Page 7

Waverly

I PULLED UP to Connor and Maisie’s home just before six-thirty, an absolute nervous wreck. So much so, I actually jumped a little when Maisie opened the door. “Oh, um, hi, Maisie. Sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry, darling. Gio’s been so excited all day, I practically had to make a run for the door. Come on in.”

I smiled, stepping inside and lifting the bag I was holding. “I brought wine and an apple pie. It was my grandmother’s recipe, so I hope that’s okay.”

“I have it on good authority that apple pie is Gio’s favorite, so well done, love.”

I couldn’t stop a blush as I followed her down the hall and to the kitchen. Walking into the room, Maisie took the bag from me and set it on the kitchen island. “Waverly made an apple pie.”

“No way,” Gio said from his place on the chair in front of the television. “That’s my favorite.”

“I told her,” Maisie said.

Connor was leaning against the kitchen counter by the sink. “Hey, Waverly.”

“Hi, Connor. Thank you for having me.”

“Thank you for comin’.”

“Can I help with anything?” I asked.

“No. We’re almost ready. Make yourself comfortable, honey,” Maisie said.

I nodded and made my way over to Gio.

“Hey, beautiful,” he said, smiling up at me.

“Hey. You look great.”

He chuckled. “Amazing what a shower and a shave can do, huh?”

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m good. Sit down, Fizzy. Maisie’ll let you know if she needs you.”

I bit my lip and sighed. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

I sat on the sofa beside him and set my purse on the ground.

“Did you really make apple pie?” he asked.

“I did. It’s my grandmother’s recipe.”

He grinned. “You like me.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”

“Now, the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question is, did you bring ice cream?”

“Of course I brought ice cream,” I said with mock horror. “I’m not an animal.”

He grinned wider. “You really like me.”

“I guess it all depends on whether or not you like the pie.”

Gio raised an eyebrow. “Haven’t met an apple pie I didn’t like.”

“That sounds like me with potatoes.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes. I would marry potatoes if it was legal.”

“Do you cook as well, or is baking your specialty?”

“I can cook,” I admitted. “Although, I order in more than I should. It’s not much fun cooking for one. What about you? Do you cook special?”

He gave me a crooked smile. “Shut up, Annette.”

“Oh my god!” I couldn’t stop a laugh as I clapped my hands. “Donnie Brasco is in my top five. I knew you were a closet wise guy.”

“Nah, I’m more of a wise ass,” he retorted. “And, yeah, I cook. I just haven’t in a while. I don’t have a great kitchen, and I agree, it’s not much fun cooking for one.”

“I have a phenomenal kitchen.”

“Yeah?”

I nodded. “It’s why I bought the unit. That and the bathroom.”

“Can’t wait to see it.”

I shivered. The thought of him in my space did things to my body.

Good things.

“Right, you two, we’re ready,” Maisie said.

“Can I help?” I asked .

“If you can help carry plates to the table, Ha—uh, Connor will get Gio sorted,” she said.

I nodded and she directed me through her process.

“How did you land on physical therapy, Waverly?” Maisie asked once we were seated.

“I think it was kind of kismet in a way. My grandmother took a fall when I was about sixteen and it had been her and I against the world for about four years at that point. My parents had been killed in a small plane crash and my grandfather died two years after that.” I shook my head. I couldn’t believe I’d just told them all of that.

“Oh my lord,” Maisie exclaimed. “I’m so sorry, love.”

“It was a long time ago. Sorry, that was a lot,” I breathed out. “I didn’t mean to make everyone sad. My life is really good.” I forced a smile. “But she’s the reason I’m a physical therapist because when she took that fall, I helped her rehab, and I found I really liked it and she encouraged me by telling me I was good at it. She always told me I could do anything.”

“Is she still alive?” Gio asked.

I shook my head. “She died six years ago.”

Gio reached over and squeezed my hand. “Sorry, Fizzy.”

“Gosh, I’m just bumming everyone out.” I blushed and took a sip of my wine. “Sorry.”

“Safe space, love,” Maisie said. “We’ve all had tragedy, and you should always feel free to share your memories, whether they be happy or sad ones. They make up who we are after all. ”

I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “You know, despite years of therapy, you’re the first people who’ve made me feel like I can be myself. Well, besides Lennon.”

“Lennon’s your best friend?” Gio asked.

I nodded. “Yes. She’s currently in Africa doing field research.”

“Wow,” Maisie said. “What’s she researching in Africa?”

