“Jesus,” he muttered.
“Got that?” I asked.
“I’ll buy what I buy and it’ll work,” he replied. “You don’t like it, you can go out and get what you want.”
“Okay,” I said. “If I don’t like it, I’ll go out this weekend and find something I do like. Maybe the girls will get into that.”
“If there’s money to be spent on somethin’, they will.”
That made me smile.
Then I told him, “Justine is here. I need to go.”
“Right. Tell her I said hey. Later, beautiful.”
“’Bye, Low.”
We rang off and I looked to Justine, who was staring at me.
“Geez, it’s like twenty years didn’t pass. You guys were always like that. Me and Ronnie could fight for three days about who was going to go out and buy a litter box.”
This was true.
Justine and Veronica found a lot of things to fight about mostly, from what I could tell, so they’d have a variety of reasons to make up.
“Low says hey,” I told her, and watched happy hit her face.
“Say hey back when you see him,” she replied right when the door flew open.
I hadn’t heard a car come up the drive, so my eyes shot there with surprise and I felt more surprise when I saw Kellie stomping in, Dottie following her.
I didn’t pay much mind to Dot because Kellie had her arm raised and she was pointing back and forth between Justine and me.
“You! And you! I just knew it!” she shouted.
“What the heck?” Justine asked.
Dot closed the door as Kellie crossed her arms on her chest, face set right at pissed, that pissed aimed at me.
“I knew you’d tell her first,” she accused. “I knew she’d get the lowdown on Logan before we got our LBD on. I knew it.”
“Kellie—” I began.
“Admit it!” she snapped. “She’s your bestest bestie and I’m second fiddle.”
Not this again.
This had been happening since forever.
And it wasn’t just me she accused of Justine being my bestest bestie, it was also the other way around with Justine.
“You’re both my bestest besties,” I said on a sigh. “We’re all bestest besties. You know that.”
“The biggest thing that happens to you since you met Logan is you gettin’ back with Logan and she gets the goods first?” She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“I tried to stop her,” Dot put in, and I looked to my sister. “We were having lunch. I mentioned Justine was here. She lost it and there was no going back.”
I looked back to Kellie and explained, “I’ve offered Jus a job, babe.”
“Ha!” she scoffed. “Likely story. And that bullshi—” Her eyes dropped to Raff, who was staring up at her in wonder, and she finished, “… shtein was what Dot was spouting.”
“It isn’t bullshtein,” Justine stated. “It’s true.”
“It’s bullshtein,” Kellie spat.
“I don’t know any more than you,” Justine returned.
Kellie threw out an arm. “So you’re just talkin’ about a job and that’s it?” She shook her head. “I don’t believe it.”
“Can I just say,” I cut in, “that I’ve been in Paris for two weeks. I came back to a variety of dramas that changed the course of my life. I’m taking on a new employee. Imminently I face Logan moving in, and by imminently, I mean tonight, but the truth of that is that he’s already pretty moved in considering he currently lives in an RV, so I’m guessing there isn’t much to move. This weekend I face meeting Logan’s two daughters. And tonight we’re picking up my new kitties. I don’t mean to be mean, Kel, but I don’t have time to have a conversation that I’ve had a thousand times since fifth grade. You have no bestest bestie, Jus or me. Jus has no bestest bestie, you or me. I have no bestest bestie. Because we’re all bestest besties.”
“Logan’s moving in?” Justine asked me.
“Like you didn’t know that,” Kellie retorted.
Justine looked to Kellie. “I didn’t,” she snapped.
“I didn’t either,” Dot put in, and grinned at me. “Wow, Mill. The mom in me is freaked. The sister in me is also freaked. The woman in me is ecstatic.”
“Roll with the woman one, Dot,” I advised, grinning back.
“Why does he live in an RV?” Kellie asked.
“He’s been looking for a house since his divorce,” I answered. “It’s been a while but he wants it to be right for his girls. He hasn’t found anything.”
“But… an RV?” Dot asked.
