by Lucy Score
She wondered if Jax would also be playing a role in the decision-making now that he was home.
And just like that, he was back on her mind.
“Hey.”
And back in her barn. At least he was on the other side of the fence.
“Hey,” she said, keeping her eyes trained on the riders. But it didn’t make her any less aware of his presence.
“I’m here to pick up Evan,” he told her. “You almost done?”
Joey reached over, turned his wrist so she could see the face of his watch. “Yeah, we’re finishing up here.” She started to push away from the fence and paused. “About the flowers.”
Jax cocked an eyebrow.
“They’re beautiful.” She spotted the beginning of a cocky grin. “But you’re going to have to do better than that.”
“Jojo, I’m just getting started.”
* * *
He got her a dog.
“Okay, we’re here,” Beckett announced, bringing his SUV to a halt in the parking lot of Furever Home Animal Rescue. “What’s the plan?” he asked Jax.
“We’re getting a dog,” Jax announced.
“Awesome!” Evan squealed from the backseat.
“Whoa, hang on there.” Carter leaned between the front seats. “You live in my house and you didn’t think to mention that you’re getting a dog?”
“I’m not getting a dog for me. It’s for Joey.”
Evan squished under Carter so he could lean between the seats too. “You’re getting Joey a dog?”
“It’s part of my multi-tiered apology plan,” Jax explained.
“What are you apologizing for?” Evan wanted to know.
Jax ignored the smirk that passed between his brothers. “Kid, you’d be driving age by the time I got done explaining. Lets just say I screwed up a long time ago.”
“And you’re just now apologizing?” Evan asked.
“Yeah.”
Evan shook his head. “Man, there better be a lot of tiers to that apology.”
No kidding, Jax agreed.
“Okay. Let’s find you an apology dog,” Carter sighed, opening his door.
* * *
“Come on, Evan!” Carter grumbled. “I told you to keep a good grip on that leash.”
“Sorry! Diesel just wants to get to know Tripod Jr. better,” Evan said, reeling the fat, fluffy puppy back in. Tripod Jr. meowed mournfully from his carrier on the seat between Evan and Carter.
“For the love of God, who the hell is howling?” Beckett yelled over the racket.
“I think it’s Meatball,” Evan said, peeking into the hatch. “Waffles just sat on him.”
“No, I have Waffles up here,” Jax said, pointing to the black and white hairball that had his head out the window.
“Oh, then Valentina sat on Meatball.”
Waffles shifted in Jax’s lap and stepped on his balls.
“Ow! Fuck!”
“I’m telling Mom,” Beckett threatened with a grin.
“Is anyone else thinking this might have been a bad idea?” Jax asked.
“There’s no point in asking that question. We’re committed and we have to deal with the fall out,” Evan said, squishing Diesel’s little face in his hands. “Right boy?”
The puppy licked him in the face. And then bit his nose.
“Ow! Damn it!”
“I’m telling Gianna,” Beckett snickered.
Evan wiped the puppy’s slobber off his nose. “I don’t think she’s going to care about me saying ‘damn’ when we show up with a three-legged cat and a puppy with razor blades for teeth.”
“At least we didn’t get the elderly, obese howler and Marmaduke Jr. Summer is going to lose her sh— crap when she sees that duo,” Beckett said, jerking his thumb toward the back of the SUV.
“For your information, Meatball is only nine and it’s an easily manageable thyroid condition,” Carter retorted. “And Valentina is named after one of Summer’s favorite designers and I couldn’t say no to those big, bloodshot eyes.”
“I’m just glad you didn’t adopt another damn goat,” Jax said, pulling Waffles off of Beckett’s lap. “Mrs. Penskee told me it’s the most successful day the rescue ever had.”
“That’s because the only animals left are the ones with pending adoptions,” Beckett said dryly.
“And that wrinkly pug dog with a sinus infection,” Carter said. Jax thought he detected a little wistfulness in his brother’s voice.
“Mr. Snuffles?” Evan asked. “Poor guy. Can’t we—”
“No!” All three Pierces yelled, which only encouraged Meatball to start howling again. The human passengers sat in silence for a few minutes, each pondering Mr. Snuffles’ unfortunate predicament.
