Thankfully, the girls were able to secure a table farthest from the band, where you could actually hear yourself talk.
“Hi, everyone,” she said, sitting down across from Lyndsey and next to Christa.
The latter worked as a tattoo artist for Mel and had an adorable little boy.
“Is Dillan at the Dalton’s?” she asked, even though Kade had already informed her that his boys were excited about Dillan’s visit this evening.
Christa nodded. “Yeah, no doubt eating tacos and building Lego superheroes with Kyle and James.”
“With Kade, too.” She smiled, knowing that had been his plan.
“And Kevin,” Lyndsey added.
Isla’s eyes widened. “Oh, boy. Now there’s a dynamic duo.”
They all laughed because they knew it was true. The Dalton cousins were every bit as dynamic as they were handsome.
Emily and Lyndsey had been too young to go to high school with them, but their photos and achievements had been plastered on the hall walls, along with their McCall buddies, Coleand Connor—Mac’s cousins. Those two men were every bit as gorgeous and famous around school as the Dalton boys.
Now, all four had grown into upstanding members of the community…and even more handsome.
“Hi, welcome to Texas Pub,” a pretty blonde said, standing at the end of the table, pad and pen in hand. “My name is Colby. I’ll be your server today. Can I start you off with some drinks?”
“Hi, Colby.” Lyndsey waved. “Are you new here?”
Come to think of it, Emily couldn’t recall seeing the woman before either.
The blonde smiled. “Yeah. Just moved here from Houston to help my aunt, who recently broke her leg.”
“Aww.” Isla smiled. “That’s nice of you.”
“I’m Emily,” she said, grinning up at the woman. “I recently moved here from Houston too. Well, back here. I’m originally from Harland County.”
“And I moved here last year,” Christa said. “I love it here. I’m sure you will too.”
Colby’s smile widened. “I know I will.”
They placed their drink orders, and since they already knew what they wanted to eat, including enough chips, salsa, and guacamole for the four of them, they gave Colby their food orders, then hit the dance floor.
After stomping their way through four songs, with chip and dip breaks in between, they settled back into their chairs just in time for their entrees to arrive.
Despite having demolished the appetizer, Emily noted she wasn’t the only one who’d worked up an appetite, because conversation lulled while they dug into their food.
“Okay, so were we all just famished?” Christa questioned with a wrinkle to her brow. “Or was the food just that good?”
Lyndsey snorted. “Both.”
Emily laughed along with the others, feeling more relaxed and happier than she had in days. She’d needed this outing, big time. This week had consisted of some great outcomes, and some tough cases. She’d lost a few rescues that had been too far gone before she even arrived at the scene. The runt of a litter of puppies she’d rescued from a storm drain had succumbed to injuries from a coyote attack.
Then there was Perez.
She sobered and shook her head, attempting to remove the jerk from polluting her mind. No way was she going to allow the guy to ruin her happy mood. She took a long sip of her iced tea to wash down the negative words that had tempted her lips.
“Emily, what’s wrong?” Isla frowned.
Lyndsey swore under her breath before leaning closer. “Hey, don’t let that dickwad get into your head.”
Isla’s chin lifted. “What dickwad?”
