Sophie Oak - Chasing Bliss

“It was just Max,” Callie explained.

Nell’s humming resumed.

Her mother shook her head. “Oh, this is delicious, Callie. Simply wonderful.”

Naomi dug in to the spinach dip as well. “It’s excellent.”

“Lynn! Lynn, hon, are you back here?” A feminine voice floated over the yard.

Callie winced. “Stella. Darn it. I don’t have the babies with me to distract her.”

Stella marched into the backyard, a frown on her face. Her eyes narrowed when she saw Callie. “You.”

“Married very poorly, obviously.”

Wow, Callie just lay right down and let the truck roll over her. Well, Nate Wright seemed like a man who could handle himself.

Stella growled a little. “Don’t you give me that. You love that man. So you should know that I intend to take him down.” She looked at Gemma. “You don’t have to work for him.”

“I do if I don’t want to go to jail.” It had been a good play on the sheriff’s part.

Stella huffed. “Oh, that man is all bark and no bite.”

Naomi shook her head. “I don’t know about that. He’s already written me two tickets.”

“That’s just his way of saying hello.” Stella sat down on the porch next to Lynn. “I’m going to fix this, hon. I won’t have your poor, sweet girl working for that horrible old Nate. And it’s dangerous there.”

Callie frowned. “Because nothing ever goes wrong at Stella’s.”

“We have the occasional baby birthing, but other than that we’ve been murder-free for twenty-one years. I’m putting that on a T-shirt and shoving it up Zane’s overly muscled butt cheeks. Callie, you know I love you and your family, but I am taking Nate down for this. He’s corrupting poor, innocent city girls.”

“I did Tase the guy.” Gemma took a long sip of wine.

“She got him good.” Cameron Briggs walked up. She’d thought she’d seen him coming out of a cabin a couple of houses down from hers. “Nate and I were there…eating a completely innocent lunch. We weren’t waiting for Max to blow or anything. Nice. Spinach dip.” He turned to shout back at someone walking up the yard. “Hey, come on, Laura. Stella won’t hurt you. Just me and Nate, and Nate’s smart enough to stay away. By the way, you are looking gorgeous today, Ms. Stella. I mean beautiful. Why the hell is Sebastian letting you work anyway? If I was your new husband, I would just keep you in bed all day.”

Stella stared at him for a long moment. “Flattery will get you everywhere, Cam.” She sighed and patted her helmet of blonde hair. “As it so happens, I like to work. The dining industry is in my blood. And if I left it in Hal’s hands, he would turn the whole place into something called the Gastronomy Café. That’s his dream. I don’t think that sounds very nice.”

A gorgeous blonde walked up and took Briggs’ hand. “Hey everyone. Hey, Miss Lynn. How are you this evening? It looks like we’re having a little party.”

Callie sat down next to Stella who sighed and put her arm around her. “That sounds like fun. Why don’t we grill up some steaks?”

Nell cleared her throat.

“And some cruelty-free tofu burgers and have a nice little evening. It’s going to be too cold soon.”

Her mom clapped her hands together. “That sounds lovely. We used to have get-togethers all the time when I was growing up. Stella, do you remember that year the circus came to town and Mel was certain the trapeze artist was an alien?”

They were off, laughing and reminiscing. Gemma looked around. The gorgeous blonde with Cam was calling Holly on her phone, inviting her over. She also called someone named Rafe and told him to get beer. Naomi was talking to Cam. It was a little party with her mother in the center, laughing and talking and belonging.

She was surrounded by people, and she was aware of how alone she was.

Callie moved over, crossing to Gemma and sitting beside her. “Hey, I just wanted to thank you for not killing my husband. He really thinks this will be a better job for you. He studied you for a couple of days, and he thinks you’re really smart. And he also wanted to see Max get taken down by another waitress. Rachel has become awfully nonviolent since Paige was born. I’m going to go and grab Zane. We’ll pull our grill over. Zane will have Stella purring in no time at all. You want to join me?”

Gemma shook her head. She would have absolutely nothing to say to the really sweet mom of twins. Callie Hollister-Wright was one of those serene women Gemma just didn’t understand. Rather like her mom. “Thanks, but no. I’m going to head back to my cabin. I’m not really a joiner.”

She wasn’t a joiner or the type of person who had fun. Of any kind. At all. How long had it been since she’d just gone out for an evening without some plan on how it would go? She used to go to happy hours and dinners with coworkers, but she’d always had an agenda.

“You managed to join with evil,” Nell said.

“Yes.” Gemma turned to Callie. “Is this party evil? Because I only join with evil.”

Callie nodded, a grin on her face. “Lots of evil. You should stay. And we have booze.”

Booze was good. But no. She was tired. She was out of place. “Thanks, but I think I’ll get some rest. I had a long day. And a long walk. Apologize to Nate for me, but the shop called and they won’t have his Bronco back until tomorrow.”

The hot mechanics hadn’t called. She’d answered the phone and listened to a couple of tourists complain about the sheriff’s ticketing practices and reorganized what had to be the world’s oddest armory. It was really more like a locked closet where the sheriff kept the rifles, handguns, and Kevlar vests. And his fishing poles, a truly random selection of game console controllers, and a complete selection of X-Men comics. And all the while she’d waited to see if Bare-Chested Ape Man and the Sweet One would call.

She’d been disappointed. The owner of the shop had called. Had she really expected them to? She had a lousy reputation. Ape Man had been warning his sweet friend off when she’d walked in. She’d taken one look at his gorgeously cut chest and his emerald-green eyes and then realized he was talking about what a bitch she was.

It was better they hadn’t called. She wasn’t good at relationships. Hell, she wasn’t good at sex.

“Oh, I hope you reconsider,” Callie said.

She didn’t fit in here. That was fine. She wasn’t going to stay forever. She nodded and Callie stood up, walking off toward her cabin.

Naomi gave her mother a shoulder squeeze and winked Gemma’s way before heading back into the house. “I’m going to throw together a salad.”

Lynn smiled her way. The rest of her friends were beginning to set up what looked to be a fun, impromptu get-together. “Do you want to put together something for the party, sweetie?”

Gemma put the wine down. “This isn’t a good idea, Mom. It really is best I just keep to myself. I don’t think these people are going to like me.”

Her mom sighed and closed her eyes. “It’s very difficult for people to like you when you don’t like yourself, dear.”

“I like myself.” She was smart. She was ambitious. Sure, she’d trusted the wrong man, but even that would blow over eventually. Not everyone would remember that she’d had a complete breakdown after years of pressure. Everyone did, right? She would serve her time and find another firm. Where she could work seventy-hour weeks and ignore everything and everyone except her career and put all her money and effort and soul into building that career that just sucked more life out of her.

Yeah, she didn’t like herself very much, either.

Her mother simply waited.

“Fine. I’ll go. But don’t expect much. The mechanics at the shop already think I’m a head case.” Had she meant to sound so glum?