“He called his boys and had it fixed.” She shrugged.
“And then he seduced me into moving in with him.”
“Well…”
“And what did he do when my car got a flat?”
“He bought you a new car.” She sighed. “Yeah, okay. He’ll want to charge in and fix this for you too.”
“And if I do ask for his help, I want to know what he’s getting into. I don’t just want to hand over my problems to him. That’s been the dynamic of our relationship since we met. I’ve bowed to his crazy whims about Duke tagging along with me, but if I tell him I think someone is sabotaging my business, he’s liable to go leather he-man on the situation.”
I shot off a text to Ella.
While we waited for a reply, Jazz changed the conversation. “So, when do we meet with Willa to talk about the website?”
“Not sure.”
My phone buzzed, and I leapt for it with excitement, thinking it was Ella. I frowned for only a moment when I realized it was Mia.
I heard you had a party. With pie.
I was in the middle of typing out a response when Linden’s number popped up and I knew it was the Old Ladies’ group chat.
Unacceptable. I demand a repeat performance with all the pie.
Grinning, I typedName the time and place. Just not two days from now because I have to make a cake for the Sullivan christening.
“What has you grinning? Slash?” Jazz asked.
I shook my head. “The Old Ladies. They’re kind of sore that there was a party here—with pie—and they didn’t get any.”
“You’re chummy with them, aren’t you?” Jazz asked with a smile.
“That’s one way of putting it. They’ve been wonderful,” I admitted. “They’re the reason we have a couch to sit on. And they make me feel like one of them. They’re basically calling me Slash’s Old Lady even though I’m not.”
“You seem pretty adamant about not slapping a label on what you and Slash are,” Jazz said.
“Yeah.” I sighed. “But they don’t put any pressure on me, which I like. They just talk to me like I’m part of the club. It’s nice.”
“It’s okay, you know,” she said.
“What is?”
“To jump headfirst into that life. You’re going to have a baby with a biker. And it sounds like the Old Ladies are like a band of sisters that take care of each other. That’s important. You’re going to need a tribe.”
“Aren’t you part of my tribe?”
“Of course, I am!” she grinned. “But I’m not an Old Lady. I don’t have any tattoos—which I’m totally going to remedy. I don’t have a kid. I’m not in the biker life. I don’t know the first thing about it.”
She had a valid point. Not to mention the fact that all of them, aside from Linden, were either mothers or pregnant. And the way my life was changing, it was like I was getting a built-in support system for the family I was about to have.
“I have my first sonogram next week,” I said.
“Do you?”
I nodded.
“Is Slash—”