Page 113 of The One With the Mountain Man

"I called The Red Tourist and talked to the owner. Clint? Yeah, I told him you were here and missing his sandwich. He said hi by the way. Gave me his recipe and said Cuban bread was important but I couldn't get that in time so it's French bread, but I used the same garlic, butter, and cheese treatment so hopefully it's—"

I set the plate down and hugged him. Hard. "Why did you go to all this trouble for me?"

He was stiff at first. Then he laughed and patted my back. "Because you take care of Huk the way he's always needed. This is my way of saying thank you for making Huk happy. You see him and you know what he needs. And I don't want you getting all homesick and leaving."

I batted away tears, gazed at my sandwich, and knew that there was no chance of getting homesick when I was already home.

Thirty-Five

Jackson

This is a lot of alcohol for so few women

I blinkedat the scene before me. Then I blinked again. "What the hell?"

"Beats the fuck out of me," Scottie shook with laughter beside me.

Travis's eyes were so wide they might just pop out of his head. "I'm not allowed to see this, right? It's against the law. No one should see their little sister dancing half naked on a dinner table."

The scene at Aviana's was chaos. While we'd been hanging at the saloon, sipping beer and eating wings while watching the Mantas beat the Orioles, the girls had gotten piss-assed drunk.

"I thought this was just a tasting." I glared at Scottie. This was his fault. He arranged the tasting, set the whole thing up.

"It wassupposedto be a tasting, but you can't blame me if they decided a taste wasn't enough."

Travis picked up three empty bottles. "This is a lot of alcohol for so few women."

Joanne's bottoms were gone. If they were pants or a skirt, I had no idea. Her t-shirt hung off one shoulder exposing her hot pink bra. Aviana and Eve were dressed to match, singing into half-empty bottles of Johnny Walker and Jameson. Mack and Marley were huddled over a pizza on the other side of the room, whispering and waving their hands. Karis was asleep on the floor in an adult onesie, the hood pulled over her head and eyes. Willow was singing a completely different song in a sports bra and leggings while lying on the kitchen counter. And Annie of all people was wearing as much cake batter as she was stirring in a bowl, and she was only wearing an apron.

"Huk!" Eve shrieked. It startled Joanne and Aviana who both started windmilling their hands through the air.

Travis and I moved fast, each catching one. Then he plucked Eve off the table. "Do not dance on tables when you're drunk."

"I'm not drunk!"

And yet every word was pronounced wrong. "You are, Quick Draw. I promise."

She scowled at me. "Why are there two of you?"

"Case in point." I looped an arm around her waist before she dove into the kitchen tile.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Aviana whined, grabbing hold of Eve's hand.

"I'm not going. Are we going?" She looked up at me.

Based on the look in both their drunken eyes, I'd missed some obvious news. "To wherever you can sit and drink water and eat some food."

"I ate food." She pouted.

"More than one slice of pizza?"

Her face scrunched and her eyes squinted. "Maybe? Where are the snacks?"

"Here!" Aviana almost fell over the couch as she weaved from the refrigerator to the living room. In one hand she had a cheese platter. In the other a dip of some kind.

"Oh for fucks sake. I told you to eat those before you started!" Scottie threw his hands in the air. "This is basic shit for drinking liquor! You act like you didn't go to college." He specifically pinned Aviana with that glare.

She peeled back the plastic that was covering it and started shoving crackers covered in dip into her mouth. "We were," she said with a mouthful of food. "But Karis had a bad day, so we went straight to drinking."

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