Page 9 of Restless Ink

“The usual. My brother, Shep. His wife, Shea. My sister, Adrienne and her dude, Mace. And my other sister, Roxie, and her husband, Carter.” Thea paused, wondering if she should say who else she’d invited, then thought she might as well broach the subject that she’d actually called about. “I also invited Dimitri since he and I are friends, but he doesn’t think he’ll be able to make it since he might be going to visit his brother. So, you’re not going to have to deal with that if that would be an issue. Is it an issue?”

Not the smoothest way to bring it all up. But now, it was out in the open, and she would go with it.

“That sounds like it’s going to be fun. I can’t make it, but I’m glad you invited Dimitri. He seemed a bit lonely the last time I saw him. Maybe you and your family can cheer him up. Anyway, I must be off, I’m going shopping with the girls to find a new dress for our next event. You have no idea how hard it is to find something these days. Have fun tonight, and give Dimitri my…well, just have fun.”

And with that, her friend hung up, and Thea just shook her head, a smile playing on her lips. That might’ve been a strange conversation, but it was still very much a Molly conversation.

Shaking off that weird feeling, Thea went to make her veggie and cheese plates. She’d only bought three cheeses because Shep had made fun of her last time when she had an array of ten. But she was a cheesemonger and loved all things cheese. She was even an honorary Green Bay Packers fan, merely because of the headwear. She’d been ten when she made that choice, and she still had jerseys and the foam cheesehead that she wore when she was alone in her house watching the games. She figured if she hadn’t become a baker, she probably would have become a chef who worked primarily with cheese.

She didn’t necessarily think the smellier the better, but she liked smelly, and she liked buttery. For tonight, she’d only bought a Gouda, some cheddar, and a soft white, which pretty much rounded out the main cheese groups. Of course, now that she looked at the plates, she realized that some of her favorites were missing, as well as some of her favored crackers, but she didn’t have enough time to head to the grocery store to get more. Plus, she didn’t want to deal with her brother making fun of her in her own house, so three cheeses would have to do.

Thea put on her latest audiobook about a fae prince and a human woman and finished getting the food ready, along with setting out a selection of cookies and brownies because there was no way she was hosting a party without baked goods. Once things were either warming, cooling, or setting, she went to work cleaning up around her home, straightening pillows and tossing blankets artfully along the couch like her mother had taught her to do. None of her siblings were particularly amazing when it came to decorating or keeping their houses perfect, but that’s not what her parents had taught them. Instead, all of their homes had their own touches with the little bit of mess that came from living.

Thea had bought her house the same year she opened the bakery. She’d been living on ramen and canned green beans along with any stale cookies from her shop for over a year because of it. She hadn’t meant to go into that much debt all at once, but her perfect three-bedroom house with its mountain views and a full wall of windows facing that view had gone on sale during the best buyer’s market ever. She’d practically bled for the loan paperwork and had almost been forced to ask her parents to co-sign—something they had already offered—but in the end, she had her house and her business.

Just no one to share them with.

She pushed those thoughts out of her mind as she pulled the games out of the closet, setting them on the coffee table. The others would bring their games with them since it never made sense to store all of them at one house since they alternated game nights between each of their homes.

Thea let out a breath and stared at the random assortment of board and drinking card games she had. It was a silly way to spend the night and, honestly, for a bunch of tattooed and pierced people, they were all pretty lame when it came to nights out. But as two of their four had children in their homes and rarely had time off, it just made sense for their nights to age as they did. Of course, they all had guys’ nights and girls’ nights where copious amounts of drinking occurred, but tonight would be a little tamer.

She thought about the bottles of wine and whiskey she’d already set out and grinned. Okay, so tonight might not bethattame in the end, but at least one of each of the couples would stay sober, or they’d do like last time and Lyft it to her house.

Thea smiled then wondered how, once again, she’d ended up the single one at her own party. And while she loved the idea that her siblings were either married or well on their way to being so, she hated the idea that she’d somehow been left behind.

She’d spent so long working on her career and her house, that she’d forgotten human interaction. Images of her night with Roger came back to her, and she gagged. Ugh, maybe human interaction was overrated since she had absolutely no desire to ever get back into bed with Roger or his ilk.

Not that he’d actually called or even texted her since she’d left his house, but still.

Men sucked.

Of course, as soon as she thought that, Dimitri came to mind. Well,hedidn’t suck. He was always nice to her, caring, and helpful. And now it sounded as if she were describing his golden retriever. But that’s what came with doing her bestnotto think about his ass, his forearms, or his smile.

Nope, not thinking about those.

Instead, she ran back to her bedroom, touched up her makeup and hair since she’d been working and moving around all day, switched into a long, black, racerback maxi dress and shrug, and walked back out into her living room to make sure everything was going according to plan.

The doorbell rang as she was stirring the meatballs in her crockpot, her mouth watering since she loved them almost as much as she loved cheese and baked goods. She gave them one last stir and went to open the door.

Shep and Shea walked in, giving her tight hugs that she knew she’d never get tired of. Her brother had lived in New Orleans for years after finding a tattoo shop and crew he fit into like another family. He’d even met his wife down in the big easy. Thea had missed him every damn day and had hated the fact that he’d been down there for so long, having a life of his own.

Then, last year, he’d come back with Shea and their daughter Livvy, and Thea barely resisted the urge to tuck them all close and never let them out of her sight. She might not be the oldest sibling—in fact, she was the second youngest—but she sure acted like the eldest most of the time.

“We brought Pictionary,” Shea said wryly, her blond hair in ringlets around her face. She looked like an angel in Thea’s opinion, but she loved her sister-in-law like she was her true sister. Apparently, Shea’s family was horrible beyond measure, but that just meant that Shea was a Montgomery now no matter what. There was no going back—not that anyone wanted her to.

“Wasn’t there a flying pen incident last time?” Thea asked, her eyes wide, her mouth twitching as she held back a laugh.

Shep rolled his eyes, his hands full of games and beer. Shea held what looked like bacon tortilla roll-ups and hip-bumped her husband.

“You were the one that threw the pen if I recall,” Shea said, fluttering her lashes.

“It was one time, and I don’t want to talk about it. Now can I put this down and take off my coat? I’m roasting in here.”

Thea just snorted and took the beer from his hands so he could easily handle the other stuff he held. Shea followed Thea to the kitchen where, after Shea took off her jacket and shoes, the two of them started working on setting up the food areas.

When the doorbell rang again, Shep called out, “Got it!”

Thea just shrugged. Her hands were full, and it wasn’t like it would be anybody but family anyway.

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