn’t alone.

These women were here to support me. They wouldn’t have shown up with kids and food and wine if they were going to run me out of town.

Maybe they’d been sent to plead Sam’s or their pack’s case. Maybe both.

I didn’t care. I didn’t realize until now just how desperate and lonely I’d felt since I’d left Sam in that field.

Within five minutes, they’d created a gourmet-level spread in the center of the table that the two kindergarteners took full advantage of with frequent drive-by snack grabs. The little girls followed Remy and JT around with that older child hero-worship in their eyes.

I hadn’t been able to eat much since Sam and I broke up, but I was tempted to nibble, too. I poured the wine into four glasses, and we sat down together. The apartment was small even for this small crowd, but everyone was content to squeeze close on the couch and loveseat.