Page 46 of Here With Me (Paloma's Edge 2)

“Are you going to see Pierce today?”

Bri let out a sigh. “I don’t think so; he’s been working at The Paloma Two since this morning.”

Giving me an anxious sideways glance as I prepared another morir soñado for them, Beth managed to say in a hoarse sounding voice, “But rest assured Brianna, his ass will be grass if he even comes late to Thanksgiving dinner.”

Cheeks flushing red, Bri responded, “Don’t worry, I’ve got just the right punishment in store for him if he’s tardy.”

“Brianna!”

“Bethany!” She shot back with a devious quirk on the side of her face.

“Ugh! You remember that Pierce is my cousin. Those are the deets you go tell Mariska.”

I rounded the corner of the island and headed toward them with their drinks. “Ah, ah, ah,” I said in a mocking tone. “You don’t wanna be kept out of the loop, so you’ll hear all about Bri’s plans for Pierce.”

“Oh, of course, because that’s just what I’d meant,” Beth said with a sarcastic flare of her arms and began to drain her drink.

“When will your parents be back?” Bri questioned, a hint of sadness entering her tone.

I shrugged my shoulders, because I didn’t know. My parents had only spoken to me in short words and that had been when Pete had been in the same room as us.

“That silent treatment shit?” Beth asked knowingly.

Bri saddled closer to me by lifting her chair so it was next to mine. “Pour us the rest of morir soñado you have in the pitcher and we can see what Pete’s up to.” A pleased look flashed over Beth’s face and I followed Bri’s suggestion. I had to focus on the positives in my life.

Hunter

“CAN YOU GET THE door for me?” Gavin asked me as he was pulling the big ass turkey from the oven.

While Bri and Pierce were in the living room, kissing each other when they thought no one was watching, Beth was in the kitchen with Gavin and I. When I opened the door, Cindy was standing with a big container in her hands, looking shamefaced. I’d seen Beth’s mom from afar, but there was no mistaking those azure eyes and light brown hair. If she’d treated Beth decently, I’d even call her pretty. Ugly, however, was ugly, no matter what package it presented itself in. Chase had said that Cindy hadn’t given him an answer when he’d personally went to the Paloma Hotel and gave her an invitation to Beth’s not-so surprise birthday party. As Chase had said, “She looked at me like I’d bothered her.”

“Cindy,” Beth said breathlessly with her phone in her hand. I swooped right in and took the container of what had to be food from her and I walked to put it on top of the counter. Pierce stormed through the small kitchen and braced his hand on the door as Beth talked to her mom.

With a hopeful expression on her face, Bri went to the fridge and took out her tray of flans for everyone. “I knew she’d want to spend Thanksgiving with Beth,” she whispered to herself.

The turkey was cooling down and Gavin slid the sweet potato casserole into the oven. “What did you do, Bri?” Gavin sounded exasperated.

Bri put the tray on the counter, next to the container Cindy had brought with her. “I saw her at Agata’s Coffee Shop yesterday. I told her that she could spend Thanksgiving here with her daughter.”

“Without consulting with me first?” Gavin lifted one bushy eyebrow.

“It was a spur of the moment thing,” she said as she inhaled. “This turkey smells delicious. Doesn’t it, Hunter?”

I gave her a nod of my head when we saw Beth and Pierce welcome Cindy inside. But Pierce had done so apprehensively.

***

BETH AND CINDY WEREN’T talking much, but they were sitting next to each other without any trace of animosity. Perhaps, Bri had made the right move by inviting Cindy over here. I knew that everyone else had written Cindy off, including Beth herself. Cindy’s presence made up for Chase having to go to an away game with his team.

Gavin finally took a seat at the table, after he’d insisted on serving everyone their second and third portions. Not even Cindy, his senior, had been able to persuade him to eat his food when it was hot, like we all were. I saw Beth snap her head up and look at each of us until we were meeting her gaze. “Jake and Mariska just text me to tell you guys Happy Thanksgiving and that they’ll escape from their families during the Christmas break.”

We all told her to tell them that we said Happy Thanksgiving too.

“If they’re in as great company as all of you, then them two have got a tough competition to contend with,” Cindy commented, surprising everyone at the table. The side conversations stopped.

“We hope you’re having a good time,” Bri said. “And that you’ve got room for flan.”

With a smirk, Cindy shook her head. “I am stuffed. And I am not like all you young folk. Every bite I eat sticks to me now. I’d have to work up a serious sweat on the treadmill to melt the pounds away.”

---