Page 73 of Not Part of the Plan
“Is the baby here?” Emma appeared in the corridor now wearing serviceable flats and a hopeful expression.
Niko beckoned her closer, and she joined him next to Reva.
“Oh! How precious! Boy or girl?” Emma asked.
“Boy,” Joey said without taking her eyes off of the foal.
“He’s perfect,” Emma sighed. “What’s his name?”
“Thunder?” Joey threw out.
“Right because we want to name the founding member of our breeding program after every kid’s pony ever.”
“Fine, smartass. You suggest something.”
“Green Light?” Jax suggested.
Joey shook her head. “Too Hollywood.”
They all took turns throwing out and rejecting suggestions. “The Dark Knight?”
“George.”
“Octavius.”
“Clippy?” A sleepy Caleb roused himself to offer the suggestion. “We can’t call him Cloppy ‘cause we already got one of those.”
“Eclipse,” Reva offered.
The stables were quiet as everyone mulled it over. Joey nodded. “Yeah. Yeah. Eclipse. I like it.”
“Nice job, kid,” Jax said, ruffling Reva’s hair. “You just named a horse.”
Caleb yawned and settled back down on the hay bale.
Joey rose and stepped into Jax’s arms. “It looks like we’ve got ourselves a good start, Jackson Pierce.” She kissed him hard on the mouth before releasing him. “I’m going to make some coffee, and we need to get Caleb to bed or he’ll miss another day of school this week.”
She was grinning when she floated past.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Normally, Emma enjoyed a busy week at the brewery. However, the busy-ness was cutting into her time with Niko. And for the first time in a long time, she was interested in enjoying her social life.
Unfortunately, right now, she was stuck on the bar since Cheryl had come down with a head cold that was “suffocating the life out of her.”
For the first time since Rainbow had spotted her with Niko at Shorty’s, Emma didn’t even flinch when known Beautification Committee conspirers bellied up to the bar. Her fears over any meddling in her love life had been allayed, and she offered Rainbow’s husband, Gordon Berkowicz, a smile and a pint. His hairline was receding on top, making it look like his hair had just shifted back into the long ponytail he wore down the back of a Janis Joplin cover band t-shirt. His jeans looked as though they’d lived through the sixties. He and his son, Anthony—a skinnier glasses-wearing version of his father—was enjoying a mango margarita.
Gordon peered over his reading glasses at the bar menu, debating between appetizers.
“Have you gentlemen decided?” Emma asked.
Gordon put down the menu and nodded at his son. “We’re going to go with the rockfish bites.” He elbowed Anthony in the side, and Anthony coughed.
“So, Emma. You’ve been in town a while now. What do you think of Blue Moon?”
Anthony was the editor ofThe Monthly Moon, Blue Moon’s monthly community newspaper. Emma was aware that anything she said to Peter Parker could end up in an article.
“What’s not to love about Blue Moon?” she asked, taking their menu and keying in the order on the POS.
