by Lucy Score
“Eden!” They greeted her enthusiastically, and for a moment Eden was actually glad she came. It had been too long since she’d gotten an evening out with girlfriends. Sammy and Layla’s schedules were a hindrance to any actual social life.
“Hi, everyone,” she said, taking the empty seat next to Eva. Eva nudged her beer toward Eden. “What did I miss?” she asked.
“You missed Emma whining that we made her hang out here,” Gia teased.
“It’s my night off, and you guys made me come to work,” Emma groaned and picked up her water. “All I want to do is get up and yell at everyone.”
“That’s why we made her sit with her back to the room,” Summer explained.
“I can feel them congregating at the service bar while food gets cold,” Emma insisted.
“Too bad you can’t drink to take your mind off of it,” Joey said cheerfully as she sucked down the last of her Long Island iced tea.
Emma tossed a wadded-up beverage napkin at her friend and stuck out her tongue.
Eden picked up her pilfered beer and drank.
“Now that we’re all here, I move that we discuss exhaustion levels,” Eva said.
“Exhaustion level conversation is how we start our nights out,” Summer filled Eden in. “We talk about how tired we are from all the crap we have to do—”
“And all the crap we think we have to do,” Gia added, pointing a finger.
“We bitch and moan about it for five or ten minutes and then drink and talk about sex,” Joey interjected. “That’s my favorite part.”
“I’ll start,” Emma volunteered. “You guys were not kidding about this pregnancy exhaustion. I went to bed at seven last night and didn’t wake up until nine this morning.” Emma was famously a night owl. She and her husband Niko had started their relationship with late-night workouts at the twenty-four-hour gym.
“Just wait until that baby gets here,” Gia said. “Lydia is getting her molars or growing a second head. All week, she’s been waking up at two and again at five. Then I have to be on my A-game to make sure Aurora wears pants to school and Evan…”
“Yeah, try to come up with one complaint about Evan,” Eva teased her sister. Evan was known as Mini Mayor around town. He and his stepfather, Beckett, were cut from the same cloth.
Joey snorted. “It’s the smart ones you have to watch. They know how to act like a good kid.”
“Oh, like you’re soooo worried about Reva,” Summer said, elbowing her.
Joey and her husband Jax were in the process of adopting seventeen-year-old Reva and her six-year-old brother, Caleb.
“I’m smart enough to remember what seventeen felt like.”
“Seventeen with Jackson Pierce is different than seventeen with Arnie Einhorn,” Emma snorted.
“I’ll drink to that,” Joey grinned.
“Back to exhaustion, I have twins,” Summer reminded them. “And they’re two. And I’m afraid I’ll never be able to turn my back on them.”
The women around the table laughed.
“Eva, we know you’re probably exhausted being a newlywed and all,” Gia said fluttering her lashes at her younger sister.
Eva turned a pretty shade of pink and beamed.
“Awh,” they cooed.
“I am a little tired,” Eva admitted.
“That sheriff would wear any woman out,” Summer said with a long, slow wink.
Eva studied the gleaming bands on her left hand. “I still can’t believe we did it. Got married, I mean. I can totally believe we have all the sex.”
Eden laughed. Lila, the pierced-nosed, pixie-cut server popped up next to her. “Sorry it took me so long, Eden. Busy night! Can I get you a drink?”
Eden ordered a glass of Chardonnay, and they placed their dinner orders.
“How about you, Eden?” Joey asked. “What exhausts you?”
Eden picked up Eva’s beer. “Life,” she told the table. She had a business that required twelve-hour days usually seven days a week, parents who were too irresponsible to be left alone for long, and a revenge plan that depended entirely on the man who had broken her delicate, squishy, teenage heart.
“I’ll drink to that,” Joey said, lifting her glass.
“On to the happiness portion of our conversation,” Emma declared.
Eva leaned in to Eden. “So we talked about what makes us exhausted, and now to balance the conversation so we’re not a bunch of whiny assholes with first world problems, we talk about what makes us happy.”
Kids and new shoes and more help at work were all enthusiastically discussed. Joey’s horse breeding program was taking off. Summer’s online magazine had reached another major advertising milestone. And Gia’s yoga studio was busy enough that she’d brought on a second part-time instructor. Emma, her business success already evident in the hustle and bustle at the bar behind them, talked about the room she and Niko were turning into a nursery and Niko’s photo shoot in Miami at the end of the month. Eva’s backlist of books was selling well, and she and Donovan were thinking about taking a honeymoon now that the fuss and chaos of the month-long astrological shitstorm was behind them.
“I think we can guess what’s making you happy, Eden,” Summer said, wiggling her eyebrows.
“You mean, who is making her happy,” Gia teased.
Oh, right. Her hot, fake boyfriend.
Eden plastered an expression on her face that she hoped would pass for bashful. She wasn’t really prepared to lie to half of Blue Moon to their faces tonight. “I’m very happy,” she promised them vaguely.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Joey pointed out.
“Okay. I’m asking it. I’ve been in the dark long enough,” Emma announced. “What exactly happened with you two? What was The Incident everyone keeps talking about?”
