by Dale Mayer
“Later,” Badger said. “We’ve got a lot going on now.”
After that, the discussion settled into who wanted to go where and do what job.
By the time they had that sorted out, Badger sat back, popped the top off another beer and said, “Do you guys all have suits?”
They each nodded.
“I do. Probably need to take it to the dry cleaners though,” Jager said. “It’s not fancy though.”
“Sure it is. If it’s black, it’s fancy enough,” Laszlo said. “We’ve all got black suits. We don’t need more than that, do we?” He turned to look at Badger.
“I don’t think so,” Badger said. “A black suit is good for everything.” His tone turned morose. Because, of course, most of them had picked up a black suit for funerals. The only other time they really needed them was for weddings. But there hadn’t been any of those in their lives in a long time.
Jager said, “I can’t believe Levi is going to pop the question.”
“I know.” Badger looked around at the other guys. “Any of you thought about it?”
Erick shrugged. “Of course I’ve thought about it. Just haven’t done anything about it.”
Cade laughed. “Me too. I think that’s probably the same for all of us. You realize that, once Levi does this, the girls will likely look at us.”
“Or maybe not,” Geir said. “Let’s not forget Levi and Ice have been together for literally years.”
“In a way he’s well past time,” Badger said.
“We all have pretty new relationships. Comparatively.”
Silence fell.
Badger said quietly. “My relationship with Kat has gone farther and faster than anything I’ve ever had before.”
“Ours was pretty intense as far as the courtship went,” Jager said. “Allison and I are still getting used to living in the same space.”
“But it’s a fun process, isn’t it?” Laszlo asked, shooting him a big grin.
Jager laughed. “It so is. And, down the road, marriage is something we’ll all have to consider.”
“Thankfully that’s down the road,” Erick said. “I want time to just think about the joy of what I have without jeopardizing it by asking a question that maybe my partner isn’t ready for.”
“That’s the thing, right? Our women are the ultimate career professionals. Clary too, even though she’s not looking for a job, she’s rethinking her work as a paralegal. Maybe they don’t like weddings. Maybe marriage isn’t in their future,” Badger said. “I can honestly say I’ve never even broached the subject.”
“Are you kidding? That’s like opening a huge yawning pit. No matter what you say, you’ll say it wrong,” Geir said. “Some avenues of discussion you just don’t go down until you’re ready to take the plunge.”
The men chuckled, but they all nodded in agreement.
“Does Levi need us to do anything else except be fully dressed?”
“No, the problem is, whether we can get the women to dress up,” Laszlo said, “without having to explain.”
“Yeah, I know. Not all of them necessarily like dressing up either.”
“True enough. I’m not sure Allison is into high heels,” Jager said. “I’m not even sure she moved any evening clothes with her.”
“Same with Morning.”
“I think, in each case,” Badger said, “they probably have something that will look nice. But, if we’re expecting this to be superformal, not one of them will appreciate us not giving them a heads-up. Apparently that’s really important to women.”
“So, do we tell them it’ll be a formal affair and to find some glad rags to put on?” Talon asked.
“I think we need to nudge them somewhat. We can’t tell them any details though.”
“Is Levi telling Ice?”
“Only that it’s formal. And, if she doesn’t bring the gold dress, he’s planning on packing it for her.”
“Ice in gold.” Talon shook his head. “That’ll be something to see.”
“I’m really happy for them,” Badger said suddenly. “They’re good people.”
“They sure are,” Lazlo said, shaking his head. “It’ll be a hell of a wedding at their compound.”
“I know. And we might get invitations,” Badger said with a laugh. “And, if that’s the case, I’m definitely going.”
The others nodded.
“Even if it’s just to see how their operation runs,” Geir added. “They’ve got the setup. They’ve got the location. They’ve got the proper buildings. It’s a bloody fortress down there.”
“We have to start small,” Erick said, focusing on the logistics. “Taking on little jobs, doing a few things here and there. If it gets bigger than that, we’ll need to look for a central location ourselves.”
“Could be just an office though, a storefront for meetings with clients or whatever,” Badger said. “We could all have home offices and work from there.”
“Well, you know one thing is for sure,” Talon said. “None of us needs a helicopter, like Ice insists on.”
“But she runs it pretty heavily too,” Badger said. “According to Levi, when times were tough, her helicopter pilot skills kept them bringing in the money.”
“Makes sense,” Talon agreed. “They’re very diverse.”
“And we need to maintain diversity too,” Cade noted. “If we see ourselves going too far in one direction, we need to pull back and keep sprawling out in other directions. We can bring on other people if we want to, but the seven of us need some kind of steady employment.”
“And the paycheck is not the big deal. We’re all getting solid pensions, so it’s not like we’re starving. But we all need that sense of contributing in some way.” Erick smiled at the rest of them. “It’s hard to let go of being a hero.”
“That’s the thing,” Talon said. “I think, to the women, we’ll always be heroes.”
Cade added, “And that’s a damn nice feeling.”
“What about booze for the party?” Talon asked, looking at Badger. “Did Levi say anything about that?”
