Page 135 of Born for Starlight

“Wait until I come around,” I admonished. That woman, always trying to do too much. She had the door open before I got around to her side, but she let me help her down. Luzia and the twins were waiting by the side and I saw that Lachlan had a squirt gun.

“Mama!” Luzia grabbed Angelica around the middle, then remembered and eased up. “The baby is okay?”

“The baby is wonderful, sweetheart. She loves her sister. Did you behave?”

“She was perfect,” Bonnie called from the porch.

Luzia took my hand and pulled me to the backyard, as Angelica went to talk to Bonnie. My daughter knew what was in my pocket and was anxious to get the party started, but I had plans.

“Not yet.”

“When?”

“When I say.”

She huffed. That was new. She got it from her mother.

The men were on the deck. Jase was at the grill. Simon was leaning against the rail next to Roan and Bruno was sitting in a chair with his feet stretched out in front of him, a beer in his hand that he wasn’t drinking. Instead he had a far off look on his face. That was him these days.

Billy was sitting up on the rail, with one of Evie and Aiden’s boys on his lap. I never had been able to tell them apart.

“Grainger.” Simon nodded toward me. “Monday. Seven o’clock. Don’t be late.”

“I’ll be there.”

“You’re on the books as of this morning. Roan finally signed.”

I looked over at Roan. “You did, huh?”

“It took awhile to get through the file. War and Peace was a shorter read.”

“Which did you prefer?” I asked.

“A Confederacy of Dunces.”

“I shouldn’t have asked.”

Jase chuckled. “No, you shouldn’t have.”

I nodded at Billy. “And him?”

“Onyx West,” Simon answered. “He’s setting up shop in Silverglen, Washington. He’s got a lease, one assignment that’s critical, and another one in the works.”

“DoorDash?” I asked.

“Something like that,” Billy agreed with a cocky grin. The little boy wiggled out of his arms and ran into the house, passing Luzia as she came out. She wandered over to Bruno and set her hand on his leg.

“Uncle Bruno?”

“Yes, Honey?”

“Is Layla coming?”

I could swear that even the meat on the grill stopped sizzling as we waited for Bruno’s answer.

“Not today, Munchkin.”

“Are you sad?”