Yes, I was assuring Tex of impending danger and mayhem.
“It’s thin,” Tex muttered. “But it’s something.”
He turned back to the espresso machine and jerked off a portafilter with such force, the entire machine (and it was not small or light, not by a long shot) moved sideways half an inch.
He also kept muttering.
“And we got that book thing. Those badasses were beside themselves yesterday. Got a feeling that shit’s gonna get interesting.”
I had a feeling he wasn’t wrong
I looked to Jet.
Jet rolled her eyes and shrugged.
I got close to her and asked, “How are you feeling about the book thing?”
Her head tipped to the side before she replied. “I can’t find it in me to get worked up about it. Sure, there’s more detail in Indy’s book, but it isn’t like it wasn’t mostly all laid out in the papers.” She righted her head and went on to inform me, “Eddie’s not pleased.”
That wasn’t a surprise.
“So I’m thinking I should probably devote my attention to not getting wound up about it.” Her hand went to her belly. “He’s not big on me getting worked up about stuff.”
I knew that. If Eddie adored Jet before (and he adored her, in his macho badass way), he doted on her now. He was ecstatic (again, in his macho badass way) that she was having his baby, thus he treated her like porcelain. No Eddie Chats that pissed her off. No being bossy. It was all about soft looks and sweet touches and handling her with the utmost care.
It was pretty righteous.
Then again, Eddie had always been a really good guy (in his macho badass way).
So that wasn’t a surprise, either.
I dipped my head to her belly. “How’s preparations for the blessed event coming?” I asked, and she gave me her knockout smile.
“The addition is done,” she told me, referring to the new kickass laundry room Eddie and Hector added on to their house so Jet didn’t have to walk down to the basement to do laundry. “The nursery is done,” she went on. “Now he’s starting on refinishing the basement so we can move number one out to a bedroom downstairs,” she patted her big belly. “And move number two into the nursery upstairs when the time comes.”
“Forward planning,” I noted and got another big smile.
It was safe to say Jet, as well as Eddie, were looking forward to having a big happy family.
I pulled in a breath and got to the hard part.
“Okay, so how are you doing with me?” I asked, and her smile changed. It didn’t fade, but it grew softer.
“You’re Ally,” she answered.
I was.
“You do what you do,” she continued then her smile re-brightened. “I’m just bummed out I didn’t get the chance to tell you not to fight it.”
“I wouldn’t have listened,” I told her.
“They never do,” she replied, and that was so true, we both giggled.
The bell over the door rang.
I turned and watched Daisy charge in wearing a skintight baby pink Juicy Couture track suit with the hoodie unzipped so far you could see the lace of the cups of her bra. This was not a fashion option she chose while she zipped up that morning. This was a necessity as the fabric didn’t stretch enough to zip over her bodacious ta-ta’s.
“Yo,” I called my greeting seeing as her eyes were glued on me.
She didn’t reply, and I knew I was getting it from Daisy when she kept up her charge right behind the espresso counter, grabbed my hand and dragged me out toward the bookshelves.
Down the aisle we went and she turned right at the W-X-Y-Z section.
She stopped us in the middle of the row, turned and tipped her head back to me.
“I’m workin’ with you,” she announced.
Fuck!
“Daisy—” I began.
She lifted a hand palm out, pearl-painted, lethally-long fingernails pointed to the ceiling, and I could see the tips were brushed with hot pink on the diagonal and every one had a little heart of rhinestones affixed to it.
I didn’t usually allow people to shut me up, especially giving me The Hand. And Daisy was not carrying a purse and her tracksuit didn’t afford any opportunities to hide anything, but even without a stun gun handy, Daisy found ways to get her way and I wasn’t in the mood for a catfight in the W-X-Y-Z section.
So I shut up.
She dropped her hand.