“You know, Mom and Franklin are going to need a dog to go with their new house,” Jax ventured.
Beckett was already making a U-turn. “Fine, but Mr. Fucking Snuffles better not get his green snot all over the leather.”
Evan hooted and Valentina turned Meatball’s solo into a duet. Tripod Jr. added a sad meow chorus.
“Well, Waffles,” Jax murmured to the furry mop in his lap. “I’m counting on you to soften your mom up for me.”
The dog turned to look at Jax with one brown eye and one blue. He blinked.
“I feel like you understand what I’m saying.”
Waffles blinked again. “Huh,” Jax said.
Carter sniffed the air. “Please tell me that came from one of the dogs.”
Evan pulled his shirt over his face. The smell wafted its way up to the front seat. Beckett gagged and Jax buried his face in Waffles’ wiry fur.
“Did someone just shit themselves in my car?” Beckett demanded, rolling down all the windows.
They pulled back into the rescue’s parking lot. Mrs. Penskee was casually walking Mr. Snuffles around the front porch on a leash. “Back so soon?” She greeted them with a cheery wave. Mr. Snuffles sneezed, sending a green shower in a two-foot radius.
“We’ll take the four-legged sinus infection, Mrs. Penskee,” Jax said, handing his credit card out the window.
“Oh, how exciting!” she said, patting her silver-streaked curls, eyes sparkling behind her wire-rimmed spectacles. She looked like an energetic Mrs. Claus. “I’ll just hand him over and bring you a receipt,” she said, shoving the dog into Carter’s arms through the back window.
“She’s running like she’s afraid we’ll change our minds,” Carter muttered.
“She had him out here on a leash. She knew we’d be back for him,” Beckett said, massaging his temples.
“How’d she know that?” Evan asked, unwrapping Diesel’s leash from his wrist and ankle.
“Because we have ‘suckers’ stamped on our foreheads,” Jax grumbled. Waffles gave a happy little yip.
Mrs. Penskee reappeared waving Jax’s credit card and receipt.
“Thank you boys so much! Are you sure I can’t talk you into posing for a group picture for our Facebook page?”
“No!” They answered in unison.
“Remember, no posting on social media until tomorrow, right, Mrs. Penskee?” Beckett said, flashing her his best mayoral grin.
“All right. Well, you boys have fun surprising your girls,” she said with a wink.
Beckett rolled up the windows and pulled away before they adopted anything else.
“Okay, we’ve got a problem,” Jax announced.
“I don’t smell it, yet,” Carter said, sniffing.
“Not that kind of a problem,” Jax said, exasperated. “Waffles here is supposed to help me sweep Joey off her feet. With the rest of you and this rolling fart circus, you’re gonna steal my thunder.”
“Fart circus,” Evan snickered.
Valentina chose that moment to vault over the backseat, knocking Tripod’s yowling carrier into the console. She lunged forward, her giant tongue colliding with Beckett’s face. He swerved across the double line and back, but the overcorrection took them onto the berm before B
eckett was able to get them back between the lines.
They all heard the sirens at the same time.
When Beckett managed to pull over and roll his window down, Valentina shoved her head out and gave Sheriff Cardona a face full of tongue.
“Is there a problem, officer?”
5
The fire crackled merrily, casting a cozy glow around the room while the blender mixed up margaritas in the kitchen. Joey’s house was full of women and food. And it wasn’t awful. Gia’s sister Emma, in a fitted black turtleneck, had made herself useful mixing drinks and plating food at the island. Eva and Summer snuck cookies and antipasto while discussing the pitfalls of freelance writing.
Gia lounged in front of the fireplace with Aurora who was on her second and last piece of cake. Phoebe relaxed on the sofa with a glass of wine.
“I love your house, Joey,” Emma said, handing her a frosty margarita.
“Oh, uh, thanks,” Joey said, wiping her hands on her jeans before accepting the glass.
“Did you see the claw foot tub she has on her deck?” Summer called from the kitchen.