“He’s picking up booze for the party. I think he had some decent-size budget in mind.”
“So, champagne?”
“He asked me about that. I thought we should probably have a couple cases, and then we can switch out to hard drinks or wine.”
“Okay, sounds good. What about food?”
Badger was stumped. “I don’t know. The thing is, Kat was looking at doing this party all on her own, and now we’ve kind of boosted it, so I need to talk to her about that.” He checked his watch and stood. “I guess I can do that in about ten minutes when I get home,” he joked. “Are you guys keeping track of the time?”
With a wave goodbye, Badger walked out the front door of Talon’s house and headed home. His mind was full because Kat had been so excited about this, and he didn’t want to take the thrill away from her. But, because of Levi’s thing, it had gotten a whole lot bigger fast.
As he walked in, she was coming out of the kitchen, a big cookie in her fingers. He glanced at the cookie and smiled. “You’re just lucky I saved you one,” he joked.
She nodded, reached up and kissed him gently. “I was going to ask, now that we’ve got Levi coming, maybe we could get Alfred and possibly Bailey on board to bring in some food? But maybe that’s not fair if Levi is picking up the booze. Plus Alfred and Bailey cook for everyone at the compound every day, right?”
Badger had to think about that. “I know, but Morning is too busy, painting for her upcoming show, and there’ll be a bigger crowd now, so we might need to get some catering brought in.”
“I’ll talk to Ice first, then get on the catering issue if needed.”
He grinned with relief. “That’s perfect. You know we could just go with burgers.” He tossed her a grin as he headed out to the pool.
“We’re not having burgers,” she called out. “No way. We have those damn-near every Sunday as it is.”
“No, we don’t. We had ribs last Sunday,” he said.
She chuckled, following him to the pool. “What are we having this Sunday?” she teased.
He spun around to look at her. “Talon is bringing some special chicken dish.”
Her smile kicked up a few degrees. “You know? I really like that. It’s not just all on us each Sunday.”
He shook his head. “That’s what friends do. Everybody brings something, and then it’s not such a headache for anyone, and we rotate the meat around so nobody’s bored with hamburgers, and it works.”
She nodded and sat in her lounger. “It’s been a long day.”
“I called you at lunchtime,” he said, casting her a glance.
“Yeah, I went out with the girls today.”
“The girls?” He watched a flush cross her face.
“We’ve gotten in the habit of having lunch together.”
He studied her for a long moment. “All of you?”
She nodded. “At least as many as can make it on the day.” She hesitated. “Is that okay?”
He stared at her for a long moment and thought about what he’d hoped for with the women’s relationships. “I think it’s way better than okay,” he admitted. “I think it’s frickin’ perfect.”
She beamed, hopped up and walked toward him. “After the Mouse crisis was over, I was afraid we wouldn’t end up all being friends,” she confessed. “But, in fact, it’s turned out the opposite. We’re really good friends.”
“You’re all very different, but you have a lot in common.”
“We so do,” she said, laughing. “We all fell in love with seven very difficult men.”
He chuckled. “That you did.” He glanced around. “And now I can see why you were figuring out if there was enough room for a party here. With Levi and Ice coming in, things are kicking up. I’m wondering the same thing.”
She walked out over the backyard. “If we have this all nicely mowed, and we set up tables, there should be plenty of room.”
“Most people, if they’re nicely dressed,” he said, “will stick to the patio.”
“Sure.”
He turned to study the space up against the house. “But you’re right. We could move all of that back out from underneath here, and people could stand around and talk. We could bring out more seating and have the tables—providing the weather forecast is any good—maybe out in the open air.” He frowned. “It’s the first time I’ve ever thought about doing any kind of formal entertaining here.”
“I think seating will be a bit of an issue.” She looked around. “It’s possible others can bring some of their outdoor furniture. We might need to invest in some too.”
He looked at her and walked over to the pool house. “You know? I believe we have a bunch more loungers. More than that, I think we have stackable chairs. Not enough for the party but maybe enough to set up a few seating areas. He unlocked the door to the pool house and stepped inside. Immediately Dotty wandered in to nose around.
Kat peered over his shoulder. “I’ve never even looked in here,” she exclaimed.
“No, it’s not a place I come to unless there’s a problem with the pool system. I keep all the chemicals in here, but, at the same time, it was always a good place to store the outdoor stuff.” He brought out stacks of metal chairs. “These would give us some nice seating. Particularly if we have a few bistro tables.”
“We can probably rent some stuff.” She studied the chairs. “These just need a good wash.”
He brought out four high tables.
She stared at them in surprise. “Those are perfect. That’s like standing height. So, we can put platters of hors d’oeuvres on them, and people can rest a glass on them. The chairs can be set up in nice little clusters for little groups to sit at.”
He brought out three more stacks.
“Okay, so that’s what? We’ve got twenty chairs?”
“Twenty-four,” he said, bringing out the last of them. “And I’ve got four of these tables.” He returned to the small room. “And three smaller ones.” He brought those out.
“Why do you have all of these?”
“It was my parents’ home, remember?”
