This elicited a groan from Jack, and, he realized after the fact, from him, too.
“What?” Sadie asked. “Kate is my friend, and I want her here.”
“She’s my little sister,” Connor said.
“And I have to watch my mouth when she’s around,” Jack said.
“But you don’t,” Sadie said, arching her brow. “Anyway, your boys club gets stale. The testosterone is so thick a girl can hardly breathe.”
“Hey,” Connor said. “What about Liss?”
“She is an excellent source of estrogen, but firmly on your team,” Sadie said, reaching into her godforsaken bowl and taking out a handful of candy.
He supposed he couldn’t argue that point. Liss was his friend. And had been for years. She’d stuck by him almost as long as Jack. And she wasn’t obligated by blood the way Eli was. Considering that, he definitely owed her an apology for being such a jackass this morning. But hangovers were not his friend.
Considering that, he spent way more time with them than he should.
“She’s coming, right?” Sadie asked.
“Yeah, I’m surprised she’s not here yet.”
As if on cue, the door burst open and Liss all but tumbled into the room, dropping her purse on the wooden floor and letting out a frustrated growl. “My damn car wouldn’t start.” She straightened and pushed her dark, coppery hair from her forehead, her hazel eyes telegraphing her evil mood with supreme effect. “I tried for twenty minutes in the parking lot at work, and then when I was getting ready to call a tow truck, it started for no apparent reason. That’s not a good sign.”
Sadie closed the distance between herself and Liss and picked Liss’s purse up from the floor, not because Sadie was big into neatness, but because she seemed to like picking up after people. A therapist before she’d come back to Copper Ridge to open her bed-and-breakfast, Sadie liked fixing other people’s problems more than she liked just about anything else.
Except antagonizing them with sports rivalries, apparently.
“That sucks, Liss,” Jack said, leaning back in his chair, his eyes on the forbidden bowl of candy.
“Eat the candy, Jack,” Connor said, keeping his eyes on Liss.
She was wearing the same clothes she’d had on this morning, a pair of black dress pants and a blue button-up shirt, her hair hanging loose around her shoulders. She looked flustered, which was unusual for Liss.
“Just one more thing I don’t need,” she grumbled. “Something smells good.”
“Frozen pizza, à la me,” Connor said.
“Yum!” Liss said, her crabby expression lightening. “Anything else?”
“I brought pizza rolls,” Jack said.
“Anything else?” Sadie asked.
“There’s cheesy garlic bread in the oven. And marinara sauce to dip in,” Connor said.
“So,” Sadie said, “pizza, pizza that’s folded in on itself and deconstructed pizza.”
“Pretty much,” Connor said.
“Any vegetables?” Sadie asked.
“It’s like you don’t know us at all,” Jack said.
“I’m on board with your choice of menu for the evening,” Liss said, sitting down at the table across from Jack and immediately snagging a beer from the Ducks bucket. “I require carbs, cheese and grease to deal with my mood.”
“I’m sure Jake will take a look at your car,” Connor said, referencing Copper Ridge’s new mechanic. Jake was still building a client base, and he was counting on word of mouth to help do that.
“Probably. But I don’t really want to go begging for free work. Anyway, as long as it’s a minor issue I can afford to deal with it. But I am not in a position to buy a new car.”
Jack snorted. “Who is?”
“Probably you,” Liss said.
Jack just shrugged. Jack might be in the position but Connor certainly wasn’t. Not with his barn reduced to ash and charred ranch equipment. Though, truly, he supposed that was a fixable problem. But somehow, every time he went to fix the paperwork the insurance place had sent over, he got distracted and ended up doing something else. So the changes never got made. And the paperwork never got fixed. And his bank account stayed empty. And his barn stayed ash.
Damn, he needed a beer.
He took one out of the bucket and rested the bottle against the corner of the table, pulling it down as he slammed his hand on the top of it.
“Show-off,” Sadie said.
He shrugged. “Yeah, I just figured I’d put all my skills out there tonight. Putting frozen food in the oven, popping beer tops without a bottle opener. I’m a badass.”
“A superepic one,” Liss said, taking a drink of her beer. “And after I’ve had this entire bottle, and possibly another, I might even upgrade you.”
“To what?” he asked.
“Superepic rock-star badass.”
“I like that. But I think cowboy should be in there somewhere.”
Jack winked. “You’re not a real cowboy, though, Connor. When was the last time you rode a bucking bronco?”
“No, asshole, you’re confused. You’re not a real cowboy. You just play one in the ring,” Connor said.
Sadie started humming “Rhinestone Cowboy,” and Connor decided he liked her a little more than he had a few moments ago.
The oven timer went off and Connor crossed the living room and went to the kitchen, getting some hot pads and taking the bread and pizza out of the oven. The pizza rolls were sitting in a ball on the counter, and he stacked the pan laden with the real pizza on top of the bowl and carried the tray of bread in his other hand, taking it all into the dining area.
He set the food down in front of Liss and Jack, and Sadie gleefully reached for a plate, hovering near the bowl of pizza rolls.
“Next time, I promise to bake something,” Sadie said. “Quiche. That might elevate this a little bit.” Although her expression said she didn’t really mind slumming it with their subpar pizzas.
“Sure, Sadie, you could do that,” Connor said.
The door opened again, and Kate burst through it, followed by Eli, who was still in his uniform. Everything a stranger might want to know about his two younger siblings was conveyed by the way they walked into his house. Kate was exuberant, her footsteps loud, her grin irrepressible. Eli’s steps were measured, cautious. And when he saw Sadie, the slow, subtle smile