“She’s studying black rhinoceroses. She’s actually studying the social behavioral patterns of endangered species, and she chose to focus on the black rhino. She has a job waiting for her at the Denver Zoo when she gets back.”

“Goodness, you’re both quite amazing young women,” Maisie said.

“Well, thank you.” I smiled. “She certainly is. She’s the best human I know. Despite her choice of... uh, sorry, never mind.”

“You can’t choose who you fall in love with,” Maisie mused, pouring herself more wine.

“I disagree,” I said.

Maisie smiled gently. “Well, if you figure out how to do that, you let me know. I fell fast and hard for Connor and believe me, as a widow with a twelve-year-old daughter at the time, I tried very hard not to.”

My eyes widened of their own accord. “Wow, really?”

She nodded. “We met when my car broke down outside of his friend’s shop. He just happened to be there delivering parts. He got me on my way, and despite the fact we didn’t even live in the same city, we seemed to run into each other. Much to my chagrin, he wore me down.”

Connor chuckled. “This is very true.”

“Did you not want to be with a mechanic?” I asked, glancing at Connor. “No offense.”

“Some taken,” he retorted, but tempered it with a grin.

“No, not at all,” Maisie said. “I didn’t care what he did. I was still grieving the loss of my husband, despite him being ten years gone. He died of cancer when Poppy was two. At the time, I was trying to run a business, raise a pre-teen, and grieve the loss of the man I’d loved since I was five, so it didn’t really leave me open to possibilities.” She smiled at Connor. “But then I met this man, and he tore down all my walls, showed me that my heart could expand a hundred times more than I could have ever imagined, and I couldn’t have stopped falling in love with him if I tried. Not to mention, Poppy was determined for us to be together.”

“Really?”

Maisie nodded. “She loved him first, I think.”

“No, she didn’t,” Connor countered. “She just helped you pull your head outta your ass.”

“Connor adopted Poppy when he and Maisie got married,” Gio said. “Poppy calls him Sid. He’s her Stand-In-Dad.”

I bit back tears. “Well, that’s just like, the sweetest thing ever.”

“It really is.” Maisie smiled. “And now we have two other boys, one of which is married. Poppy is as well, so we have grandkids running around all over the place and I couldn’t be happier.”

“That’s amazing.”

“I agree.” Maisie met my eyes. “But if I’d stopped the falling in love part of it, I would have missed it all. So, try not to shut your heart off too much, darling. You might miss some of the hurt, but you’ll miss all of the happy.”

I smiled. “I’ll think about it, Maisie. Thanks.”

* * *

Razor

I glanced at Hatch. So, he’d told Maisie about our conversation. Made sense. They shared everything. But I wasn’t sure how far she was going to go with this, so I felt like I needed to steer this conversation elsewhere. I just wasn’t sure where.

“This pot roast’s great, Maisie,” I said.

“Thanks, love. Much like the pie Waverly made, it’s my grandmother’s recipe.”

“Did you do something different with the gravy?” I asked.

“Uh, no.” Maisie smirked. “I think there’d be mutiny if I changed anything with the gravy.”

“You bet your goddammed gravy boat we would,” Hatch retorted.

“Do you cook as well, Connor?” Waverly asked.

“Yeah. I love to cook. Try and do it a couple times a week, but Maisie tends to get territorial, so I’m relegated to grillin’ more often than not.”

Maisie laughed. “This is sadly true. I love, love, love to cook. But I should probably let you cook more, eh?”

Connor grinned, leaning over to squeeze her thigh. “Yeah, baby, you should let me cook more.”

The way Hatch was lookin’ at her, I wasn’t sure if he was going to shove everything off the table and fuck her right in front of us.

Maisie blushed before taking a deep breath. “Right, who’s ready for dessert?”

Hatch laughed, standing and grabbing his plate. “I’ll grab it.”

“Is it better warm?” Maisie asked.

“Actually, it is,” Waverly said. “I can help.”

“I’ll just pop it in the oven for a few minutes while Connor clears the table.” Maisie smiled. “You enjoy your wine.”

Hatch helped me back over to what I now considered ‘my’ chair, while Waverly followed.

“How’s your pain,” she asked once we were settled.

“It’s fine,” I lied.

“You’re a bad liar, Gio.” She frowned. “Can I get you an ice pack or ibuprofen? Or maybe both?”

I took a deep breath. “Yeah, actually, that’d be great.”

