Chapter One
Larkin and Brylee bounced excitedly in the back seat of the limo as it drove through the city toward the restaurant where they were having lunch with their daddies and a few of their friends.
Both girls promised to be extra good and act like young ladies, or it would be a while until the daddies would take them out for a nice dinner again. Their eyes widened when they pulled up. The place looked like an old mansion with its columns on the outside and the creamy colored stone.
“Now remember your promise, girls,” Darian reminded them.
Brylee squeezed Gage’s hand and smiled up at him. “I will be a good girl.”
Gage bent and kissed the top of her head. “You always are.”
Larkin looked toward her daddy from her seat in the car. “And I am, too, aren’t I, daddy?”
Darian grinned down at Larkin. “Yes, baby. Most of the time.” He chuckled when she gasped.
“When am I not a good girl?” she asked in a disgruntled tone.
“When you’re running when you’re not supposed to. When you should be in bed, but I have to find you. Or you’re making a mess in the kitchen. Or…”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine, I get it.”
Darian tapped the tip of her nose. “Good.”
He pulled her out of the car and followed Gage and Brylee into the restaurant. Darian raised his hand at the two men sitting at a table across the room.
“Sit here, girls,” Gage said and placed them next to each other with the men on either side of them. Gage shook Patrick’s and Noah’s hands and sat.
“It’s nice to see you again, girls.”
“Thank you, Patrick,” Larkin said.
“You both look beautiful today.”
Brylee grinned. “Thank you, Noah.”
“What can I get you to drink?”
Gage looked up at the waiter. “I’ll take a bourbon and soda, and the girls will have chocolate milk.”
“Da— Gage, may we have a Shirley Temple instead?” Brylee asked.
Gage looked over at Darian and got his nod of approval. “Scratch the milk and get us two Shirley Temples.”
“Yes, sir.”
Larkin draped a napkin over her lap and then giggled softly when Brylee did the same but a little more dramatically.
The girls listened to the men talk and quickly got bored, so they started playing the I See game.
“I see something green and yellow,” Larkin said.
Brylee looked around the restaurant and then grinned. “The man’s shirt by the window.”
“Yes.” Larkin giggled. “Now it’s your turn.”
“I see something … Eve.”
Larkin seemed confused and followed where Brylee was staring. “Oh, my gosh. That’s Eve.”
Brylee grabbed hold of Larkin’s hand. “Oh, no. Look at her, she seems so sad.”
Larkin blinked back her tears. “I miss her.”
“We haven’t seen her since high school,” Brylee commented.
“What happened to her beautiful hair?”
Brylee’s mouth turned down. “It looks like she tried to cut it herself.”
Larkin set her hand on Darian’s. “Dad— Darian, may we go say hello to a friend from high school?”
Darian looked around. “Where, baby?”
Larkin pointed to a small woman sitting alone at a table and staring out the window.
Darian nodded. “But come right back.”
The girls stood and walked toward the table.
“Eve,” Larkin said to get the girl’s attention.
Eve turned and stared up at them for a speechless moment and then blinked a few times.
“Larkin … Brylee, is that you?”
The girls grinned.