Page 6 of Sassy Love
Adds tilts her head, a hand gravitating to her hip. “Laws, what’s wrong?”
“Long day is all.” It’s then I notice their bags by my door.
Ruby gives me her best ‘stop with the bullshit’ look.
“Come on. Let’s get you two inside.” I shove the key into my door and open it. I toss my bag inside and pluck up theirs. They follow me in, making themselves at home like they always do. And, damn, I’m so grateful for them today.
“I didn’t know you guys were coming,” I say, placing their bags in my room. I’ll take the sofa, as always.
Adds turns back, frowning. “It’s been planned for three months, Laws. This new job is consuming you. Need to talk about it?”
Fuck.
How did I forget three of my favorite people were coming?
Carlson really is messing with my head.
“You know what you need?” Ruby pulls her jacket off and leans into my shoulder.
“What, Rubes?” I say with a laugh.
“Wine—or whiskey, in your case—and a good laugh.”
She’s not wrong.
“Let me shower first, okay?”
“Sure thing, then we’re watching something hilarious. Feel free to get drunk.” Rubes winks at me.
I roll my eyes at the woman who turned my little brother’s life around. My little brother who, in return, gave her the family she’s been missing all those years.
“I’ll make you a snack. Go, go!” Adds wanders into the kitchen. With a daughter of her own now, she’s almost as bad as Ma. But you’ll never hear me complain about either woman.
“Thanks,” I breathe.
I wander to the bedroom and into the en suite. The din of laughter, clinking glasses, and kitchen noises fills my home. Well, apartment.
It’s never really been a home.
The sound of my family here bolsters my spirits like it always does.
I shower quickly and throw on a T-shirt and sweats, not worried about impressing the girls; they’ll no doubt be in their PJs the second Gracie lands. I can’t wait to see her.
I choke up, thinking about what she and Mack went through to find each other.
Fuck this mood.
I suck in a long, bursting lungful of air.
Nope. Shut this bullshit down, Lawson.
I’m not letting Carlson get to me. Every single person who’s ever had to fight for the right to be safe and happy is why I took this stupid fucking job in the first place. I may have been misguided, too focused on not becoming financially ruined while trying to hang onto this apartment.
Maybe it’s time for a change.
I pad to the kitchen to find the girls on the sofa, wine in hand, Netflix on the oversized flat-screen TV. I grab a beer from the fridge and plop between them with a sigh. It’s a happier sigh than before. I let my head fall back on the headrest of the sofa and close my eyes.
“Okay, what are we workshopping?” Rubes whispers in one ear.