She set her wine glass on the coffee table and stepped into the kitchen, getting everything she needed from Maisie, then joining me again. After helping me take the pills, she settled the ice pack on my shoulder, and I felt instant relief.

She smiled down at me. “Better.”

“So much better.” I took her hand and squeezed it. “Thanks, beautiful.”

“You’re welcome.”

She released me and I wanted to snatch her hand back, but we weren’t there yet. Or at least, she wasn’t. Jesus, she was pretty. She wasn’t wearing her glasses, and I guessed she’d swapped them for contacts, which emphasized her deep blue eyes. She’d left her dark hair down, styling it in ‘beachy waves,’ as my sister Frankie would have called it. It fell just below her shoulders and it suited her.

She picked up her wine and took her seat again just as Maisie brought dessert over, complete with another bottle of wine.

“I better not,” Waverly said. “I won’t be able to drive home.”

“I can drop you home if you drink too much,” Hatch offered.

“What about my car?”

“My son Jamie can follow behind in your car,” Maisie said. “He’ll be home in an hour.”

Fear flashed in Waverly’s eyes, and I felt the need to shut it down immediately. “Or you don’t have to do any of that, Fizzy.”

“Ah, right—”

“Hello!” Poppy’s voice called out as the alarm beeped.

“Pop Pop!” Tenley, Devon and Poppy’s toddler, squealed, and tiny little feet slapped on the hardwood as she came running down the hall and rushing into Hatch’s arms.

“Hey, baby girl.” Hatch kissed her neck, and she slapped his face .

“Pop Pop!”

“Let’s go find your mom,” he said, and left us for a minute, returning with Devon, Poppy, and their other two kids, Niall and Holland.

“Well, this looks like a party,” Poppy said, hugging her mom.

I noticed Devon, or ‘Sparky,’ as we called him in the club, was not wearing his cut, and I wondered if Hatch had made him take it off because Waverly was here.

“Poppy, Devon, this is Waverly,” I said.

“Hi.” Waverly stood, shaking their hands. “It’s lovely to meet you both.”

“You, too,” Poppy said.

“Are you hungry?” Maisie asked.

“I could eat,” Devon said.

“We just had dinner,” Poppy countered.

“It’s your mom’s pot roast, baby,” Devon lobbed back.

“How did you know that?” Maisie asked.

Devon waggled his eyebrows. “I can smell it.”

“You are so, so weird.”

“You married me.”

Poppy laughed. “This is true.”

“I’ll make you a plate,” Maisie said.

“No,” Poppy countered. “I’ll do it, Mummy. Sit down and relax. Devon can do the dishes while I fix him a plate.”

“How’d I get roped into doing the dishes?”

“Your bottomless stomach roped you into doing the dishes.”

He leaned over and kissed her. “You’re lucky I love you with every breath in my body.”

She slapped his ass. “Same, babe. Same.”

Done with Hatch, Tenley made her way to Waverly and climbed up beside her. “You’re pretty.”

“Thank you, sweetie, so are you.”

She bobbed her head. “I know. Everyone says so.”

I grinned. “Self-esteem on ten, this one.”

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

“Yeah, it really is.”

“Tenley, baby, do you want some milk?”

“Yes, please, Mama.” She slid off the sofa and made her way to the kitchen.

“This pie is unreal,” I said.

Waverly smiled. “Yeah?”

“Like, seriously, the best I’ve ever had.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Wow, really?”

“Yeah. You have a gift.”

“I can’t take credit, Gio. It’s all Gran’s gift.”

“You have to accept it and put your spin on it, though,” I pointed out.

“Well, that’s very sweet, Gio.” She blushed. “Thank you.”

“I’m a sweet guy.”

Waverly grinned, taking another bite of her pie as Tenley walked back with a sippy cup and settled her butt back on the sofa.

“Well, hi again,” Waverly said.

“I have milk,” Tenley said.

“I see that. Is it good?”

She nodded as she sipped it. “What do you have? ”

“I have apple pie.”

“Can I taste?”

“Is your daughter allowed some apple pie, Poppy?” Waverly asked.

“Oh, sure. I can get her some.”

“I can share,” Waverly offered and used her fork as a knife to break off a small piece.

Tenley opened her mouth like a baby bird and Waverly fed her a piece. Holy shit, if I’d had a uterus, I’m sure it would have contracted with need.

Tenley closed her eyes and hummed like she was in heaven. “Yummy!” she squealed.

