Page 164 of Stuck with my Mountain Daddies

I dragged a hand through my hair, scanning the crowd. Beckett was double-checking the sound system, muttering under his breath.

Asher was near the back, arms folded like a sentinel, eyes tracking every movement Riley made as if she might vanish if he blinked.

The turnout had surprised me.

More people than I expected had shown up, not only from Medford, but from the neighboring towns, too. Some curious. Some supportive. A few clearly waiting for a scandal to unfold live.

Too bad. They were getting a fundraiser.

The idea had started with Sadie, of course. Everything good around here usually did.

She’d wanted to raise money for the community outreach center she was trying to expand for children who needed somewhere to go, and Riley had offered to help organize it.

Beckett had come up with the theme. Asher had somehow gotten the vendors to donate food and drinks. And I’d built the goddamn stage.

“Garrett,” came a voice beside me. Lucy. She handed me a glass of apple cider and gave me a long look. “Relax your face. You look like you’re off to war.”

“Feels like I am,” I muttered.

She smirked. “Well, tonight’s not the battlefield. It’sfun. Try to enjoy it.”

Easy for her to say. She wasn’t the one being dissected in online forums and whispered about in grocery store aisles.

Still, I took the cider. And to my surprise, Ididenjoy it.

Because it worked.

Sadiealwaysthrew a good party, but this New Year’s Eve bash had to be one of her best. Especially because Riley was recording it, posting it online. Doing what she did best, but for charity, for other people, not her brand.

And she was shining.

Phone in one hand, laughing as she narrated a video of the raffle table, panning over trays of donated pies and the handmade “Wish Wall” Sadie had set up by the exit.

People loved it.

You could see it in their faces, how drawn they were to her. How even the skeptics leaned in when she spoke.

She had a way of making every moment matter. Makingyoumatter.

I stayed back and watched, letting her do her thing. This was her world, not mine. But damn, it was something to see.

“She’s good at this,” Beckett said, stepping beside me, brushing sugar off his hands from whatever cookie he’d just swiped.

“No kidding.” I folded my arms, tracking her with my eyes. “She makes it look easy.”

“She always did,” came Asher’s voice from the other side. “Back in LA, she used to get stopped in grocery stores. People knew her. Trusted her. Like she was their friend. Lucy told me all about it.”

I glanced over. He wasn’t watching the crowd—he was watchingher.

“Sheistheir friend,” Beckett said, softer now. “She doesn’t realize how much they still want her.”

A quiet fell between us. The kind that only came when none of us wanted to say the next thing out loud.

“She talked to you about the offer?” Beckett finally asked, voice pitched low.

I didn’t answer right away. I sipped the cider and stared at the stage. Riley was up there now, taking a selfie with two kids from town who were bouncing in excitement.

“She said she doesn’t think she wants the reality TV package,” I replied.

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