Lila returned with Eden’s wine, and she took a healthy gulp to buy some time. It didn’t help. They were all still staring at her expectantly.
“Why didn’t you just ask Joey?” Eden asked. “She was only a few years behind me in school. She knows.”
Joey crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not a gossip,” she said haughtily.
Eden leaned back in her chair and wished the floor would swallow her up.
“You don’t have to tell us,” Gia said, patting her hand from across the table.
“Yes. She does,” Eva and Emma announced together.
“Ugh. Fine. I asked Davis to the HeHa dance. He said yes and then showed up with Taneisha instead.”
“Taneisha?” Gia gasped. “Was she this beautiful as a teenager?”
“Yep,” Eden said flatly.
“Why would he have done that to you?” Summer asked.
See? Davis wasn’t the Mr. Wonderful everyone thought him to be, Eden thought. Only now she couldn’t gleefully announce that since she was supposed to be falling in love with him. The thrill of victory she expected didn’t wash over her.
“I don’t know the specifics. I didn’t really give him a chance to explain. There wasn’t anything he could have said that would have made it not hurt.”
“Agreed,” Joey announced.
“Of course, you agree,” Summer sighed. “You held a grudge for eight years.”
“A grudge that deserved to be held,” Joey shot back.
“You guys, the first time Joey saw Jax when he moved back to Blue Moon, she slapped the crap out of him in the kitchen,” Summer tattled. “It was so hot!”
Eden laughed along with the rest of them. Joey and Jax had been high school sweethearts when they were in an accident just before graduation. Jax had left Blue Moon—and Joey—that night. It had taken a lot of time, a lot of Pierce charm, and a rescue dog to thaw her feelings toward him.
“Okay, so that’s the why,” Emma prodded. “What was The Incident? What did you do to get back at Davis?”
Eden covered her face with her hands. “This is so stupid. It’s so embarrassing,” she complained.
“We’re all friends here,�
�� Eva said, patting her on the shoulder.
“I was mad,” Eden began.
“Rightfully so,” Joey cut in.
“So, after the dance, I took my cousin Moon Beam with me to his house.”
The women around the table leaned forward in anticipation.
“I was just going to toilet paper his precious El Camino. I swear, it was totally innocent.”
“I wish I had popcorn right now,” Gia whispered.
“Anyway, Moon Beam was smoking like a rebellious teenage chimney at the time. She flicked her butt into the grass, which hadn’t had a good rain in forever. And it turns out the organic lawn fertilizer was highly flammable.”
A collective gasp went up around the table.
“So, there I was in my pretty dress with my rolls of toilet paper, and the entire front lawn is ablaze. Moon Beam, who was one infraction away from being sent to live on a commune with our Aunt Martha, took off.”
“That explains a lot,” Joey said. “I knew you weren’t the arsonist type.”
“I had to run up the driveway and ring the bell to tell them their yard was on fire. The flames were racing toward the house. I was hysterical and Mr. and Mrs. Gates were screaming at me. The Monthly Moon photographer arrived right before the fire company and spent the next half hour shooting my mugshot. Hazel Cardona arrested me in front of Davis and Taneisha… his next-door neighbor.”
The table was in absolute silence.
“It looked like he’d dumped me and I tried to set his house on fire. It was humiliating.”
“Oh, Eden,” Summer said with sympathy.
Eden stared down at the table. She could still smell the acrid scent of ash and smoke… and shame.
“You know how Blue Moon is. There were about fifty people on the scene, watching Sheriff Cardona read me my rights. I was still in my dress for the dance.”
She took another gulp of wine.
“I told the sheriff it was my fault and left Moon Beam out of it. My parents got the charges plead down to trespassing and vandalism. Moon Beam worked at the Fry and Fly for an entire year to pay me back for the fines. But for fifteen years, I’ve been the girl that tried to burn down Davis Gates’s house.”
She’d never told anyone but her parents the real story. And they didn’t believe her. They thought she was just acting on behalf of the feud. Everyone, including Davis, still believed that she’d been responsible for the fire.
“So, you really didn’t set the fire?” Joey asked in disbelief.
Eden shook her head. “Nope. My own parents didn’t believe me. I figured why bother to try to convince anyone else?”
“That’s awful,” Gia said with sympathy. “You must have felt so alone.”
She had. And if Eden were being honest, sometimes she still did.
“Listen, I believe every word. Your cousin Moon Beam saw a target on Jax’s pants and tried to get in them when he moved back to Blue Moon,” Joey told Eden.
“Davis’s parents freaked out, which caused my parents to freak out on them. I had to go through an entire semester of Impulse Control class and a year of community service,” Eden confessed. “And ever since, I’ve been the unstable bad girl of Blue Moon.”
“That’s so sad and funny and crazy,” Summer said.
“On the bright side, you two put it all behind you and now you’re together!” Gia said. “I’ll admit, I was skeptical at first, but from the pictures, you two look so happy. I’m really glad we matched you.”
“Pictures?” Eden frowned.
“Wait? You’re not allowed to talk about Beautification Committee business,” Joey pointed out.
“Oh, it’s okay,” Eva told them. “Eden knows she was matched. She even showed up to a meeting to contest it.”
