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I gave a chin tilt to Roan and Hart as I got Joy seated. She looked up at me, excitement in her eyes, and that made me happy. Even if I had been cock-blocked for a while, Joy having fun was worth it.

“I ordered drinks,” Roxie said.

“What did you order?” Ava asked.

Roxie rolled her eyes at her friend. “Tequila shots, of course.”

Oh God, here we go. I’d better buckle up. Brent eyed Ava with anticipation. Something told me he’d be getting her out of the place before she had her fourth shot.

Joy shook her head. “I don’t do tequila. It makes me too woozy.”

“You have to drink a shot of tequila. It’s a karaoke tradition,” Ava insisted.

I looked over at Brent and saw that his expression was indulgent. Apparently, he knew her window as well.

Joy sighed. “Well, remember, I warned you.”

At that point, the waitress came over and deposited five shots in the middle of the table, along with four glasses of ice water. The waitress looked at me and the three other men. “Can I get you fellas anything?”

We all placed our beer orders as we eyed the women. Roxie passed the shots out. I nudged Joy’s shoulder and whispered in her ear, “You don’t have to drink it if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s okay.”

Roxie held her shot glass aloft. “To strong women!” she shouted.

The three other women did the same, and I watched as Joy swallowed her drink and gasped. I grabbed one of the glasses of water and handed it to her. She gave me a grateful look before drinking down half the glass, her eyes watering.

“Is that the first time you’ve had a shot of tequila?” Ava asked.

Joy nodded as she wiped her eyes. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. My arm, which had already been resting on the back of her chair, now pulled her into my side. She looked up at me and smiled.

“Don’t worry, it’ll get easier,” Ava assured her.

When the waitress came back with our beers, Roxie yelled out for four more shots. I watched as Brent slipped a bill to the waitress and gave her a slight shake of his head.

Smart man.

“I’ll get to you ladies as soon as I can,” the waitress promised as she winked at Brent, pocketing the money.

We took some time catching up. Roxie and Ava wanted to know more about my time growing up with Piper and Emmie. I told them some of my more watered-down stories. They quickly caught on to the fact that Emmie was the instigator.

“But she looks so innocent,” Ava said.

“Yeah. That fooled everybody, especially the fact that she was the soloist in the church choir.”

Joy turned to Brent, who she didn’t know all that well. “How about you, Brent? How did you get into the automotive restoration business? I know about Roan, he inherited the business from his father.”

“Yeah, but then Lisa came along and immediately proved she could run circles around me.” Roan looked at his wife with pride as he gathered her closer.

“Believe it or not, it wasn’t my dad who taught me,” Brent said. “In high school, I signed up for home ec, but the class was already full, so I had to take shop instead.”

“Home Ec? You’re shitting me,” I said.

“Of course, home ec,” Brent said with a big grin, “that’s where all the girls were. Instead, I got stuck in a dick factory. But it turned out all right. I found out I had an aptitude for working on cars, especially fixing up older cars. Turned out to be lucrative, and I didn’t have to go to college, so I was all in.”

“That’s great, Brent. I love that,” Joy clapped her hands.

“That’s my man.” Ava beamed.