Page 118 of All I Need

“Margarita Madness tonight!” one of them shouts.

Christine groans, “Last time it took me two days to recover.”

“As long as I don’t have to clean up the puke, I’m okay with it,” Andy says walking up to the group of ladies. He greets them all and I marvel at the fact that they don’t seem affected by his good looks. Not that he has anything on Walker but still… I wasn’t expecting it.

“That’s Tess, Lauren and Carly. They’re crazy but super nice. Tess is Harper’s mom,” she tells me knowing that I have already met Harper.

“You two up for margaritas?” Christine shouts in our direction.

“Don’t corrupt them!” Andy shouts. “Just say no, Ellie. Trust me.”

The three ladies all turn in our direction and Tess’s face lights up when she sees Willow. “Willow, oh my gosh! I didn’t know you were here. Yes. Join us, please. And your friend, too. Hi, I’m Tess.”

“Hey, Tess,” Willow says. “This is Ellie. She’s…”

“Walker’s! Oh yeah. I’ve heard all about her from your boy. Gah, aren’t Harper and Grayson adorable together? I think it’s giving Barrett and the boys an aneurism which makes it even more fun but seriously, they’re so cute together. They make me happy. He’s such a good kid. We just love him,” she gushes then stops her rambling just long enough to introduce the other ladies who are just smiling at us. “This is Lauren and that’s Carly, my sister-in-law. Come with us. Have you been to El Charro yet? I mean, they kind of cringe when they see us coming in but they have the best margaritas and you must join us.”

“I’ve been,” I tell her, not able to get much more out before she beams at me.

“Great! Meet us there, okay? Call Walker. Tell him the plan because he’ll need to pick you up. We don’t mess around with drinking and driving.”

“Um.”

“Just say yes,” Carly says. “Trust me, it’ll be a lot easier if you just give in.”

Tess and Lauren are nodding their heads.

“Okay, yeah. Sounds fun.”

“Fun,” Andy scoffs. “Mommy’s gonna need the big bucket tonight,” he tells a giggling Hazel.

“Oh hush. We need to officially welcome Ellie here and what better way to do it?” Christine says.

“Welcome home, Ellie,” Willow says, eyes shining with happiness.

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