“We can contest our matches?” Joey screeched, slapping her hand down on the table.
Gia clamped a hand over her own mouth.
“Shit. What’s it going to take to make sure that never gets repeated,” Eva hissed.
“Five-hundred bucks,” Joey shot back.
“That’s extortion!”
“Okay, fine then. Dedicate your next book to me.” Joey steepled her fingers, her long legs stretching out under the table. Joey devoured Eva’s novels like chocolate-covered pretzels.
“Arg. Fine. Deal.”
“I can’t believe all this time we were allowed to contest our matches,” Summer muttered.
26
The cabernet was a rich red in the tasting glasses Davis distributed. “This particular blend is heavy on the currant and vanilla.”
Beckett Pierce held up the glass to the light and swirled the wine, his apocalypse-earned black eye from Sheriff Cardona had faded to a dull yellow. Jax knocked it back like a shot. Carter shoved his youngest brother.
“Don’t you know anything about wine tasting, Hollywood?”
Jax ignored his brother’s ribbing and opened the tap to fill a sample glass with a dark ale. “This is our Joey’s Porter,” he said, passing it over the bar. “Smooth. Strong. A kick in the ass, just like its inspiration.”
The Pierce brothers may have started the brewery to honor their late father, but the beers themselves were inspired by the women in their lives. Davis wondered what kind of wine would bear Eden’s name. Something red, sinfully smooth, with a full body—
“You gonna drink it or moon over it?” Jax joked.
They’d all known each other since forever, as was the case with anyone born and raised in Blue Moon. He’d been closest in age to Carter, but the Pierce brothers came as a package deal and Davis had spent a good deal of his high school career being entertained by all three.
Davis sniffed and then sipped, tasting the beer much the way he would sample wine. The notes of coffee and chocolate caught his palate. They were in the midst of a very friendly negotiation on serving John Pierce Brews at the winery and Blue Moon Wines at the brewery. Apparently, his new truce with Eden had lifted an unspoken business embargo for anyone who didn’t want to be perceived as choosing sides.
“Look, I vote that we all just say yes now instead of pissing around,” Jax said, tossing back a sparkling wine. “Ooh! Bubbles.”
“What’s your hurry, Jax?” Beckett, the attorney and Blue Moon mayor, hedged. Beckett liked to think through decisions, weighing all the angles.
“We’ve got, what? Two hours allotted for this meeting, right?”
Carter shrugged and waited.
“We wrap this up now with handshakes, and we can sit back, order up a bunch of wings, and watch the game without wives or kids.”
Carter and Beckett shared a look of longing.
“Deal?” Beckett said, standing and offering Davis his hand.
“Good with me.” They shook, sealing the deal and sticking a fork in the business portion of the evening.
“We’ll work out the specifics later,” Carter promised.
Jax got on the phone behind the bar. “What kind of wings do you want, Gates?” he asked.
They placed an order with the kitchen for an astronomical amount of bar food.
“I’m texting Vulkov and Cardona,” Beckett suggested. “The wives are all out together working on some fundraiser or something, and the kids are spread out with an army of babysitters. It’s Man Night.”
Davis started to stopper his bottles. “Hang on. We’ll double fist to celebrate,” Carter insisted, pulling down wine glasses from above the bar. They were in the private bar area on the second floor of the brewery. Used mainly for special occasions or Pierce family meals, it was a generous space with its own bar and restrooms and a dozen tables spread out. There was a steel cabled railing overlooking the main bar area below.
Davis poured himself a merlot and accepted the lager Jax poured for him. He planted himself on a bar stool and wondered when he’d last watched a game with friends. The winery had kept him busy, had basically consumed his life. And the fire had been a major setback. And then there was Eden picking up all of his spare time and conf
using him with a fake relationship that felt way too real.
It was nice to be normal for a little while.
The sheriff and Nikolai Vulkov arrived together minutes later. Niko shrugged out of his leather jacket and made a mad dash for alcohol.
“Emma can’t drink,” he said by way of an explanation as he reverently picked up a beer.
“Meaning?” Davis asked, watching him swallow two-thirds of the glass’s contents.
“Meaning I can’t drink either,” Niko said, pausing for a breath and then polishing off the rest of the beer. “Ahhh, I’ve missed you,” he crooned.
Carter smirked. “Why don’t you just tell Emma the truth? That you’re cheating on her with a frosty blonde.”
“It’s called being supportive,” Niko said dryly. “I’d think a father of twins would know what that was.”
Jax held up a piece of popcorn chicken, and Beckett nodded and rose. Jax gave the chicken a toss, and Beckett caught it in his mouth, shooting his arms up victoriously.
“A father of twins knows what support looks like,” Carter shot back, amused.
“What? A vasectomy?” Niko teased.
“If that will make Summer’s life better, I’m not afraid of getting snipped.”
“My buddy back in L.A. went with a bunch of his friends. They all got them done together. Like a really painful spa day,” Jax told them, chucking another piece of chicken at Beckett.
“Are you guys done with two?” Niko asked Carter.
Carter shrugged. “I think so, but every time one of you jackasses has a baby, Summer sniffs them and starts talking about how much she misses the baby stage.”