Page 27 of Choosing Forever
“Because he’s making a show of his wealth,” Garrison mutters, knowing better than any of us what that looks like.
“Do you think they’ll be helping with the drive-in reno?” Johnny asks.
I eye the long-haired cowboy and get hit with the startling realization that he somehow looks even older than he did last Saturday. Daisy’s twin brother isn’t all that much younger than the rest of us, but where Daisy’s always had this maturity in her eyes, Johnny’s were always full of a bright sense of life and freedom that intimidated me for a while.
He’s the guy who kept up a façade that he didn’t take muchof anything seriously and was just in search of a fun time. The group of us learned quickly that wasn’t all he was interested in, and when Aurora—Rory—came to town, it became clear as day that I’d misjudged him. Our friendship has grown steadily over the last few years and took a huge leap the past couple as I’ve dealt with Sasha’s engagement. I trust Johnny with as much as I do Brody and fuck, even Garrison. That says enough.
Brody barks a laugh. “Not a fuckin’ chance. I doubt even Garry here will be offerin’ to help pick up trash.”
“I’m quite capable of filling a garbage bag, Brody,” Garrison grates.
Poppy kisses his cheek, smoothing a hand down his arm. “Don’t bully my man, guys. You’d be surprised how handy he’s gotten recently.”
“Not interested in learning about that,” I quip, expression twisting with disgust.
Johnny adjusts Rory on his lap and sets his chin on her shoulder as she meets my gaze and says, “Are you planning on helping, Darren? I heard that the entire station was.”
“Yeah, Caleb signed us all up. Is everyone else?”
“Yep! I got every business downtown to fill out the volunteer form too,” Anna says.
Brody stretches his arm along the back of the booth, draping it over Anna’s shoulders. “I heard a rumour that Wanda’s back. She sign up too?”
“I can neither confirm nor deny that yet,” Rory answers.
Being half-sisters with Wanda Rose, the daughter of one of the biggest names in country music outside of Brody, Rory knows more about her whereabouts than the rest of us do. She left a few years back to head out to Toronto and hasn’t been back since. Not until now, supposedly.
Cherry Peak loves gossip, and the unexpected return of Wanda Rose is no exception to that.
“Well, then there should be enough help. I’m just surprised the mayor decided to care about it,” Brody says.
Anna tips her chin in agreement before looking at Bryce. “Did you speak with him about it, Ice?”
Bryce doesn’t so much as blink before replying, “Briefly.”
“Briefly? And that was enough to convince him to care?” Johnny asks, not buying it.
“Yep.”
I hide my every reaction to their questions and Bryce’s very obvious lie. We both know he only agreed because he’s still trying to buy back his daughter’s love after letting his wife trample all over her for years. She used it to our advantage, but it still wasn’t easy by any means.
And I know she did it for me.
“Right. We’ll just have to choose to believe you there,” Johnny says.
Bryce flips him off. “It’s sounding a lot like you want to be put to work the hardest.”
“Never been afraid of hard work, Ice,” he retorts with a quick wink.
“I personally think that this is going to be really fun. Like one last hurrah before we all get married and start popping out a thousand babies,” Daisy gushes.
Bryce’s arm tightens around her, a glimmer of awe there and gone in her eyes. “You heard her.”
“How about we focus on gettin’ Darren out on a date before talkin’ about babies? He’s got some catchin’ up to do,” Brody says, the pointedness of his voice reminding me of the brief conversation we had at Bryce’s Into The Shade opening.
“Who pissed in your coffee this mornin’?”
“Life,” I mutter.
