Page 13 of The Laughing Game
A buzz that held fast and covered you whole.
I took another drink of my margarita. The sweet and sour concoction slid down my throat and pooled in my belly. Each sip chased away a little more of the nerves I’d been riddled with since the second I’d come in and found Cody sitting at the table.
Maybe I should have been concerned that an easy comfort glided through my veins.
Concerned I’d settled into the mood.
Into the casual support of this group who cared so deeply for one another that their lives had become intrinsically intertwined.
But I wasn’t concerned because it was a gift to witness. To get to experience it.
People who loved each other this way.
Some related by blood.
Others not.
It didn’t seem to matter. The connection was there. Solid and real and forever.
Unbreakable.
It was strange to feel a part of it, as if maybe I’d been sitting here all along and I wasn’t meeting most of them for the first time. The way they included me as if I weren’t an outsider but an integral piece of the building blocks of who they’d become.
From where she sat next to me, Dakota knocked her shoulder into mine, making sure to include me in the conversation since they’d all been sharing stories about their kids.
“Wait until you meet little Evelyn,” she said, referring to Caleb and Paisley’s daughter, a little girl I’d learned Caleb had gotten custody of after his sister had been killed a couple years before. Now, he and Paisley were raising her as their own. “She is the sweetest little thing you’ll ever meet. I bet she and your Maddie are going to be the best of friends.”
“Of course, they’re going to be besties,” Paisley shouted over the din. “How could they not? Evelyn is obsessed with horses, and when she finds out her horse Mazzie came from your father’s ranch? She’s going to lose it. We have to get them together next weekend. Why don’t you bring her to our place for a playdate?”
Warmth spread through my chest. “She would love that.”
“Ah, I bet she would.” The grumbled words brought attention back to the man who sat beside me. The one I kept trying to ignore.
Impossible when I was getting consumed by the heat he emitted.
Leaning forward, he rested those tattooed forearms on the table, and he swung those golden eyes in my direction before he spoke to the rest of the table. “Little Madison is nothing but a button. Cute as can be. Can only imagine she and my Evie-Love will hit it off. First time I met her, she was out at the park hunting for friends.”
My stomach twisted in a fit of that attraction that I couldn’t tame.
The man might have been wicked hot, but I thought most dangerous was how sweet he was proving to be.
I had to remember to keep up my guard. Barriers. The most Cody could ever be was a friend. I’d just have to get used to the attraction.
“We’ve moved twice in the last three months, so she is definitely itching to find a friend,” I added.
“Then you have definitely come to the right place,” Paisley said. She turned to Savannah. “You should bring Olivia, too. Actually, bring all the kids. We’ll make a whole thing out of it.”
“I’m game.” Dakota lifted her glass.
“It’s a party then,” Paisley said.
With a slow smile, Caleb slung an arm around Paisley’s shoulders. “This one is always looking for an excuse to throw a party.”
“That’s because this life is worth celebrating,” she shot back.
“That’s right,” Savannah agreed.
“Speaking of…” A sly grin quirked up on Paisley’s face when a cocktail server showed up at the table with a tray of shots. “We are definitely celebrating tonight. I ordered shots.”