“Brooklyn!” Willa greeted, rushing from around the counter of Leather and Ink to give me a hug.
“Hey, Willa.” I smiled.
Her eyes drifted to Duke. “You.”
“Before you lay into me, I brought you something,” Duke said, holding up the covered pie tin and handing it to her.
“What’s this?” she asked as she peeked underneath the foil.
“Apple pie with cheese,” Duke explained.
“With cheese? That’s weird.”
“It’s delicious,” he countered. “And something they do in New England. Right, Brooklyn?”
“Righto, Duke.”
“You made this pie, I’m guessing,” Willa said to me.
“Guilty.”
“Half of it is missing,” she noted.
“I ate it,” Duke said. “The other half is for you.”
“Just like your apology, which is half-assed,” she said lightly.
“Apology? What did you do?” I asked Duke, putting my hands on my hips.
“He gave my fourteen-year-old sister instruction on how to fight—schoolyard-brawl style.” She glared at Duke.
“What? Now she knows how to defend herself.” Duke shrugged.
“That’s not the problem,” Willa said. “The problem is that she went to school and started teaching all her classmates.”
“It’s a tough world out there,” Duke said. “Waverly needs to know how to defend herself.”
“Agreed,” Willa said. “But it would’ve been nice not to have gotten a phone call about it.”
“Did she get suspended?” Duke asked.
“No. She was let off with a warning, thank God,” Willa said.
Watching their interaction was amusing. I still didn’t believe they were just friends.
The door to the boutique opened and Mia strode in, a baby carrier strapped to her chest. “Am I late? Scarlett had a diaper issue.”
“No, you’re not late,” I said with a smile. “We’re early.”
“Perfect.” Mia gave Willa a side hug and Willa peered down at the baby against Mia’s body.
“How are you supposed to go shopping and try clothes on with a baby attached to you?” Duke asked.
“You’re going to hold her,” Mia explained.
Duke’s mouth dropped open. “No. No way.”
“Yes, way. Colt’s taking me out to dinner. Like, dinner at a real restaurant, sans children. I need something new, something hot and something stretchy.”
Duke’s face screwed up in an expression of pure panic. “Babies are…babies. They’re soft and squishy and…breakable.”
“You’ll be fine,” Mia said, her hands already going for the carrier to unstrap Scarlett.
“Yeah, Duke. You’ll be fine. If you can teach a fourteen-year-old girl how to hold her own in a schoolyard brawl, you can hold a baby,” Willa teased.
“It’s not like I showed her how to defend herself with a knife,” Duke muttered. “Just her fists.”
“Stab and twist,” Mia said absently.
We all looked at her.
“What? You think I don’t know that? I’m a biker’s wife, for crying out loud.”
Duke sat in one of the leather chairs near the changing rooms, and Mia placed the baby in his arms. He looked terrified for a few minutes, but he eventually relaxed.
“She’s so tiny,” Duke commented, gazing down at the baby, clearly mesmerized.
Mia snorted. “She didn’t feel so tiny when she was coming out of me.”
Willa barked out a laugh.
“Thanks,” I said dryly. “What a lovely reminder of what’s to come.”
Mia linked her arm through mine and led me in the direction of the leather clothing display. “How are you feeling?”
“Morning sickness. That’s about all so far.”
“So, your waist hasn’t thickened yet?”
“Nope. Pants are feeling a little snug though. Might have to move into stretchy clothing territory soon.”
“I’m a fan of that. If you ever have any questions, or you just want someone to talk to about what you’re going through, please call me. I mean it.”
“Thanks,” I said quietly. “I appreciate that.”
“Though I guess you could just talk to your mom about it.” She pulled a dress out. “This is cute.”
“It’ll probably be easier to get a hold of you. My mom ran out on me when I was a kid.”
She looked at me. “Shit. I’m sorry. I just blurted out—”
“It’s fine.” I forced a smile.
“I lost my mom young,” she admitted. “I called Darcy every time I had a question.”
“You guys really lean on each other, don’t you?” I asked.
“Yes. We’re more than friends. We’re family.” She put the dress back and picked another one with a cut that would show off her cleavage. “Oh, yeah. I have to try this on.”
“I’m sure it’ll look great on you.”
“You should peruse the back of the boutique,” she said, her eyes twinkling.
“What’s in the back?”
“The lingerie section.” With a wink, she headed in the direction of the changing rooms.
How was I supposed to shop for lingerie when Duke was sitting in the store?
Scarlett began to cry, and Duke tried to shush her to no avail. “Mia! Your daughter is hungry, and I don’t have the right parts!”
“Brooklyn, will you bring her to me?” Mia asked. “I’m in a state of undress right now.”
“No problem.”
I gently took the baby from Duke. She nestled perfectly in the crook of my arms as I carried her, and I realized that in the not-so-distant future, I’d be holding my own baby.
“Find everything okay?” Willa asked when I brought my haul over to the counter.
“Yeah. I kind of want to buy this entire store,” I admitted with a laugh.
“I know. That’s the struggle working here. I have to try not to spend my entire paycheck on things in this place.” She grinned and began to ring me up.
While she was folding my purchases and sliding them into brown bags, I peered at the dainty laptop and the screen that was open to the store’s web page.
