Looking for the world as if it didn’t bother him at all, Dominic walked over to where Mac and Declan were now talking. With Evan back on the playground, she suspected the men were calling each other their usual unflattering nicknames. Dick-measuring contest: check.
The next people to enter the crowded room were Claire and Jason with their daughter, Chrissy, followed closely by Gray and Suzy. Suzy was sipping what looked like a frappé and wrinkling her nose in dismay. Ava walked up saying hello as Suzy said, “Come on, what’s wrong with Chuckie? At least they have pizza there.”
“You hated Chuck E. Cheese.” Gray smiled wryly. “If I remember correctly, you told baby Henry to ask for a Hooter’s party the next time.”
Ava hadn’t seen Nick and Beth come in, but suddenly Nick’s head popped up between Suzy’s and Gray’s. “Henry’s daddy is completely on board with that suggestion.”
Beth shook her head next to her husband. “Go take Henry to play with the other kids, perv.” Everyone laughed as Nick, Gray, Brant, and Jason joined the other men, leaving the women to themselves.
“Thanks for coming, everyone.” Ella sighed. “I know this is the last thing you wanted to do on Sunday, but this is what Evan picked. With Julie away on her honeymoon, we’ve just been trying to distract him.”
Ava looked across the room smiling as Evan let loose a bloodcurdling battle cry before throwing himself on Declan’s back. Evan was the result of a one-night stand between Evan’s mom, Julie, and Declan back when he was in the military. Declan hadn’t found out until last year when he ran into Julie at Danvers. Apparently, Claire and Julie were friends. Julie had tried to track Declan down when she found out she was pregnant, but the military had a strict policy on giving out information on their servicemen. When Julie recognized Declan, she had taken the opportunity and finally told him about Evan. Even though it was a shock, Ava had been proud of the way he had stepped into the role of dad. Like Mac, Declan carried many tough memories from his time in the marines. It had taken the love of Ella and Evan to make him accept that he could have something as normal as a wife and a child. Now they were expecting their second child, which was obvious from Ella’s enormous stomach. Ava had to swallow the urge to beg her to sit down as she bustled around the room and her pregnant belly jiggled alarmingly.
Claire looked to make sure that none of the men was nearby before leaning over to whisper, “So, how’re things going with Mac?”
Before she could answer, Emma chimed in. “You should have seen her pulling up on the back of Dominic’s bike a few minutes ago. I thought Brant would spaz out.”
“Oh my God,” Beth moaned, “I wish I had been here to see that.”
“Me too,” Suzy admitted. On cue, they all looked toward Dominic. “I know he’s not the goal here, but I can’t see anything bad about having that between your legs.” Almost in perfect sync, they all nodded.
“True, dat,” Ella said, causing everyone to laugh. “Sorry. I’ve been around Evan too long. That kid has his own lingo.”
“He is good-looking,” Ava admitted, “but he’s not Mac. I will say, though, he’s damn funny now that I’ve gotten to know him a little bit. G-lo would be crazy to let him get away.” Mouths dropped as Ava told the girls why Dominic was helping her.
“Jeez, that’s something right out of Dallas, isn’t it?” Beth added. “Maybe you should just all get together and swap.”
Claire raised her hand in that cute way that seemed habitual. “Question here. How far are you two willing to go to get Mac and Gwen’s attention? I mean, are you also pretending to be involved now? Mac’s gotta wonder if something is going on there.”
Ava slumped back against the wall behind her, frowning. “I really don’t want to go that far. Mac and Dominic are friends, and I wouldn’t want to change things between them. I know Mac wonders, though. He brought it up earlier . . . right before I kissed him.”
“What!” Every head in the playground turned in their direction when Emma’s shrill voice rang out. Emma winced, and then threw up her hand, waving everyone off. “Sorry. Just a little PMS issue. Nothing to see here.” The kids looked confused at her statement, but the men immediately turned their heads away at that apparently taboo subject. “Why am I just hearing about this?” she whisper-shouted as she glared at Ava.
Ava rolled her eyes before saying, “Maybe because it just happened a few hours ago. Can you not broadcast our conversation to the whole place, please?”
“All right, girls, stop your bickering and spill the details,” Suzy interjected, looking ready to smack some sense into both of them.
Looking around to make sure no one else was listening, Ava told them about initiating the kiss with Mac that morning and about his statement that she belonged to him.