Page 34 of Remind Me
“Belle. You two are an unstoppable force and I am sure you have a million and one ideas!” I took a drink of juice and looked over at Belle who just smirked at me. I mean, he wasn’t wrong.
“I’m sure we could come up with something fitting to do. Why don’t you call a few old clients to come in during the week for an exclusive look and we can do a big opening for the weekend. We can offer those washable tattoos for the kids and do a package for the adults.”
“That’s actually not a bad idea. I am sure the clients who were with me before would love the exclusive look. Do VIP days.”
“Exactly! We can make the calls on Monday if you give the go-ahead and offer a few spots throughout the week, so you aren’t too full-on before the opening.”
“I know a few of the guys at the firehouse who are looking to get some new ink done,” Beau added. “Maybe you could do a package deal for first responders and military?”
“Ooo good point! I could offer them discounts; you know, to say thank you for their service!”
“I think that’s a real fine idea, Austin.” Thomas nodded, smiling. As dinner continued, we kept talking about ideas for the opening. In the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but think about my conversation with Christina. How would Austin take the news that Ally was back in town? He hadn’t gone to Holly’s funeral because he was trying to be respectful of her family and didn’t want to make a scene, but I knew he had been out there to pay his respects. Deep down he did care about her and in her own twisted way, she had cared about him. Even if she had a shitty way of showing it most of the time. The conversation was interrupted though by Felix’s phone going off.
“I thought I had that on silent.” He pulled it from his pocket to silence it before looking to Cash. “I’m sorry, I have to take this.” Cash gave him a nod before Felix moved away from the table to answer it. Uh oh, that can’t be a good thing. I looked over at Cash who was wearing a frown as he watched Felix. Everyone had stopped eating now. It was about five more minutes or so until he came back and joined us at the table.
“Sorry, had to take care of something.”
“No need to apologize, is everything okay?”
“Yeah, just someone I have been trying to get hold of all week. Should have known they would pick the worst time to call me back. I’ll deal with it later though. Nothing that can’t wait.” I took a drink of my juice, but it was Belle who asked what I was sure was on all of our minds.
“It wasn’t about Dale was it?” Felix shook his head.
“No, darlin’, nothing new there. No need to worry.” She nodded and took a drink from her glass. We all relaxed a little and went back to our food.
Finishing up my plate, I sat back in my chair. I let out a breath. The classic sign of eating way too much but when it came to Christina’s food, you couldn’t stop eating. Not until you were about to burst anyway. Cash moved his hand to rest on my thigh.
“You okay, Sug?” I smiled and moved my hand to squeeze his.
“I’m good, handsome, just very full.”
“Do you want another drink?”
“Only if you are going. Don’t go on my account.” He chuckled.
“No, I am going over but even if I wasn’t, you would never know.” He pressed his lips to my cheek before getting up and taking his empty bottle away and my cup. Beau, Austin, and Felix all followed after him. Probably getting another beer as well.
“Vannah… What do you think of Felix?”
“Depends on why you are asking, Belle, what’s on your mind?”
“Do you think he was telling the truth about that phone call?”
“I do. If it was anything to worry about, he would have pulled Cash away and told him. Cash has told me his personal life is a bit messy but didn’t go beyond that because he didn’t like to pry into other people’s business. This is the first real time I have spent with him though.”
“Belle, we know you are worried, but you are in safe hands. You have nothing to worry about here. You have five people here who are licensed to carry weapons.”
“Six.” We all looked to Neil who pointed to himself before Thomas carried on talking.
“Okay, six people who are licensed to carry weapons who would get the three of you ladies out of here safely before anything happened. He is a good guy, I don’t think he would play with something like that.” She nodded but before she could say anything more, the guys were back with drinks. Cash gave me mine while Beau gave Belle a new drink, Felix gave one to Neil, and Austin put Christina’s and Thomas’s down. Everyone took a seat except for Beau and Austin.
“We want to raise a toast. To our big brother who finally stopped messing around and locked down the best girl in the world, and to the super woman who puts up with his shit.”
“Austin!”
“Sorry, Ma but it’s true.” She rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath. He just gave her a cocky grin before Beau stepped in.
“To Cash and Vannah. V, welcome to the family although, you have been a part of it since you stepped into this town.”
