Page 64 of Bad Boy for Hire
“That can wait,” Ant was fast to point out. “Wedding first.”
“Traditional, but I’ll allow it,” Griffin said.
“I’m supposed to be asking you guys to be in my wedding,” Ant continued. “I already asked Donny, and he said yes.”
“Like groomsmen?” Griffin asked, looking skeptical.
“Yes, exactly like groomsmen. What else?” Ant chuckled. “Lou has already asked the ladies, but Griff, if you say yes, I’ll need you to bury the hatchet with Lisa. You two will be paired up at the wedding.”
“Lisa and I are cool. We are going to be around each other more now that Aunt Wanda has initiated this art revival project for the Cove. I can be cordial.”
Xavier was glad to have the spotlight off him. “What went down between you two anyway?”
“Summer fling a million years ago.” Griffin shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. But it was a big deal, right? Or else why would Lisa and Griff bicker like a divorced couple?
“Cordial? You guys act like you hate each other,” Brady said.
“There’s a thin line, brother.” Griffin raised his beer bottle and said no more on the topic.
For the next hour, they shot the shit about work, the art initiative that Griffin had mentioned, wedding preparations for Ant and Lou, and finally, the topic circled back to Xavier. But they didn’t bring up the baby again, thank God. They asked about Salty Dog instead.
“Cheyenne came back from vacation and put in her notice to leave,” Xavier informed them. “I guess her husband’s divorcing her. I feel bad for her, but it’s terrible timing for me. Especially since I started working on this app for May’s boss.”
“You’re working on another app?” Ant asked.
“Yeah… I guess I forgot to mention it with everything else going on.”
“Understandable,” Brady said.
Xavier briefly explained what the app would do, and that May was involved as well. “She’s not building it, but she was the one who suggested I build it.”
“And here we assumed you’d chosen to be a bartender the rest of your life.” Brady grinned.
“I thought I would be okay with being a bartender for the rest of my life,” Xavier said. “It gave me something to do besides knock around the house. As it turns out, I really missed coding.”
“Nerd.” That was Griffin, who offered a toothy smile. “I can relate.”
“Yeah, number-cruncher, you can,” Ant put in. Then to Xavier, he said, “You and May are sounding official. Working for her boss. Having a baby together.”
“Asking about cribs,” Brady muttered against the mouth of his beer bottle.
“Labeling is dangerous,” Xavier said.
“Dangerous because…it’s permanent?” Brady gave him a side-eye. “There’s already permanence between you two, in case you haven’t noticed.”
Hell, Xavier knew that. The fact that his buddies kept spelling it out for him was insulting his intelligence. “That’s why I told her not to worry. I have everything under control. There’s no reason for her to plan when I’m capable of making sure she has everything she needs.”
“Like a crib?” Griffin asked. Brady snorted.
Xavier looked them both dead in the eye and said, “Yes.”
“Sounds like it’s settled,” Ant said. “I have three additional groomsmen, and”—he looked at Xavier—“a custom order for a crib.”
Chapter Nineteen
On a whim, Ant and Lou joined Xavier and May at Harvest Fest. Having lived in the Cove her entire life, May had been to the festival a few times, so she was accustomed to the decorations being more childlike and approachable than scary movie/ haunted house.
The setup at the Anderson home across from Library Park had been the same every year, right down to the skeleton in the yard wearing a pink dress. That gem had been courtesy of the former librarian, Mrs. Anderson. She’d passed away last year, but it appeared her husband, Tom, was keeping with tradition.
