Adam and Jake Kendall wanted her, and that knowledge was a heady thing. She’d been in Lusty long enough to understand that the people who lived here took relationships very seriously.
It wasn’t just fun and games those men were interested in.
She knew ménage marriages worked. She didn’t know if
she
could make one work. She honestly didn’t know, couldn’t yet fully believe that she could satisfy those two Kendalls.
What she did know—what nurtured the hope she felt growing within her—was that she very much wanted to find out if she could.
Chapter 10
Adam scanned the dining room as he held the door to the restaurant open. His perusal was done without thinking, the habit one of long standing. He relaxed when he realized he knew everyone there. He nodded to Michelle as she emerged from the kitchen and then smiled as he watched her pivot on her right foot and return to that back hub.
Ginny stepped in past him, her soft thank-you brushing his skin like soft velvet. Man, he had it bad.
I’ve been patient for months. Why now do I have to work so hard to control the urge to throw her over my shoulder and carry her to bed?
But he knew the answer to that. His waiting was nearly over, and his inner animal was getting ready to claim his mate.
In the next instant those thoughts scattered as the late afternoon diners—not more than twenty of Lusty’s own—burst into spontaneous applause when they caught sight of Ginny and Benny.
“Oh, my word!” Ginny clapped her hands over her cheeks, completely taken aback by the unprompted welcome. Then the kitchen door burst open, and Kelsey, followed by Tracy and Michelle, raced out.
“There you are!” Kelsey wasted no time as she fairly ran up to Ginny and wrapped her arms around her, hugging her hard. “Welcome home.” She stepped back to make room for Tracy, whose hug was just as exuberant. Michelle, Adam could see, had tears shimmering in her eyes as she hugged Ginny, and then Benny.
“I’ve missed you both. Welcome home.” She stepped back and wiped at her eyes with a tissue she pulled from her apron pocket. She set a hand on Kelsey’s shoulder. “I’ll go finish getting those orders up and served,” she said to Kelsey and Tracy. “You two visit for a bit.”
“I’m so glad you’re back.” Tracy met Adam’s gaze over Ginny’s shoulder, her eyes smiling.
“Are you glad I’m back, too?” Benny looked up at Tracy, and Adam saw complete adoration on his young face.
Our boy’s got his first case of puppy love
. He looked over at Jake, who chuckled and ran a hand over Benny’s small head.
“Am I ever! In fact, I’m so happy you’re back, I’m going right back into the kitchen to make a special dessert just for you.”
“I can come in to work tonight if you want me to,” Ginny said to Kelsey.
The owner of
Lusty Appetites
led them to a table, her arm firmly around Ginny’s waist. “Not on a travel day, you don’t.” She turned her and held both of her shoulders. “Tomorrow will be soon enough, but
only
if you’re ready.” Kelsey’s voice had dipped softly, and Adam knew she was referring to the situation that had found Ginny making a hasty exit from Lusty in the first place.
Adam ran his hand down Ginny’s back. Just thinking about Walters, who was still at large, made his need to touch her visceral.
“I’ll be ready. I need to work, Kelsey. You understand how it is.”
“I do, yes.” Kelsey ran her hands up and down Ginny’s arms in an affectionate and, Adam thought, sisterly gesture.
He saw compassion on his cousin’s face. Kelsey would understand the need to work when outside forces closed in. Not that many years before, he knew she’d used work to help her deal with her own very personal, and very tragic, situation.
“I’m hungry!”
Adam chuckled and scooped up Benny, pleasure coursing through him when the boy easily put his arm around Adam’s neck. “Can we eat soon?” he asked.
“You bet.” He grinned at Kelsey. “Our boy is running low on fuel.”
“They always are,” Kelsey said. “Sit. Do y’all want the special today?”
Ginny grinned. “Fried chicken with biscuits and gravy and turnip greens. That sounds like home. I’ll have that.”
“It sounds like home, because it
is
home.” Kelsey reached out and laid her hand gently on Benny’s head. He grinned at her in return.
Adam and Jake both opted for the special, but Benny wanted a burger with fries—mom said okay to that—but she insisted on milk instead of cola.
They sat at one of the round tables near the back. Jake saw Ginny seated, and Adam plunked Benny down in the chair between him and his brother. It was the way they tended to sit when they were out together, a sign to Ginny that she could eat her meal in peace, that he and his brother would see to her son. Their son, Adam thought.
“You know, Benny Rose, you keep on ordering burgers every time we come in here, why you’re going to grow a great big burger belly.” Ginny said that then winked at Adam.
Instead of being discouraged, Benny got a pleased look on his face. “Cool! My friend Gavin said that he and his dads and his uncles go camping all the time, and they always eat snake! I wonder if he’s going to get a snake belly?”
Adam tried not to laugh. Jake coughed, signaling the same problem.
“Actually, snake tastes pretty good. Like chicken,” Adam said.
“Now that’s something I just don’t understand,” Ginny said. “Everybody is always saying that things like snake and gator taste like chicken. Why not, then, just eat chicken and leave the icky stuff alone?”
“But, Mom, eating snake would be way cool!”
“Tell you what.” Jake reached over and ruffled Benny’s hair. “When summer comes we’ll go camping, and you can give it a try.”
“No, thanks,” Ginny said.
“Moms don’t go camping.” Adam leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Moms get to stay home and do mom stuff. At least that’s what Mother always claimed, and I believe her.”
“What’s mom stuff?” Benny wanted to know.
