Page 123 of Back in the Saddle

And I was making a Jessita Mojita (a regular mojito but with spiced rum, a dash of Cointreau, and a hint of passionfruit syrup) when part one of the triple threat strolled in.

Dream, Luna’s sister.

Luna tried to avoid her sister.

Raye tried to hide she didn’t like Luna’s sister.

Harlow said that Luna’s sister had issues we didn’t understand, so we should try to have patience with Luna’s sister.

I loathed Luna’s sister.

She was a granola hippie mooch with a chip on her shoulder who treated Luna like garbage, didn’t treat Scott or Louise much better, and the only thing she had going for her was that she adored the two kids she’d already popped out by two different guys (with another bun in the oven—yeah, by an entirely different guy).

All that was enough.

But I’d had more than my fill of parents who brought kids into the world, then thought the world owed them the favor of raising those kids for them.

Yes, at least Dream loved her kids.

But she often dumped them on Luna, and Raye, and her parents, and went off to do her own thing like she didn’t take on the most important job on the planet when she pushed them out.

However, shedid.

I hadn’t seen her in a while. She’d come to the funeral too. But just prior to that, at Luna’s birthday party, Cap had torn her a new asshole when Dream was being Dream and sucking all the joy out of Luna’s big night, so since then, she’d made herself scarce.

Now she was back with a kid strapped to her front over a slightly protruding belly, and one to her back.

She gave Shirleen a nod as she moved toward the bar, Daisy a once-over, whereupon she wrinkled her nose before she forced a smile (they’d met at the funeral, obvs).

And then she gave them a wide berth in an obvious effort not to engage with them, heading straight to the other side of the bar where Luna was.

I was already pissed at the nose wrinkle, the wide berth only made me more so. Therefore, I quickly finished my mojitos, put them on the server station for Harlow to pick up and slunk toward Luna to step in if shit went south.

“I know I’m not supposed to bother you at work, but I was driving by,” she started.

Raye got close too, and began polishing an already cleared table to a high shine.

“And I know you don’t want to help me with the kids,” Dream went on. “But I have an interview at a daycare center on Thursday, Mom and Dad are working, and I was hoping you could help me out.”

“I never said I didn’t want to help you with the kids—” Luna began, but she stopped when Dream gave her The Hand.

And yep.

At that, I was more pissed.

“We don’t need to go over it,” Dream said snottily. “I just need to know if you can watch them on Thursday.”

“I work Thursdays, Dream.”

Dream glanced over her shoulder. “Maybe Tito…”

She let that hang, and I didn’t know if she was asking if Tito would give Luna the time off, or if Tito would watch her kids for her.

She didn’t clarify.

I was so intent on this, I heard, “Hey, baby,” coming at me before I saw him walk up to the bar.

I knew that voice, and that “baby,” and…damn.

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