When my alarm blared at eight the next morning, I stretched, threw the covers off, and headed to the bathroom to get ready.
The weather was going to be nice today. It was almost summer, so it wasn’t too cool, and it wasn’t too hot.
Perfect t-shirt and capri leggings day.
Once I was ready, and my hair braided off to the side, I headed to my kitchen, made myself a coffee, then walked to my front porch, climbed in my swing, and enjoyed my morning.
It was a ritual of sorts.
If I didn’t get to sip my coffee in the mornings on my swing, the day always felt off.
Mallory and Randy Gittens walked by, waving. I waved back.
Juniper and Callie, neighborhood kids, were giggling as they walked by, which caused me to smile, recalling that Talia and I had done the same thing. Multiple times.
Once I drank every last sip, I headed back inside and made my thank-you present for Carter.
An hour later, I was pulling up in front of Frank and Misty Grigg’s house.
Lila pulled in behind me, followed by Talia.
More than likely, we would take my car since I was the only one with four doors, whereas Lila drove a two-door Audi A5 and Talia drove a two-door Jeep Wrangler.
My Chevrolet Tahoe was my pride and joy. She was all white with tinted windows and a killer sound system in the back.
Which was why I didn’t get the animosity between Dominik and Talia. He was super nice.
And I knew that he didn’t charge me what he should have when he did the tint and the sound system.
But what took my train of thought in the other direction.... well... that would be the Grigg’s siblings, mainly the boys, working with their shirts off.
Including Dominik.
I grinned and hoped I won ten dollars today.
Ethan had dark brown hair, a tanned, lithe frame, dad bod going on.
Alec had dark brown hair, a tanned, lithe frame.
Garrick had dark brown hair, a tanned, tattooed, built body.
But Carter... Carter Alexander Griggs had the dark brown hair I wanted to run my fingers through and see if it was as soft as it looked. Tanned body, tats up and down both arms, muscles packed with muscles, nothing like Garrick, but he was simply... perfect.
Shaking my head, hoping I hadn’t been drooling, I tagged the Ziploc bag and climbed out of my Tahoe.
At Talia’s smiling face and Lila’s grin, I said, “It’s girls’ day!” I shouted as I pumped the air with my fist.
Which caused Talia and Lila to giggle.
Which then caused Carter, Ethan, Garrick, and Dominik to shake their heads at us.
Lila smirked at me, which caused me to do the same thing.
Walking beside her, we headed to the front porch.
Ethan looked at the bag in my hand and then grinned, “Who did something nice for you?”
Garrick sighed, “Not me. Ain’t seen her in a few days.”