I did not have good memories of that RV.
I was looking forward to making better ones.
“Well, it’s an RV but it’s the kind of RV Aerosmith might decide not to buy considering the cost of the upgrades,” I explained.
“Ooo,” Kellie breathed reverently. “A Rock-Mobile. Radical!”
“Uh… Mill, you have an appointment?” Justine asked into this exchange.
I looked to Justine, then followed her eyes out the window where I saw an SUV driving up.
I didn’t know that SUV and I couldn’t see who was in it, though I could see there was more than one person. A lot more.
“No,” I answered Justine.
“Drop in,” she said, and looked to me. “More work. I hope it’s Christmas. I found these lights online, like big ornaments but with dangly bits at the bottom. They so totally have to go into someone’s scheme.”
“Email me the link, Jus. Wanna have a look,” I told her.
“On it,” she stated, and then got on it, right there and then, digging in her purse to pull out her phone.
Rafferty crawled around the desk and started teeth/gumming my boot.
I bent down and picked him up to put him in my lap just as the door opened.
I looked that way, distractedly noting Kellie and Dottie were moving aside to let the newcomers in.
I was not distracted in any way noting who the newcomers were.
Tyra, Tack’s woman. Lanie, Hop’s woman. Elvira, and I didn’t know who she belonged to. An exceptionally pretty young woman with lots of curly strawberry blonde hair.
And the amazingly beautiful, all grown-up Tabitha Allen.
I stared at Tabby.
She was looking at me.
“Hey, Millie,” she said softly.
She remembered me.
I felt my eyes fill with tears.
“Holy crap, Tab?” Justine asked, straightening from her chair. “Tack’s girl?”
Tabby looked to her, not recognizing her at first. Her head tipped to the side and she asked, “Justine, right?”
“Yeah,” Justine replied, then moved to her and hugged her. “God, so cool to see you again.” She leaned back, still holding on. “All grown up and all grown up so good.”
“Tabby Allen,” Kellie said, moving toward them. “You were a cute kid, girl. Shoulda known you’d turn out to be a raving beauty.”
Then Kellie got her own hug.
“Remember me?” Dot asked, also hitting their huddle.
“Dottie,” Tabby stated, and looked to Kellie. “Um… Kellie, yeah?”
Kellie nodded.
Dottie gave Tabby a hug.
They moved away from Tab and everyone looked at me just as Rafferty arched up and took purchase on my earring with his mouth.
“Who’s that?” Tabby asked.
“Raff…” I cleared my throat. “Rafferty. Justine’s boy with her partner Veronica.”
Tabby smiled and looked at Justine. “He’s cute.”
“Damn straight,” Justine muttered.
“You gonna hug her too?”
This was asked from the other side of the room and I looked that way to see it was Elvira with her eyebrows up.
I looked back to Tabby.
Then I got up with Rafferty and moved to her, giving her a one-armed hug.
When we were close, she said in my ear, “We
ird, you haven’t changed a bit.”
I pulled away and looked at her. “You have, Tab, and it’s all good.”
She smiled. “Thanks.”
At this point, Rafferty decided he felt like discovering a stranger, so he launched himself at Tabby with a grunt.
Tabby caught him and it was at that point I noticed she had more than a small baby bump.
As if to confirm this, Tyra said, “Get used to the feel of that.”
Tab looked down at Raff, grinning at him and grabbing his little hand to shake it. “Not thinkin’ that’s gonna be hard.”
“Right, that’s done,” Elvira declared, and all eyes went to her. “You pissed at us?” she asked me.
I looked at Tyra and Lanie, who both looked anxious. So I smiled at them so they’d stop being that way and looked back to Elvira.
“No,” I answered.
“Good, ’cause that woman you sent me to to plan my wedding is not gonna work out,” she announced. “You got a pretty office. Your office is da bomb. She don’t have a pretty office. How’s she gonna plan the most romantic wedding of the century if she don’t even have a pretty office?”
