Page 11 of Alice & Meg

I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I could sense that a change of conversation was good.

“Speaking of salad, I hope the boys are taking good care of my babies,” I muttered.

“Babies?” Lennox asked.

I nodded. “Elvis and Priscilla are my new additions. Wrecker got me them for Christmas last year.”

Meg tipped her head to the side. “Uh, what kind of babies do you have?” she asked.

I smiled wide. “Highland cows.” Now this was a topic I could get behind, and I was sure it wasn’t going to make anyone uncomfortable.

Chapter Five

Meg

Alice was a nut.

I loved it.

We were all pleasantly full, waiting for our dessert, and Alice had been talking about her highland cows for the past half an hour.

The names and stories she had to tell about them were downright hilarious. She had us all laughing and smiling the whole meal.

I could sense when Wrecker and Pipe had started talking about pinstriping that Lo was on edge.

I got it, but I also knew that in Lo’s mind, things were a lot worse than they actually were. Sure, he struggled a little with fine details, but even when he struggled with his pinstriping, the end result was still fucking amazing. That’s what happened when you were so damn good at what you did, that even on your worst days, you were most people’s best work.

It was getting Lo to accept it, and that was the challenge.

“And finally, we have Logan Birch, who will be leading the Pinstriping with Ease seminar tomorrow at two o’clock,” the announcer called. “Stand up for us, Logan.”

I had been hoping that they would skip over Lo. He was already nervous enough about tomorrow, and now he had to stand up in front of everyone.

Lo stood and modestly raised his hand. The room went up in a round of applause, and I felt a swell of pride in my chest.

I knew that this was hard for Lo. He thought that he wasn’t as good as he was before the stroke and didn’t deserve any of this.

I knew differently, though. Lo deserved all of this and more. He was one of the best pinstripers in the country, and no one in this room thought he was any less after his stroke.

He nodded to a few people and gingerly sat down.

I leaned into him and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Smile, handsome,” I whispered. “They all know how great you are.”

He turned and pressed a kiss to my lips. “Only because you’re by my side.”

I was more than good with being next to Lo. It was where I belonged.

Speaking of belonging, everyone at this table belonged.

Talking with Alice and Nikki had come like second nature. They were ol’ ladies just like me and Lennox, and that unspoken bond between us was strong.

The waiters delivered large slices of chocolate cake to each of us.

“Oh, boy,” Jonas called. “They should have brought anything but chocolate cake.”

“What?” Alice asked.

Lennox nodded to me. “Meg makes the best chocolate cake in the world. There is no way that this is even going to compare.”

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