“Oh, I love that layout,” I said to Willa. “I have to get my website redesigned to add the catering side of the business. Is your web designer taking new clients?”
“You like the website? Really?” Willa asked.
“Yeah, it’s gorgeous.”
She grinned. “Me.”
“You, what?”
“Me. I’m the web designer.”
“Stop it! Can I hire you?” I begged.
“Absolutely!” She handed me my bag. “There, you’re all set.”
“One tiny problem,” I said.
“What’s that?”
“I haven’t paid,” I reminded her.
She beamed. “It’s been taken care of.”
“Taken care of?”
“Slash took care of it, of course,” Mia said as she came to the counter with Scarlett back in her carrier.
“What do you mean, Slash took care of it of course?” I demanded.
“What are you doing now?” Mia asked. “Do you have the rest of the afternoon off, or do you have things you need to be doing?”
“I’m free.”
“Let’s go get a cup of coffee,” she said. “And I’ll fill you in on some things. Sound good?”
I nibbled my lip. “Duke rode with me.”
“I’ll stick around here,” Duke said. “Willa can give me a ride. Right?”
Willa nodded. “Yup. I can do that.”
Twenty minutes later, I was sitting down at a café with Mia.
After giving our orders to the server, Mia stole a hand across Scarlett’s back. She looked down at her sleeping daughter, a dreamy smile flitting across her face.
The café was mostly empty, but we were in the corner of the restaurant, away from most ears.
“I’m not from the biker world,” she began. “I didn’t grow up in it. I didn’t understand it, and when Colt and I first got together, we bumped heads a lot. He wanted to take care of me the biker way, which doesn’t always jive with the outside world.”
“It makes me uncomfortable,” I admitted. “The way Slash just…spends money. Tells me how to spend his money. How things are just…done because of the situation we’re in.”
“I know. I didn’t like the imbalance I felt in my relationship with Colt, either. It was hard to get used to. I’d been pulling my own weight and working and supporting myself for years. And then there was this guy, swooping in with his money and protection, and I wasn’t sure how to handle it.”
“What made you okay with all of it?”
“He didn’t give me much of a choice.” She grinned. “I had to trust him. I had to trust that him caring for me financially was not the same as him clipping my wings, you know?”
I let out a sigh. “Yes, that. That’s exactly what I’ve been feeling without being able to put it into words.”
“I know it’s a lot. I know it’s overwhelming, and you’re expecting a baby. Your whole life has changed in the blink of an eye, so give yourself some grace to discover where your lines are. But I think you’ll find that as time goes by and you trust Slash more and more, things that used to bother you just won’t anymore.”
“I let him off the hook, you know? When I found I was pregnant.”
“Off the hook how?”
“I wasn’t going to tell him,” I said slowly.
“You weren’t.”
She said it as a statement, not a question.
“I wasn’t.” I shrugged. “We’d only spent one night together, and he said he was a rolling stone. That he didn’t get tied down. Besides…”
“The biker thing. Doesn’t scream suburb stability. Yeah, I get that. What made you change your mind?”
“He came back to town.” I smiled slightly at her. “And he—ah...”
The server returned with our drinks. I’d ordered chamomile tea, needing something to soothe me after the running around of the day.
“He what?”
“Told me one night wasn’t enough.” My cheeks bloomed with heat. “And when I told him my life was complicated and I didn’t have time to be some guy’s piece of ass every time he happened to be riding through town, the bag I was carrying ripped open and out spilled all the baby books I’d just bought.”
She leaned back in her seat. “He didn’t tell us any of this.”
“What did he tell you?” I asked.
Mia bit her lip. “He went to Colt. Privately. He said he would be sticking around for a while because of you and the baby, and he asked if there was a permanent role in the club for him. Colt said yes. We lost a brother a while back. A seasoned brother.” Her eyes dimmed. “Duke and Savage are wonderful, but they’re still young, you know? South Paw and Crow will become patched in soon, but it was beneficial for both the club and for Slash that he wanted to stick around. Beneficial for you too, it seems.”
“This relationship is going at warp speed,” I muttered. “And yet…”
“It feels right. Doesn’t it?”
I nodded slowly.
“When they know they know. And Colt knew I was the one for him before I did. It all worked out in the end.” She brushed a hand against Scarlett’s head. “It’ll work out for you too. You just have to give it some time.”
We chatted about other things; her adopted son who was a science whiz, how I was enjoying the house and whether I had thought about the nursery yet.
When we said our goodbyes in the parking lot, she said, “We have an Old Ladies group text. Can I put you on it?”
“I’m not an Old Lady though,” I pointed out.
She snorted. “As good as.”
I thought about it and then nodded. “Yeah. That would be nice. Thanks.”
If being an Old Lady meant I had friends like Mia and a man who was willing to protect me and care for me, then I was all about it.
I got home and it was quiet. I would be glad when Slash was back in town. Thinking of Slash reminded me of the lingerie he’d purchased for me.
With a wicked grin, I changed into the black lace bodysuit. I took my hair out of my ponytail and ran my fingers through it. Then I stood in front of the mirror and snapped a picture.
I sent him a text that said Thank you for the gift.
A few minutes later, my phone chimed with his reply.
Gorgeous. I’m going to shred it with my teeth.