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“We’re hitting Hilltop after work. You coming?”
I dropped a wrench in my toolbox and closed the top. “Nah.”
“Nah?” Remy laughed. “Did you really just say nah to going out?”
“Leave him alone,” Harlyn chastised Remy. “Maybe he has other plans.”
I pointed my finger at Harlyn. “I knew you were a good one when we found you on the side of the road.”
Harlyn rolled her eyes. “Pretty sure you were passed out in the back of Remy’s car when my car broke down.”
A huge smile spread across Remy’s lips. “You so were. Seems you pass out during important moments in life.”
“Yeah, because you meeting Harlyn was an important moment in my life.”
Remy slung his arm over Harlyn’s shoulder. “Was in mine.” He pressed a kiss to the side of her head and pulled her close.
She patted him on the chest and laughed. “Just why are you laying it on so thick right now?” she asked.
Remy held his hand over her hand and scoffed. “I’m offended that you think I’m being nice just to get something.”
She rolled her eyes. “Spit it out, Remy.”
“Fine,” he mumbled. “Mom wants to come out for the Fourth of July.”
“I’m not sure why that is a problem?”
“I might have told her we were having a Fourth of July party.”
“Remy,” she scolded. “We don’t have plans like that at all.”
“I know, I know. But she kept asking what we were doing, and I just sort of blurted out we were having a party.”
I shook my head and closed all the drawers on my toolbox. “Lord have mercy. Meg coming to town for a party. I can only imagine the trouble she’s going to get into.”
“Lo is coming with her. Along with Cyn and Rigid,” he reassured us.
“You should have stopped with Lo coming with. You know how she is when she has Cyn with her.” Harlyn folded her arms over her chest. “Even with Rigid there to help Lo, you know they can’t handle those two together.”
Remy’s mom and her friend were some of the coolest people I had ever met, but if there was trouble to be had when they were around, you better believe they were there getting into it. “Good luck with that, bro.”
“You’ll be there,” Remy laughed. “It’s at our place, and I told her your family would be there.”
“What? Why in the hell would you tell her that?” Since the Fourth of July landed in the middle of the week, I figured I would find something to do with Delaney. Her mom wasn’t due back for another two weeks, and I didn’t like Delaney being by herself too much.
“Because misery loves company, and I figured it was a good idea for Leelee to meet your baby mama.”
“Because that was your decision to make,” I mumbled.
“Okay, okay. This isn’t that bad of a deal,” Harlyn interrupted. “You know I love your mom, Remy, and maybe it is a good idea for Leelee and Kurt to meet Delaney.”
I grabbed my keys off the hook above the bench and shoved them in my pocket. “She doesn’t even know I’m having a baby, Harlyn. Don’t you think it would be better to tell her without shoving Delaney and her baby bump under her nose?”
Harlyn pressed her hands to her mouth and sighed. “She has a baby bump?” she cooed.
I rolled my eyes and pointed a finger at Remy. “You’re an asshole for doing this.”
He shrugged. “It is what it is, dude. You really wanna disappoint my mom and not have your family at the party.”
“She’s your mom, not mine.” I didn’t want to disappoint Remy’s mom, but come on. He not only wanted me to invite my sister to my house to meet Delaney but then he also wanted to have some party?
“Your ass will be there and your girl’s and sister’s asses better be there, too,” Remy ordered.
“Don’t talk about my sister’s ass,” I mumbled.
I headed toward the front of the shop, and my hand touched the door handle when Remy shouted.
“So you’ll be there, right?”
I closed my eyes and dropped my chin to my chest. “Yeah, I’ll be there.” I pushed out into the dark night and beeped open the locks on my car.
All I wanted to do was go to Delaney’s house to relax, but now, I needed to call my sister on the way there, tell her about Delaney, and then tell Delaney my sister and brother-in-law were coming for a visit.
I got into my car, connected my phone to the Bluetooth, then called Leelee on the way to Delaney’s.
“Holy hell. Did you actually just call me?”
I laughed and turned onto the main road. “Yeah. It happens every now and then.”
“Must be a full moon out or something,” she muttered.
It sure felt like there was. “You guys got any plans for the fourth?”
“Just the usual race but nothing exciting.”
Only Leelee would think the annual drag race at the strip wasn’t exciting. “Kurt doesn’t plan on racing?” I asked. Maybe they wouldn’t be able to make it.
“He blew his motor last week. Right now, he’s moping around while he rebuilds it. He thinks one of the parts he ordered is on backorder, but it’s not. I’m just teaching him a lesson he needs to lay off the NOS. Asshole goes through it so fast, he pushes his car too close to its limit.”
“Poor guy,” I laughed. Kurt was probably climbing the walls waiting for that part.
“Yeah, poor guy, my ass. Why are you asking about the fourth?”
I cleared my throat and turned onto Delaney’s street. It was nice she only lived about five minutes from the shop. “I thought maybe you guys would want to come out here. For the day or something.”
“Uh, I guess we could. But why?”
“Well, Remy’s mom is coming out, and he told her we were having a party and that you and Kurt would be there.”
“That’s odd,” she laughed. “But Kurt and I can be there.”
“But Leelee?”
“Yeah?”
I sighed. “There’s someone I want you to meet when you guys are here.”
The line went silent, and I thought she had hung up before I heard her scream.
“Kurt!” she shouted. “Jay finally has a girlfriend!”
I heard Kurt mumble but couldn’t make out what he said.
“He said you probably just got a new car and refer to her as a person.” She paused. “Please tell me he’s not right.”
I chuckled and turned into Delaney’s driveway. I did plan on getting a new car, but I wasn’t talking about that. “No. She’s actually a girl.”
“Hot damn!” Leelee shouted. “It’s a live and breathing woman, Kurt!”
“Does that mean you’ll be at the party.”
“I’m already booking a hotel,” she murmured. “We’ll be there the third and check out the fifth.”
Oh great. Three days they would be here. I was sort of hoping they would just drive in for the day. It didn’t seem like I had much luck today. “I guess I should be happy you’re not insisting to stay at the house.”
“Hell no,” she laughed. “That means I’d have to help with cooking and cleanup. No thank you. I did that enough for you growing up.”
Leave it to Leelee to say it how it was. “Then I guess I’ll see you in a few days.”
“You bet your ass you will.” Leelee hung up just as I parked in the driveway.
Now, I just had to let Delaney know she was going to meet my family sooner than I had thought.
*