“Well—” I started, but that was as far as I got.
“She’s not,” Elvira decreed. “And even if her office wasn’t god-awful, she wears flats. I don’t trust no woman who wears flats. Not at all but definitely not to plan my wedding.”
“I wear flats,” Kellie stated, then finished, “Essentially.”
Elvira looked her up and down. “You wear biker chick boots. You get a pass.”
Dottie looked to me, prompting an introduction. “Do you know these people?”
“I—” I began again, and again that was as far as I got.
“I’m Elvira. This here’s Tyra, Tack’s woman, Lanie, Hop’s woman, Carissa, Joker’s woman. You know Tab. What you don’t know is she’s Shy’s.”
I looked at Carissa.
She looked like a grown-up cheerleader.
I didn’t know him that well but I still knew somehow that she was perfect for Joker.
“So, Chaos,” Dot noted.
“Yes,” Tyra finally got a word in.
“Whose woman are you?” Justine asked Elvira a question that I had.
“I don’t belong to a biker. I belong to a cop. But I been adopted,” Elvira explained.
At the mention of a cop in the same breath as Chaos, in unison, Dot, Justine, and Kellie all looked to me.
“Chaos has changed,” I muttered.
“You said it,” Elvira chimed in. “Vigilante bikers who ride out now to keep their turf clean of bad folk doin’ bad things.”
Again, Dot, Justine, and Kellie in unison looked to me.
“It’s a long story,” I muttered.
“It sho’ is,” Elvira confirmed. “And it’s Chaos and their shit stays tight. Don’t mean we won’t be sharin’ some beverages and wearin’ some little black dresses this Saturday night, communin’ and building the biker bitch bond at the same time me and Millie here lay down some tentative plans about my wedding of the century.” She focused on me. “I’m thinkin’ peonies but I could be talked down from that. I want soft and bling and I don’t care if those two don’t go together. It’s your job to make ’em.”
I’d heard it all when it came to weddings.
But soft and…
Bling?
“Elvira, your mouth,” Tabby said. “There’s a kid present.”
Elvira looked to Rafferty and asked, “You speak English?”
“Gah, goo, dee,” Rafferty replied.
She looked to Tabby. “Got more to say?”
Tabby looked to the ceiling.
Lanie started giggling.
Tyra mouthed to me, “I’m so sorry.”
“Club,” Elvira announced. “Not the biker kind, the Cherry Creek cocktail place kind. Eight thirty. Saturday night. All you all better be there,” she ended, circling her hand through the room. She then turned to Tyra. “Now I gotta get back to Hawk. He’s got three things goin’ down and has his calls forwarded to me. Luckily, no one has called and I wanna keep it that way. Dealin’ with Hawk’s shit not at my desk is a headache. So I need to get back.” She looked to the room. “Awesome to meet you. You.” She pointed at Kellie. “Heels, Saturday, girl.”
On that, she walked out.
“Elvira’s kind of a… character,” Lanie said when she was gone.
“I like her,” Kellie declared.
“Can my wife come?” Justine asked, then added hastily, “We both wear heels.”
“Wear what you want,” Tabby replied. “Elvira’s Elvira but we’re Chaos. Anything goes.”
“Awesome,” Justine said, and put a hand to Rafferty’s back. “Did you hear that, Raffy? Your mommies get a night out.”
He reached out, smacked her face, and giggled.
Everyone giggled with him.
Tyra moved deeper into the room and my eyes went to her to see she was looking at me.
“This isn’t trial by fire, honey,” she promised. “This is the welcoming committee.”
I knew that. I’d done this before.
I didn’t remind her of that. She was queen bee now.
Crank’s old lady had minions. I didn’t get into that kind of thing because Logan protected me from it, but Crank switched her out before Logan and I had ended anyway.
I had a feeling Tyra was not that kind of Chaos queen but one that was a lot different.
“Thanks,” I replied.
