“Hell Baby Gideon?” Gideon glanced my way with a grin. “She’s going to roast your nuts for dinner tonight, brother.”
I held up my hands. “Blame yourself for that one. You’re the one who said she’s been cursing at you and threatening to Bobbetize you whenever she’s sick.”
Moose’s eyebrows lifted. “Really? Vee has never—”
Then we all spoke in unison, including Gideon.
“Macy, remember?”
Macy definitely made her own rules and had her own very unique personality. I was sure she wasn’t the first pregnant woman to threaten her man’s member while pregnant but she was doing it colorfully, that was sure.
Eh, his problem, not mine. I wasn’t going to have to deal with anything like that anytime soon.
Or maybe ever.
“It’s a very tumultuous time in a woman’s life.”
Gideon glanced at Moose. “You’d know better than any of us. Those twins almost cooked?”
“Soon.” Moose ran a finger along the inside of his collar. “She’s getting induced in a couple of weeks.”
“So you can knock her up again pronto?”
“It doesn’t work like that. You have to wait a certain amount of time.”
“Right, so you have been thinking about it.”
Moose just laughed and shook his head at Jared. “Three little kids are a lot, man. You don’t have any yet. Just wait.”
“And best of all, they grow up and become teenagers.” Gideon gave a not so mock shudder. “Not that Dani’s there yet, but she’s buying makeup now. She’s not even quite nine. Macy said it was better we let her use a little so she doesn’t decide to lift some while she’s with her friends.”
Jared angled his head. “Is your girl going wild? Do I have to keep an eye on her?”
Gideon snorted. “She’s an A and B student who’s obsessed with Macy’s cat’s kittens. Hardly wild. She’s just a kid. You were probably one once too, unless you were born wearing starched CCPD shorts.”
Jared pretended to pull back the waistband of his dress pants to check. “Oh, look at that, don’t have any shorts on period.”
At that, Moose dispersed to meet up with his wife, and Jared quickly followed suit, claiming he’d spotted a “ruckus” across the way he needed to check out.
More likely, he was headed over to the diner to see what was keeping Gina. Those two were always attached at the hip. And possibly at other things as well, if town scuttlebutt was to be believed. It usually wasn’t, but every now and then, the gossip was spot-on.
“This is really incredible, thank you. Macy will love it as much as I do.” Gideon stroked a hand over the arbor, smiling up at the sign with his family’s names inscribed. “I would’ve said more sooner, but the Sheriff turns anything into snark.”
“He was dropped on his head as a boy. Don’t hold it against him.”
Gideon grinned. “I don’t. I’ve learned to appreciate snark more myself in recent months.”
“Surprise, surprise there.” I reached up to remove the post-it note that said Hell and handed it to Gideon. “You can show your wife that later if you’d like. Don’t want her to decide to make a meal of me on her special day.”
“Oh, she’ll laugh her ass off, don’t worry. But I have to say I enjoy when she gets mushy. This will definitely do it. Mainly because I take pictures for later bribery.”
“That so?”
He shrugged and pocketed the note. “Gotta do what you can to get a leg up on her, man.”
“Since we’re on the topic anyway…” I cleared my throat and glanced around to make sure no one was close enough to overhear our conversation. The guests were all starting to arrive, talking and walking in small groups and admiring the decorations. But time was running short, so I couldn’t belabor this point. “How exactly did you bag Macy?” At Gideon’s slow blink, I pushed back my knit hat and tried again. “What worked with her to, you know, soften her up?”
“You see Macy practically every day when you stop by Brewed Awakening. Does she seem any softer to you?”