Page 54 of Carver
My family knows that the club’s help doesn’t depend on that. They’re the kind of salt of the earth people that can believe in no strings attached, even if my parents are both lawyers and worked in that world long enough to have seen the flip side of humanity. They’ve been willing to give me the total benefit of the doubt here and put their faith in my judgment.
“He hasn’t decided if he’s going to do that or not. We’re just trying to get the shop finished so he can sculpt again, that and his doctor appointments come before anything else.”
“Pfff, when did he ever let temporarily not being able to do something stop him? The club restored that old Triumph for him and it’s freaking incredible! You sent me all those photos, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. Even if he can’t ride it and it’s more of a decorative antique, you could get one of those tricycle motorcycle things so you and Ellie could ride with him.”
“Ellie? She’s a baby!”
“She won’t be forever,” Ginny reasons. She’s looking around the hall now and decidedly not focusing on the women again. I don’t want to be hypocritical, but at the same time, how can I not be a protective big sister? I can’t say that the people here are wonderful and then tell her not to show interest. I guess it’s just that no matter who the guy is she eventually falls for, no matter what he does or where he comes from, I’d want him to treat her right. “Or trick out a minivan for all the other babies you’ll be having. I know you want a hundred.”
“Four isn’t a hundred.”
“It’s pretty much a hundred,” she snarks me back. “But seriously. You can’t tell me that Dom’s not going to eventually just fall into this if he’s friends with everyone. And if you’re friends with all the women and you know all their kids.” She holds up a hand at the look on my face. “Don’t get panicked. I’m not saying that it’s for sure and I’m not going to spread rumors or make things up. Mom and dad are fine with that. Even Gabriel had to admit that everyone was ‘pretty much okay’, when I talked to him ten minutes ago, and we both know that nothing and no one is ever good enough for you and his niece.”
“That’s not true. He loves Dom.” I find my dad and brother in the back of the crowd. They’re talking to Wizard—the guy who does security for the club along with Dravin, and to Odin—a one-eyed older man who has a rough look about him and the stance of someone that screamsex soliderorfighter,but when I did the rounds earlier with Ellie in my arms, he was very sweet and made a big deal about the hairbows I had to fight to get her wispy hair into.
“He loved him after a few years because you loved him, and you worked on him. Gabe. Not Dom. I mean, both, but I was talking about Gabe. He wouldn’t have come around if you weren’t so adamant. He finally had to admit that he didn’t want to get bloodied by his own sister and you would have popped him right in the nose if he’d kept on refusing to see the good in man you were going to make a life with.”
We both share a private laugh. That’s the truth.
“It’s so wild, in a good way, how you decided that when you were so young, and ten years later, lifetimes later, here you are.” Ginny sweeps her hands to encompass the whole room.
Here we are.
She makes it sound like we’re set, or that we’ve arrived, but I know that we still have so much work ahead of us. So much growth, so many challenges, a whole future. All of our lives.
“You have to fall in love over and over again. Some people live a few lifetimes, others thousands, but no one stays the same,” I say softly under my breath.
“I hope you keep growing together.” Ginny grasps my hand and squeezes tight. “I love seeing you so happy. Ellie too.”
“She adores being the center of attention.”
Even in my mom’s arms, Ellie keeps motioning wildly, wanting to see and do everything and meet everyone. My poor mom is acting more like a taxi service while a demanding one-year-old steers her.
“Okay, well, what if I started doing the rounds as well? I know you already thanked everyone for coming, but as family, I feel obligated to offer double thanks.” She winks at me, so I know trouble’s coming. “I might just ask the single looking ones if they indeed are single.”
“Ginny, please don’t.” I’m not sure why I bother begging. It’s not going to get me anywhere.
“I might be your little sister and the baby of the family, but I’m an adult now. There are so many hot baddies here.” She sends me a sly smirk after doing another slow sweep of the hall. “And a few daddies.”
“All the daddies are firmly taken. Irrevocably and absolutelytaken.” I have no idea if that’s true or not, but I want it to be.
“What about them?” Ginny’s staring directly at the twins. They’re Canadians who broke down here on a road trip and just stayed. Or was that someone else? I had Lynette, Willa, Ella, Lark, Haley, Tarynn, and Kael give me a rundown on the men in the club, at least those who were there the day we did the impromptu cookout in our backyard after setting up the house, but I’d just met them and had trouble following everything. “Twins are double the fun,” Ginny sighs.
“Not them. Anyone but them,” I insist. “One of them is married to his truck for starters.” Though don’t ask me which one it is. Grave, I think. “They’re names are Grave and Decay foranother. With names like that, it’s pretty much just a parade of bad news.”
“But you just said the daddies—”
“Anyone but them and the daddies,” I correct.
I’m so happy that the twins give each other a coded look and move off towards the kitchen. It’s just about that time where the food is going to be set out on the folding tables at the front. Maybe they’re going in to help.
“What about him?” Ginny does a head nod thing at the man who just exited the kitchen. Tall, but muscular, with glasses, Wizard looks the part of the techy guy, but I have this feeling that he plays it up. Deceptively nerdy and all that.
“Wizard? He does security for the club. He almost never comes out to any events, so it’s an honor that he’s here for this.” He’s only here for a little bit because Dravin also helps with that now and he convinced Wizard to leave the prospects at the club for an hour while they both monitor everything remotely.
“Is he one of those slightly nerdy, techy guys who is secretly super hot?”
“Does he look like he needs to be secretly hot?” I shouldn’t be asking Ginny that.