“She’s in her squealing phase,” Poppy said with a grimace. “She hasn’t learned how to dial it down a notch.”

“There’s more, darling,” Maisie said. “Mummy can get you some.”

Poppy groaned. “She won’t sleep with all that sugar.”

“She can stay here,” Hatch said, picking her up. “What do you say, baby girl? Wanna sleep over with Pop Pop?”

“Yes!” she squealed.

“I want a sleepover with Pop Pop, too!” Niall said.

“Me too,” Holland parroted.

Poppy and Devon grinned before high-fiving.

“Oh, I see what you did there,” Maisie said. “Cheeky buggars.”

“It’s not like we packed bags for them or anything,” Devon said.

Poppy grimaced, and Hatch let out a laugh as Devon rolled his eyes.

“You packed them bags?” he asked.

“Sue me for wanting a night alone with my man,” Poppy sassed. “I haven’t seen you in weeks, because you’ve been dealing—”

Hatch coughed, tickling Tenley who squealed in laughter before he set her on her feet.

Poppy, luckily, got the hint. “Um, dealing with so much work stuff, so I took a chance that maybe Mum and Dad would be good to watch the kids for the night.”

“You didn’t think to ask them, considering the fact they’ve got Raz—”

Hatch coughed again.

“Gio staying?” Devon corrected.

“Okay, what are we trying not to say in front of the new girl?” Waverly asked.

“Nothing, Fizzy,” I said. “It’s all good. Just some family stuff. Logistics and shit.”

“The babies are always welcome,” Maisie said. “Grab their stuff, Devon, then go have your date night. You can even take the weekend, if you like.”

“I should probably go,” Waverly said, and I immediately wanted to smack the shit out of Devon and his bad timing.

“Don’t feel like you have to rush out,” I argued.

“It’s fine.” She smiled. “There’s a lot going on, and I have a busy weekend.”

“Oh, yeah?” I asked, trying to distract her from the family conversation happening around us.

She sighed. “Sure.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Whatya got planned? ”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she sassed.

“Hence the reason I’m askin’.”

She stared at me for a few seconds before letting out a quiet huff. “I’ve got nothing.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I’ve got nothing planned. Nada, nothing, zip.”

I chuckled. “There you go, playin’ hard to get again.”

“I know . I’m a mess.” She sighed. “I really should go, though.”

“You wanna meet up somewhere? Maybe tomorrow?”

“Gio, how? You can’t walk.”

“I’ve got friends who can drop me places,” I said. “I’d like to take you out. I can meet you somewhere for dinner or somethin’.”

“You just don’t give up, do you?”

“Why would I?” I challenged. “When a miner strikes gold, he doesn’t stop pannin’, and you’re worth the effort, Fizzy.”

Her face reddened and she dropped her head. “Wow.”

“So, will you meet me for dinner tomorrow?”

She met my eyes. “How could I not after all of that?”

I grinned. “Correct answer, beautiful.”

“What am I going to do with you?”

“You’re gonna enjoy the ride.”

She let out a quiet snort.

“I’ll text you the details.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. ”

“Do you really need to go?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Call me later?” I demanded.

“Maybe,” she retorted.

I let out a quiet growl and she grinned. “Bossy.”

“You have no idea.”

She raised an eyebrow, and rose to her feet, grabbing her purse as she did.

“You don’t have to rush off, do you?” Maisie asked, making her way over to us.

“I do,” Waverly said. “I have a busy weekend.”

“You do now, anyway,” I cracked wise.

“Thank you for a lovely dinner,” Waverly said.

“I’ll wash your pie plate and Gio can return it during his next appointment,” Maisie offered.

“There’s no rush.”

“I’ll walk you out.”

“Oh, no, you’re busy. I can find my way,” Waverly countered, smiling down at me. “Thank you for inviting me. This was really fun.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She nodded and made her way out. Maisie followed, although, she waited a few minutes, and I heard the beep of the alarm before Devon turned toward me. “So, why did I have to remove my cut before we met this woman?”

“We’re keepin’ a low profile,” Hatch said.

“In your own home ?”

“She’s had a rough go of it with bikers,” I added.

Poppy and Maisie shared a look and Poppy gasped. “No, seriously?”

Maisie nodded. “Yes, lovey. ”

“What?” Devon asked.

“Nothing, honey,” Poppy said. “Girl thing.”

I had no doubt she’d fill him in later, but for the moment (at least), he dropped it.