“Likely stuff like taking lots of baths, eating cooked green vegetables, and brushing their teeth,” Jake said.
“
Eeew
, that’s gross!” Benny scrunched his face, showing his disgust.
Ginny laughed, and Adam shared a look with Jake. It had been interesting, experiencing a bit of New Jersey with their woman and boy, but he knew they both shared Ginny’s sentiment of earlier. It was good to be home. And home, to Adam, meant more than just Lusty. It meant having Ginny laughing, Benny scrunching his face, as they awaited a meal, together.
Movement on the sidewalk caught his eye, and he watched as the rest of his brothers, all
four
of them, along with Tamara made their way toward the restaurant. He had no doubt that before their food had been served, they’d be joined by a lot more family—Kendalls, Benedicts, and Jessops alike.
Yes, it sure was good to be home.
* * * *
Ginny’s heart felt so full, she honestly didn’t know if her body could hold all the joy bubbling inside of it.
First Adam and Jake’s brothers and then their parents came into the restaurant. Next Susan Benedict Evans-Magee, and her mother Bernice, Grandma Kate, and Bernice’s husbands and Mike Murphy joined the impromptu gathering. Matt came by, followed by Steven. Tracy’s mom Heather, Julia Benedict, her fiancés, and her triplet brothers streamed in.
Ginny had grown accustomed to the rhythms of the restaurant and knew without doubt these people were all there not because of a sudden urge to eat something, but to welcome her home.
A man she didn’t recognize joined the party, but she didn’t worry, because Adam and Jake seemed to know him, as did the senior brothers Benedict.
Samantha Kendall sat beside her, ousting Jake from his chair, and Adam gave up his seat so that Grandma Kate could sit on the other side of her.
Benny simply glowed with all the attention the adults showered upon him. He told them about meeting Aunt Maggie, and about the ocean, and how Adam and Jake had helped him build “the best sand fort
ever.
”
“They had a huge place with roller coasters and everything,” Benny said. “Me and Adam walked all the way down the beach to see it. But Aunt Maggie said they weren’t open yet. We have to go back sometime in the summer.”
“Sounds like you had fun anyway,” Bernice said to him.
“I sure did. And the best part was that Adam and Jake came to have a vacation with us!”
Ginny felt the gazes of most every adult gathered around land on her. Man, she hoped she stopped blushing this much, and soon. She swore her face was going to get a permanent heat rash.
There was absolutely no help for it. All these people had come here, right now, to see her, to welcome her home because they cared about her. She looked over at Samantha, then Kate, and then let her gaze rest on Adam and Jake.
“Yes,” she agreed. “That was the best part.”
“Benny, are you ready to try that dessert now?” Tracy had come out of the kitchen and tilted her head at Ginny. She made her nod slight, because there was one thing she knew about her son, and that was that his male ego was as fragile at times as any other man’s—and a woman could never tell when that would be.
“Yes, please. If mom says I can.” He said that with a sly glance her way, and Ginny could only laugh. Oh, she was going to have her hands full when he hit his teen years. “You ate most of your burger and fries but you drank all of your milk, so I guess that’s good enough.”
“Why don’t you come on back to the kitchen with me, then?” Since Tracy winked at him, Ginny figured two things. First, there was likely extra whipped cream in it for her son, who’d developed a real fondness for the topping, lately. And second, Tracy was taking Benny in there so the adults could talk of grown-up things.
Looking around at these people who’d become her friends, Ginny realized the time had come for her to stop shutting out reality and step up to the plate.
She needed to woman up.
Ginny nodded once, and then turned to look at Adam. “I haven’t asked, because I guess I needed some time to get myself in hand.” She looked around at the smiling faces surrounding her and felt confidence flow to her from them. She turned her attention back to Adam, one of the men she was falling in love with who also happened to be the sheriff. “What’s being done to find Deke Walters?”
Adam didn’t even hesitate. “There’s a BOLO issued, as well as a warrant for his arrest. Notices have gone out to airports and bus stations across the state.”
“I’m working on getting the feds to do the same,” Peter Alvarez, Adam’s soon-to-be brother-in-law said. Peter was a special agent with the DEA and worked mostly out of the Dallas office.
Ginny had already come to know that Peter had a lot of friends in several federal agencies.
“The problem is,” Peter continued, “at the moment we don’t have grounds to ask for a federal warrant. As far as we know, he’s still in Texas, and has as yet committed no federal crime.” Peter shrugged, apology all over him.
Ginny waved her hand. “I can understand that. I just would have thought the state police would have grabbed him by now. He really isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.”
“Besides what the authorities have done”—Jake grinned at her, clearly appreciating her humor—”the Town Trust has hired a PI who’s a retired cop.”
Just then the man Ginny had noticed earlier stepped forward and offered his hand.
“Melvin Richardson, ma’am.”
Ginny shook his hand and said a quiet hello. He didn’t seem to expect any more from her.
“I’ve got people in place around the home of a suspected accomplice of Walters’s, a man by the name of Jerry Stone, aka Moose Stone.”
Ginny shivered. She knew that name, knew the man had been a friend of Deke’s. In fact, they’d been on their way to that man’s place when she’d run away from him.
Jake looked over at Adam, then met her gaze again. “Stone hasn’t showed up since Melvin put people in place.”
“One of my people happened to speak to a neighbor of Stone’s,” Melvin said. “Apparently he’d been home the evening before, and with a male guest.”
Ginny thought Adam looked fit to be tied at that news.
“My gut tells me that was probably Walters.”