Page 42 of If You Say So

well.”

Riel gave the waitress his menu, and she rocketed off as if she’d been burned.

I rolled my eyes.

“I take it you don’t like ranch?” Piper asked Riel.

He shrugged. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I don’t remember what I like. I’m playing this game

right now. Try and see.”

Piper looked at him curiously. “That’s got to be interesting.”

He nodded. “It is.” He sighed. “Last week I bought a whole family-sized box of Lucky Charms

before I realized that when the milk hit the marshmallows, they reminded me of snot nuggets.”

Jonah, who’d been in the process of drinking his beer, choked.

I started to laugh, wiping tears from my eyes.

“Oh my God.” I wiped the tears from my cheeks. “You and Luca were in full agreement on that.

Y’all both hated Lucky Charms so much. Him, I think, worse than you. But you were right there with

him. Y’all fed on each other’s mutual hate for it, that’s for sure.”

Riel’s lips twitched.

“Malachi…” a man on the end said. “What’s…”

“He’d like to be called Riel now,” I said to the man. The man that I still didn’t know who he was.

Though he looked quite familiar, too.

The man looked at me with an odd expression on his face.

“He doesn’t like the name Malachi. We decided Riel was what he was going to go by now. His

middle name is Gabriel. So, he’s going to go by that until he finds what really seems right as he grows and matures.”

Riel snorted.

“Thanks,” he murmured. “I’m pretty grown and mature, but I get what you meant.”

“Riel then,” the man said. “How did you like your first week of work?”

“Frankie, Pace. Pace, Frankie.” Riel gestured to the man that was speaking. “And to answer your

question, Pace, I enjoyed it. Other than that woman getting killed the first day on the job.”

“I’m Lock. This is my girl, Saylor. That’s Justice, and his wife, Royal. Pace you met. His girl is

Oakley. Then you have Logan on the very end with Captain Morgan, and Logan’s wife, Katy,” Lock

said, introducing the rest of us. “I’m sure that Riel would’ve gotten around to introducing you

eventually.”

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