“We got off on the wrong foot,” Lanie said. “And Hop was—”
“We talked and I’m good with Hop,” I told her quickly so she wouldn’t worry. “I’m just…” I grinned. “Good.”
She grinned back. “Good.”
I took her in, liking what I saw. She was beautiful. She was classy. Hop was rough. He was a biker. The same could be said for Tyra and Tack.
Obviously that worked for them.
And I knew it would also work for Logan and me.
No halter tops and cutoffs.
Just me.
“I haven’t been a part of a welcoming committee yet,” Carissa spoke for the first time. “This’ll be awesome.”
“Batten down the hatches, Curly,” Tabby advised Carissa’s way. “And that’s not about the Chaos babes hittin’ town. That’s about us doin’ it with Elvira.”
I had a feeling she knew what she was talking about.
It had been a long time since I’d had a night on the town, or at least one that ended well.
But looking through the women, three of them my sisters of the blood and the heart, the rest my sisters of Chaos, I was looking forward to it.
High
“Here they are,” the woman announced, coming back into the room carrying two balls of fluff.
“Oh my God,” Millie breathed, and High turned his attention from the cat breeder to his girl.
When he did, he froze.
She didn’t.
Moving with purpose, but not in a way that would spook the kittens, she made it to the breeder and took both cats from her.
“That’s the boy.” The breeder touched the one in Millie’s right hand. “And that’s your girl.” She moved her hand to the one in Millie’s left.
“Look at you,” Millie cooed to the one on the right that she’d tucked up high on her chest. “You’re my own personal fluff ball, squishy-faced grumpy cat.” She turned to the other one, also tucked up high, and continued, “And look at you, my fluff ball, squishy-faced, pretty-pretty princess.”
High’s girls were going to fall head over heels for those kittens.
But right then, he was watching his Millie, alight with happiness, snuggle two tiny balls of fur and he did it fighting to breathe.
They weren’t her own babies.
But they were something to cherish.
There was no doubt she was going to cherish them.
And he was around so he got to watch.
Millie looked to the breede
r. “These babies are the best things I ever spent money on.”
The breeder smiled.
Millie turned back to the kittens. “Time to go home,” she told them, then looked to High.
He forced himself to move. “Crates, babe.”
She nodded but asked, “Don’t you wanna meet them?”
He didn’t.
It wasn’t that he disliked cats. It was just that he was a dog man. He’d wanted to get a puppy for the girls for years but Deb didn’t like animals.
It was something he intended to do when he got a house. Buy a dog for them and for him.
Now they were all getting cats.
With the way Millie was right then, he didn’t mind.
But before he could say no, Millie shoved her right hand to him so he had no choice but to take hold of the boy kitten.
Christ, he was a squishy-faced grumpy cat. He looked kitty ticked.
He also stretched out a paw and clawed High’s whiskers with his thin baby claws, his big blue eyes staring at High with an intelligence High’d never noticed from any animal.
“Hey, Chief,” he muttered.
“That’s it,” Millie said, getting close to him. “He’s Chief.” She looked down to the cat she held. “And this little princess is Poem because only a poem could describe how beautiful she is.”
She’d always been good at naming precious things.
The memory made his voice rough when he said, “Let’s get them home, baby.”
Millie looked to him, searched his face, and smiled a sweet little smile.
“You’ve fallen in love,” she declared.
He had.
Twenty-three years ago.
“He looks pissed off,” High replied, and looked to the kitten. “But it’s a cute pissed off.”
“You’ve so fallen in love,” she returned, then stuck the other one out to him. “Here, try this one.”
She took Chief and gave him Poem and High looked down at her.
She was pretty, though she looked sad.
“Hope you’re smilin’ on the inside, darlin’,” he murmured to the cat. “’Cause you’re goin’ to a home where you’ll get lotsa love.”
The cat yawned.
Millie giggled and pressed her side to his.
High looked to her, then to the breeder. “We’ll get outta your hair.”
She nodded, looking content, and she would be, seeing as it was clear she found a good home for her brood.
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