Page 18 of Roam

His dad had brought them up to appreciate women and their abilities. Roam had to admit seeing Locks and his wife running their bail bonds and watching his dad and mom run things had set a great example.

Roam had zero appreciation for men who found the need to run women down or try to box them into a certain place. Roam wanted to help his woman grow in confidence and achieve all her dreams. And whether she knew it or not, he was going to have her as his woman. She could get used to the idea and they’d go slow because Sprite deserved it all. The romance. The dates. The fairytale.

Chapter Eleven

Sprite kissed Oakley on the forehead and then held her arms open for a hug from Blake. The weekend had come quickly. It was hard to believe she’d been at Bluff Creek for four days.

“Mama Sprite, we’re only going for a movie this evening, then we’ll be home tonight.”

Sprite continued to hold her arms open until Blake stepped in. Sprite wrapped her arms around her bonus daughter and leaned close to her ear. “You have fun tonight. There’ll be plenty of people to watch Oakley. You enjoy playing with Phoebe and the others.”

Blake nodded, though Sprite wondered if she’d actually follow the directions. Blake may get annoyed at Oakley when she was messing with her stuff, but Blake was a nurturer. Tonight, Sprite wanted Blake to be a kid and not worry. She hoped the longer they were at Bluff Creek, the more Blake would relax and have fun.

Sprite had left another message for her brother and hadn’t heard anything yet. She wasn’t going to worry about it tonight. She was going to enjoy her evening with the girls. Regina was taking her, Clara and Meg over in the side-by-side to Beth’s. They were all waiting for her outside. She turned and walked out the door, forcing herself not to check on Blake and Oakley one more time.

She walked down the stairs to Regina and the ladies waiting on her.

“Let’s go, chick. I’m ready to get to know everyone,” Clara yelled.

When Sprite saw Clara’s shirt, she giggled. She was wearing the Property of Cannon shirt that Regina had bought her at the store. She sat down beside Clara and listened to them chatting as Regina sped over to Beth’s house.

She grabbed the seatback in front of her a few times when they went airborne on a couple of hills. Regina pulled them up to a cute ranch-style house, parking beside the front porch.

Sprite marveled at the clustering of the five houses around an oval drive. They were each different but pretty in their own way.

“We’re coming. Wait for us,” Rose and Tasha, who she’d met earlier in the week, were walking over along with Ellie and Kennedy. It was a good thing everyone had different looks, or she’d never keep this many new people straight. Rose and Tasha were easy because they, along with Scoop, were all Stella’s kids. She and Ellie had gotten close at the party, but Kennedy had been busy and wasn’t able to come. Sprite thought she was related to Bear. Sprite wasn’t sure how because when Beth had been telling the story, she’d gotten confused.

She glanced around Beth’s house as a standard schnauzer with the cutest mustache was licking Clara’s hand.

“Who all thinks it’s hysterical that Moss likes the woman who’s in the Property of Cannon shirt,” Beth snickered as she commented.

“You need to clue in the newbies,” Regina picked up some trays of food.

“Well, Remi started a prank war with War when they were dating. It kind of spilled over to all of us when we had to go on lockdown for a while. Well, all of us except sweetie Sarah, who didn’t want to do anything to hurt the guys’ feelings. Let’s put water in their shoes. Seriously, water?”

Sarah lightly pushed Beth. “Well, that’s over now. It’s on.”

“Cannon put coloring in my shampoo and conditioner, so I decided to do something more permanent. Moss is Cannon’s real name.”

“So, you named your dog after him?” Sprite questioned.

“I named my neutered male dog after him.”

Sprite joined in the laughter. Two other dogs were running around and enjoying the attention of everyone. Sprite followed everyone into the room past the kitchen. It had a TV but also a large table with chairs, two sofas and a bar against the wall.

“Snacks and drinks are on the bar. We can chat or I have crafts if we need stuff to do while we’re talking,” Beth directed, then pulled some trays out of the refrigerator, putting them on the bar where Regina had laid her trays.

Sprite walked over the bar to get food, basically to keep her hands busy and give herself something to do. She wasn’t good in social situations and most times would just either draw in her sketch pad or read a book. Being forward with Roam at the bar had been so far outside her comfort zone even if it had led to something really good for her family.

She took one of everything to make sure she liked them. She wasn’t a picky eater but also didn’t want to take more than one and offend someone if she didn’t eat it.

“If you like ranch and cream cheese, Winnie’s veggie bars are yummy,” Ellie mentioned as she added three to her plate. “But then I don’t cook, so I’m always impressed with anybody who makes stuff. Thank goodness there’s a great diner in town.”

Ellie grabbed a couple more items, including some fried mushrooms that Sprite thought looked good. A lot of the food was items she wouldn’t ever make with two young kids. Blake was a great eater, but she hated mushrooms, so Sprite didn’t even have mushrooms on her pizza.

She picked up a napkin then scanned the room to decide where to sit.

A call of “Oh sit by me” had her walking over and sitting by Winnie. She sat down and listened to the conversation.

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