“You have an outdoor tub? Does it work?” Emma asked, eyeing her speculatively.
Joey nodded and flipped on the outdoor lights so she could see for herself.
She liked Emma about as well as she could like anyone new. She was direct, a little cool, and wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. Eva seemed okay, too. Her auburn curls were chopped short in a face-framing, chaotic bob. She seemed to waste no time on things like formalities or ironing.
And it was clear that they both adored Phoebe, so that was worth high marks in Joey’s book.
“Oh, my God, Joey.” Summer’s voice was reaching orgasm capacity. “These cookies are the most incredible thing I’ve put in my mouth in the last…” she checked her watch, “three hours.”
“Oooh!” The rest of the women spread out between the kitchen and living spaces crooned.
“You guys and your Pierce brothers are killing me,” Eva groaned as she sank down on the leather couch next to Phoebe.
“Yeah, seriously,” Emma sighed from the kitchen where she cut a second sliver of Joey’s death by chocolate cake. “I live in L.A., land of the hot guys, and they’ve got nothing on your Blue Moon men.”
Summer and Gia looked appropriately smug. Joey settled for rolling her eyes.
“Don’t give me that look,” Summer pointed at Joey from her perch in one of the cozy armchairs. “You could have one if you wanted.”
She was suddenly glad she had hidden the roses upstairs in her bedroom. “Can we please stop talking about penis and start talking about something, anything else?” Joey grumbled.
Aurora looked up from her plate, cake smeared across her face. She giggled. “Penis!”
Gia sighed and smoothed her daughter’s wild curls back from her face. “Well, at least you’re teaching her the anatomically correct term.”
“So, Summer,” Phoebe called from her corner of the couch. “How’s the magazine? Are you happy with the launch?”
Summer took her plate into the living room and flopped down on one of Joey’s overstuffed armchairs. “I’m ecstatic,” she said, biting into a crisp carrot. “If anyone had told me how successful the launch was going to be, I’d never have believed it. Mind blown. And don’t even get me started on the attention that Gia’s yoga piece is getting.”
Gia waved away the compliment. “That was entirely Niko’s photography. The man’s a photography genius. Traffic to the site has been great and so has the reaction to all of the content.”
“Bottom line is, between Gia and I, the workload is massive, but we intersperse obsessive tasking with celebrations of our awesomeness. Especially when I got an email from my old boss, Katherine, at Indulgence.”
“What did ol’ Hot for Farmers want?” Joey laughed, dropping down in the chair across from Summer and tossing her leg over the arm. Katherine, an editor at Summer’s old magazine, had taken Summer’s article on Carter and the farm and turned it into a sex-god pictorial. It had been the kick Summer needed to quit her job, move in with Carter, and start her own online magazine. Meanwhile, the Pierces spent a solid month or two ignoring modeling offers from agencies.
Her friend tried to look casual. “Oh, not much. Just wanted to insincerely congratulate me on my pet project.”
“B-word,” Gia said definitively.
“And to do a little fishing to see if Indulgence could acquire Thrive,” Summer added, spooning up a bit of the vegetable barley soup she had brought.
“What?” The question was shouted from all corners of the room.
Aurora covered her ears and giggled again. Summer grinned.
“Was she serious?” Phoebe asked.
“Serious enough to name a figure, one that would put these two through college,” she said, patting her belly.
The room was unusually silent until Joey snickered. “Everyone’s afraid to ask you what you decided,” she grinned.
“And you’re not?” Summer asked.
“Please. You gave her the professional equivalent of an—” she glanced at Aurora, “eff off and then I assume you immediately made a list targeting which of Katherine’s contributors to go after for Thrive.”
“You’ve learned a lot about my diabolical nature,” Summer winked.
“So you said no?” Phoebe prompted.
“Were you tempted?” Eva wondered.
“Can I have more cake?” Aurora asked, tugging on Gia’s sleeve.
The questions flew fast and loud. Joey sipped her very good margarita and watched. Hostessing wasn’t so hard, she decided. Scrub a toilet, make some sugary treats, add alcohol, hide the conspicuous roses and candied bacon from Jax that arrived that afternoon and viola, everyone entertains themselves.
