Page 49 of The Moment That Changed Everything

“Besides, we can stay naked the entire weekend because you won’t be here to growl if you see us,” Mrs. McAllister said.

That vision is not a good one, Sawyer thought.

“I just told you Nina will be here. Please keep your clothes on,” Birdie said. She came off the steps and went to them.

Sawyer watched as she hugged them close and said something he couldn’t hear. After releasing them, Mrs. McAllister headed toward Sawyer.

Fuck me, she’s going to hug me again.

“Enjoy the wedding, Sawyer.” The woman actually cupped his face in her hands. “You need some of my girl’s happy, boy. You go on and take it this weekend.”

Before he could answer, she’d kissed his cheek. Clearly his “back off and do not invade my personal space” sign wasn’t flashing in neon today.

“Off you kids head now,” Mr. McAllister said like they were going to the prom. He held out his hand, and Sawyer shook it.

“She’s just helping me out,” he said, reiterating the “this is not a date” situation. “I’ll bring her home safe on Sunday.”

“We know you will, because you’re a lion and a Duke. Good folk,” Mr. McAllister said, surprising him.

Dukes were good folk mostly, unless they were being assholes, and they could do that too. But only if you crossed them.

“Your dad was my friend,” Hamish McAllister said. “I still miss him.”

The sudden choking sensation in his throat came on so fast he had to cough. It didn’t hurt like it used to when someone mentioned his dad, but sometimes his loss still snuck up on him.

“Leyton and I used to tramp together with Bart Matilda.”

He’d forgotten that.

“You’re like him,” Mr. McAllister said.

Sawyer managed a nod and swallowed down the lump in his throat. “Let’s go,” he said to Birdie. Tugging the bag out of her hands, he put it in the back of his Jeep. Opening the passenger side door, he waved her inside.

Stomping by him, she got in. He shut the door and rounded the hood. After climbing in his side, he started the car.

“Are they kidding me right now?”

“What?” He shot Birdie a look, but her eyes were on the windscreen. Looking that way, he saw the McAllister seniors had shaped their fingers into squares. “I really hate that symbol.”

“Give me a heart any day,” she replied.

“Amen,” he agreed.

“And I’m not just saying that because my fingers don’t go into a square,” she added.

“Me either.”

They headed out of the drive, and the silence inside the Jeep was suddenly heavy, and Sawyer wasn’t sure how to change that. Talking wasn’t his thing on any day, but talking to explain his actions and soothe a pissed off female was really not his thing.

“Stop,” Birdie said when they reached the stall her parents ran.

A leather-clad biker was there, straddling a motorbike. He was looking at the stall.

“Wind down your window,” she instructed Sawyer. He did as she asked.

“You buy it before you take it, Brick,” Birdie said to the biker.

“Hard ass.” The man gave her a narrow-eyed look. “Where are you going with this asshole?”

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