Nice Buns (Cheap Thrills 7)

“We’ve got an Uber coming, but we’ll help you with the sleeping beauties,” the one who worked with Evie said as she hopped down and helped her friend do the same.

“No need. I’ll get Tabby, and Dad will get Evie,” DB replied.

Just as he went to say something else, there was a ping on someone’s phone, and the lady announced that it’d arrived.

“Let me walk y’all out to it and write down the cab’s details.” As he said it, he fished his badge out of his pocket and put the chain over his neck. “Hopefully he won’t mess you around if he sees this badge.”

“I’m Sayla,” the blonde introduced herself out of the blue to both of us, giving me a wave. “And this is Jacinda.”

“You work with Evie, don’t you?” I asked Jacinda.

She nodded. “We both do. In fact, my sister’s best friend is Naomi. Heidi’s the one who moved her here and helped her get the job at P.V.P.D. with y’all.”

Now that I didn’t know, and judging by his surprised expression, neither did my son.

Naomi was pretty much our right hand in the department. She did everything and had come up with some input that’d helped us with a few cases. She also knew one of the other officers, Carter, from her home back in Florida, and the way they danced around each other was intriguing.

“We love Naomi. I’m Alex, and that’s my son, Dave. We call him DB, just in case you get confused if you hear it.”

“I know,” they both replied at the same time, then burst out laughing.

A horn beeping reminded them what they were doing, and Jacinda held her hand up to me. “Great to meet you formally, Alex, and thanks for looking after Evie for us.”

Sayla waved, but then she added softly, “Please don’t hurt Evie. She’s funny, she laughs a lot, but she’s also fragile. You seem like you’ve got the same thing going on, so I figure you could both heal each other.”

She looked down at the ground, “But you could also break her if you weren’t careful.”

I blinked, not knowing what to say back to that. Many people seemed to be thinking the same thing about the two of us getting together just now, and I didn’t know where to begin with it.

So, I just lifted my chin and moved over to where Tabby and Evie were still spooning as Dave walked the other two women out to their cab.

Just as I was trying to figure out how to get them off the trampoline, Jump Around began playing through the speakers again. Both women rolled onto their backs and, with their eyes still shut, started pumping their hands in the air.

“Tune!” Tabby mumbled as she did a little wiggle, making me grin.

“Oh, hey,” Evie slurred, and I shifted my gaze to see she was looking at me now. Well, her eyes were only open a crack, if that still counted as ‘looking.’ “Stabby,” she nudged Tabby, “shore godfather.”

My daughter-in-law rolled onto her side and peeked at me through one eye. “He’s the bestest in the world. You met my hair fairy, Alex? S’name’s Evie and she lives on the same street as you. How cool is that? Like, how small is the whole entire world?”

“We’ve met,” I assured her. “Now, how about y’all come off there so your husband can take you home, and I can get Evie into her bed?”

Both women were moving before I was done talking, but after a few minutes of trying, it was clear they weren’t getting off the trampoline by standing up first.

Every time they tried, they’d lose their balance and fall back down again, knocking the other one down as well. DB had returned at some point during the show and was laughing his ass off as he watched them.

Throwing her arms up in the air, Evie started laughing. “We’re stuck.”

“We’re more stucker than stuck,” Tabby agreed, then she focused on DB. “Hey, baby. You’re gonna have to live without me, unless you wanna move here? We’d be neighboroonies with your dad, and Evie’s got chickens. Ohhh,” she breathed, looking at Evie excitedly. “Can we put them on the trampoline, too?”

DB’s laughter cut off immediately. “No, we’re not putting the damn chickens on the trampoline, Tabitha Bell.”

Leaning into Tabby’s side, Evie stage whispered, “He full named you. You’re in so much trouble.”

“Both of y’all come off there now before you come up with any more weird ideas or fall asleep again,” DB ordered.

Finally, after trying to stand up again and failing, both women managed to make their way to where we were standing by commando crawling across it.

Before they could try and tip themselves over the edge—which was what they were planning to do—we both reached out and picked them up, making sure to place them carefully on their feet.