“So, Joey,” Eva began, dropping down on the ottoman next to Joey’s chair. “What’s it like running stables?”
“Exhausting and dirty, why?”
Phoebe snorted. “Don’t let her fool you, Eva. Joey was born to do what she does. She loves it.”
“Did you always know you’d want to stay around here?” Eva asked.
It’s home,” she shrugged. And it was. Blue Moon Bend, Pierce Acres, the stables. It was where she belonged.
Eva smiled sweetly. “You don’t like me asking all these questions, do you?”
“Not particularly.”
Eva laughed. “I just like to know what makes people tick. You know, peel back the layers.”
“My layers are fine where they are.”
“Consider it research for a freelance assignment. I think it’s fascinating, seeing women who aren’t afraid to go out and follow their dreams. You know? Someone who believes in building exactly the kind of life they want and then going out and getting dirty and making it happen.”
That’s what she had done, wasn’t it? She wanted a quiet life with her horses and her privacy and that’s exactly what she’d built. Fences and walls.
“I think it’s brave for a woman to carve out an unconventional life,” Eva continued.
Joey didn’t feel brave. She felt safe. And that was a distinct difference.
“Does anyone know what the guys are up to tonight?” Gia asked, checking the clock on the mantel. Beckett’s supposed to be picking up Rora five minutes ago.”
Summer frowned. “They were awfully cagey about it. All I got from Carter was ‘I’m helping Jax.’”
“Hmm,” Phoebe said, her eyes darting to Joey. “Hmm,” she said again.
“What?”
“Maybe it’s a surprise for you?” Gia ventured. “Rumor has it two dozen roses were delivered here yesterday.”
“You know, I did hear Phyllis at the post office talking about Joey’s new meat of the month club,” Phoebe mentioned.
Shit. Now she was going to have to share. And she hated sharing.
“Come on, Joey,” Summer wiggled her eyebrows. “He kissed the bejeezus out of you in the office. It’s a miracle Gia and
I didn’t end up with second-degree burns from the sparks you two threw off.”
“Why do I feel like I opened my door to a bunch of Anthony Berkowiczes?” Joey groaned.
She wilted under the weight of their expectant stares.
“No, we are not together. We can’t even have a conversation without it turning into a fight.”
“Sometimes a good fight just means there’s strong feelings,” Emma offered.
“Yeah, and sometimes a fight just means you don’t like each other. Not all of us are so forgiving.”
“Hey, I’m his mother,” Phoebe interjected. “I’m legally required to forgive him. I think Joey has a right to make him squirm. If I weren’t such a wonderful, enlightened, biologically-obligated woman, I’d be holding a bit of a grudge, too.”
“Did Jax ever tell anyone why he left?” Gia asked.
Phoebe met Joey’s gaze before shaking her head. “As far as I know, no. But he must have had a good reason. The night of the accident he refused to leave your side. He wouldn’t even let the nurses stitch him up.” Phoebe cleared her throat. “Your father didn’t, ah … agree with Jax’s presence. John was trying to find a doctor and your mother and I thought we were going to have to call security on them.”
“What happened?” Joey asked despite herself.
“You woke up and told them to knock it off,” Phoebe said with a wry smile. “You took your dad’s hand and Jax’s hand and that was the end of it.”
Joey’s memories from that night were pretty foggy. But one thing was clear to her, something that night had made Jax decide to leave Blue Moon Bend. She wasn’t sure if she believed as Phoebe did, that there was a very good reason for it.
“On that note, let’s change the subject to something that doesn’t involve penises,” Joey said, jumping up and heading for the blender. “For instance, how crazy is it that Summer I-Plan-Everything doesn’t want to know the babies’ genders? How’s the house building, Phoebe? And what’s new at the studio, Gia? Tie anyone up in knots, yet?”
The conversation mercifully moved away from Jackson Pierce.
They topped off glasses and refilled plates while Phoebe told them that the floor plans had been finalized and building would begin in April. She was in the middle of explaining the bunkhouse to Emma and Eva when Joey’s phone signaled a text from Jax.