She nodded. “Still, this is a fair bit of outdoor furniture.”
“It is, but my mom liked bargains. So, if they went to a garage sale and saw something in particular they wanted, they got it.”
“Well, we can be thankful for your mom’s foresight because this is perfect. This weekend maybe, when everybody comes over, we can discuss how we want to set up the backyard.”
“We can do that.” He glanced at her. “Are you okay to make it fancy dress?” He waited for her reaction, delighted to see a huge smile break across her face.
“I’m surprised you want to do something formal,” Kat said. “But I’m really excited about the idea.”
“Do you have a dress? Because, if I’m wearing a suit, it’d be nice to see you dressed up.”
“I have a couple,” she said with a big smile. “I have to check and see if I have shoes though.” She stared down at her prosthetic leg and frowned. “I feel like I need to make a leg that has a built-in higher heel.”
“Can you do that?”
She tossed him a cheeky grin. “I can do anything I want to do.”
Laughter rumbled from his chest. “That is so true.”
She waltzed into his arms. “What I’m really looking forward to is seeing you in a suit.”
“I have a nice formal suit.” He looked down at his long frame. “If it still fits. I haven’t had an occasion to wear that one since my accident.”
“Has your body shape changed that much?”
He shrugged. “Most of my other clothes still fit, so I presume it will. But an ill-fitting suit is way worse than no suit.”
She frowned, thinking about it. “If you want to put it on, I can take a look. I’m sure we can always get a tailor to add a tuck and nip if you need it?”
“I’ll see to it later,” he compromised. He glanced around at his large backyard. “I guess it’s a really good time to be happy about the size of the backyard.”
“And the pool and the massive patio space,” she said. “We can entertain forty in here easily.”
“There won’t be that many coming. But, as long as we’ve got twenty, we should be good.”
“Sounds good to me.” He had no clue the numbers would be a little higher than he expected. She was looking at thirty-three guests plus the fourteen of them. She smiled, headed back into the kitchen and called out, “I presume we’re barbecuing again?”
“Unless you want something else?”
“I’m totally okay with barbecue every night.” She laughed. “Particularly if I don’t have to do all the cooking.”
“Nope. I’m happy to do my share.” He walked toward the grill. “I guess we could always barbecue at the party?”
“Maybe. Can’t say I’m particularly in love with the idea of you barbecuing in a suit though.”
“Oh.” He frowned. “I hadn’t considered that.”
“No problem, dear,” she said cheerily. “That’s why you have me.”
“To remind me how silly I’d look barbecuing in a suit?” he asked with a grin, raising an eyebrow at her.
“Nope, not at all,” she said, laughing. “But to point out things you never thought of.”
He nodded. “I think that’s called teamwork.”
“Exactly. We’re a hell of a team.” She turned to look at him. “Right?”
He nodded and grinned. “The best.”
Chapter 8
Kat pulled up in front of the restaurant. She hopped out to see Honey parking beside her within seconds. She watched Minx and Morning coming in too. The women were looking slightly more haggard. Every week it seemed like things were heating up, becoming that much more intense. More plans, more decisions to be made. Who would have thought planning a wedding could be so crazy? But they were planning seven. Seven secret wedd
ings. Kat had to be nuts to have thought she could pull this off.
She walked in, her arm linked with Honey’s, and headed to the room the restaurant always had ready for them. As they sat down, Hindy came over and asked if they wanted coffee. Kat shook her head. “I need a drink. White wine please. And thanks, Hindy, for helping us out with catering on such short notice.”
She waved and she headed to the kitchen.
Honey chuckled. “Bad morning?”
“No.” Something settled inside her at just being able to come together and talk to these women who had ended up becoming such good friends. She smiled as two more arrived and took their places. “Maybe just nerves.”
Honey winced.
Hindy walked in then with a glass of white wine.
Honey said, “You better make that one for me too.”
Laughter burbled up. Kat said with a big grin, “Nerves?”
“Oh, yeah. We’re running out of time. And so many things we don’t have lined up yet.”
“I know,” Kat said. “At times I think we should just call off the whole damn thing because we can’t do a decent job.”
“No, we can’t do that,” Morning said, her voice determined. “I know this is nuts. I know it’s crazy. And I know we’re putting the men on the spot. But I brought up the subject of marriage just weeks ago, and Geir was all about saying he didn’t want to plan for the future because he still had more potential surgeries, and he didn’t want the future to lock me down and all kinds of garbage. It made me so angry.”
“Of course it did,” Kat said. “And I think, to some extent, that’s what the men are saying at every turn. I think they’re afraid.”
“You know every one of them would get angry if we even brought up such a possibility,” Allison said. “They’ve come so damn far. They’ve survived so much, handled so much. And now that they’re taking on jobs, doing security work and investigative work, forming their own company together, it’s like they’ve got a new lease on life. But they’re also petrified it won’t work out for them. And anything else on their plate right now is just too much.”
“I can agree with that,” Faith said quietly. “It’s hard to know when it’s too much. But, every once in a while, they say something, and you kind of look at them sideways and think, I know where that’s coming from.”