Page 106 of Homecoming

Leah sputtered, and Ava rolled her eyes, but chuckled.

“Do you like him?” Maggie asked.

“We’ve been friends for years, even if we haven’t kept in touch.” She shrugged. “Do I have to have a solid answer on that right now?”

Maggie and Ava both looked taken aback.

“Of course not,” Maggie said.

Ava said, “We’re not trying to pressure you.”

The quick thump of little feet heralded Cal’s arrival before he pelted into the room, blond hair flapping. “Mama, Mama, Mama.”

“What, baby?” Ava turned to him, and he thrust a toy toward her, a little red-faced; tears weren’t far off.

“It’s broken!”

“Here, let me see.”

The diversion gave Leah a chance to gather her thoughts; she felt a little flushed, and unsteady, and was glad she hadn’t gotten up for that second mimosa.

She was also doing what she’d done last night with Carter: thinking one thing on pure, unfiltered impulse, then thinking it to death, repackaging it, and saying something very different. It was exhausting, actually.

She was aware of Maggie studying her with unself-conscious intensity; did Maggie do anything self-consciously? If so, Leah had never seen it.

“Thank you!” Cal chirped, when Ava handed him the fixed toy, and he darted back to the living room, whooping with excitement.

When Ava glanced back, Leah took a big breath and said, “Okay, I like him.”

Ava and Maggie grinned.

Leah held up a hand to stop them before they could say anything. “I’m still figuring it out, okay. I don’t – I’m surprised. I never expected this. Yeah, he’s cute – he’shot” – she tipped her head in concession to Maggie – “but I’ve never gone for guys like him before, and it’s honestly freaking me out a little. But.” There was no denying the pleasant heat in her stomach when she thought of him, the chills that rippled over her skin when he looked at herlike that. “I don’t guess I trust him.”

Ava nodded.

Maggie said, “Is it the Lean Dog thing?”

“No, that’s actually a point in the win column.” She didn’t expect them to give her matching surprised looks. “What? I don’t have a problem with the club.”

Mother and daughter traded a look.

“It’s different being attached to it, honey,” Maggie said.

“Believe me, I know the risks.” It was maybe firmer than she’d intended. Both women studied her a moment, and then nodded.

“You’ve got to talk to him, then,” Ava said. “I can arrange another dinner…?”

“No.” She squared her shoulders and have herself a mental kick. “I’ve got to do this on my own.”

Maggie grinned. “Attagirl.”

~*~

Post-adrenaline crash, and with several whiskeys in his system, Carter slept like the dead and woke startled by the sharp rap of a fist on the other side of his door. “Church in ten,” Fox’s voice called through, and he dragged himself out of bed and into the shower.

His hair was still wet when he found his usual seat at the table, and was surprised – though maybe he shouldn’t have been – to find the prospects in attendance, too, standing lined up along the back wall, behind Mercy’s seat at the foot of the table. Reese and Tenny, he noted, stood with the other three between them; Reese had his arms folded, hands wrapped in white bandages. Tenny stared at the flags on the wall, working on a cigarette.

“Alright,” Ghost said, dropping into his chair, and all heads turned his direction. “Here’s what we know:

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