A list that kept getting longer the more Pepper thought about it.
A wave of laughter wafted over from the patio, where most of the men had congregated to discuss the upcoming football season. The Sunday barbecue wasn’t as crowded as last time. Pepper’s parents had kept it to immediate family and close friends, though there was one notable absence Pepper was trying not to dwell on. She hadn’t heard from Kendra since the woman moved out, and she didn’t expect to. But Lord, her heart still clenched when she thought about her former best friend.
Or had they ever really been best friends? Pepper wasn’t so sure anymore.
“What’s the next big thing on the agenda?” Gillian asked, prompting a round of groans from the rest of the women.
Suz held out the pitcher toward Gillian’s empty glass. “You. You need to stop working so hard. You need a date? I’ll set you up with someone. Because, lady, you are too fine to spend so much time thinking about work.”
Gillian grinned. “Be careful, or I’ll think you’re hitting on me.”
“Pshaw. If I were hitting on you, you’d know. I’d have you so hot and bothered that the two of us would be writhing by the pool using up a year’s supply of baby oil.”
A male throat cleared.
Pepper choked on a laugh when she glimpsed the glazed look on Dean’s face. He’d appeared behind them, clad in a white tee that stretched over his broad chest and board shorts riding low on his trim hips. As usual, he looked sexy as hell, and he flashed Pepper a secretive wink before turning to Suz.
“Sorry to interrupt—actually no, I’m not sorry at all,” Dean drawled, his gaze shifting from Suz to Gillian. “Baby oil, huh?”
“You know it, hon. Wanna be there to help us out with the hard-to-reach spots?” Suz grinned.
“You know it,” he mimicked. “But first, let me use your phone, Jonesy. I forgot mine in the car.”
Lynn snickered, a surprisingly unladylike sound. “Is there something special about Suz’s phone? You could have grabbed Parker’s. You were right there next to him.”
Dean flashed another deadly smile, this one straight at Lynn. “He said I couldn’t. Something about ‘inappropriate pictures’ he still needs to delete. You two kids getting kinky in public, were you?”
“Shut up, Dean.” Lynn’s cheeks were brilliant red, but she smiled.
“That’s not a denial,” he pointed out, accepting the phone from Suz.
As he strode off toward the gazebo, Pepper picked up the conversation thread and changed the topic. “So, I did make a decision before the alcohol outweighed the blood in my veins. I’ll keep working at DreamMakers, but I’ll also be freelancing. Parker and I talked it through, and he doesn’t think there’ll be enough work for me full time.”
“Your first freelance project should be a hundred-photograph essay of Jack. Naked, of course,” Suz said helpfully.
“I heard that,” came Jack’s voice.
“You were supposed to,” Suz replied as he walked up to the group. “I never throw out the word naked unless I know a hot man is there to hear it.”
“It’s true,” Lynn piped up. “She doesn’t.”
Rolling his eyes, Jack touched Pepper’s arm. “Your mom insists you’re the only one who knows how to put the potato salad together ‘right’. You’ve been summoned to the kitchen.”
Pepper accepted his hand, thankful for the support as the lawn shifted underfoot. “She’s never seen me make a batch after drinking Suz’s ZombieMakers. Holy spamole.”
Jack tucked an arm around her, chuckling as he guided her toward the house. “You’re drunk as a skunk.”
“Nope,” she denied. “I don’t stink. I’m drunk as a wino after a five-day bender and I need you to take me into the house and strip off all my clothes and fuc—”
Jack’s hand clamped over her mouth. “And we’ll just hold that thought for a little longer. Since we’re all of five steps away from your dad and Parker.”
“Oops?”
Pepper made a supreme effort to walk in a straight line as they climbed the patio steps, but her sharp-as-a-hawk pain-in-the-ass brother didn’t miss a thing.
“Dad, Pepper’s drunk,” Parker announced the second she and Jack reached the deck.
Pepper opened her mouth to blast him with a good comeback, but then it just didn’t seem worth the effort. “I love you, too, Spidey.”
His eyes narrowed. Pepper giggled. Ha. He was probably shocked she wasn’t fighting back.
This could be fun. More fun than fighting. Hopefully she’d still remember this interesting tidbit when she wasn’t high on lemony goodness.
“As long as she can still make the potato salad.” Pamela Wilson motioned from the kitchen door. “You still sober enough to give your mom a helping hand?”
“For you? I’d peel potatoes even if I were in a coma.” Pepper smacked a kiss on Jack’s cheek. “Be right back, Jackjack. My mommy needs me.”