He nods toward it. “Open it.”
Intrigued, I carefully pull the cover off and gasp. “My power mules!”
I grab my shoes and start inspecting them. They’re in pristine condition. Pristine. I don’t see a single indication that they survived a bear attack and a mud drowning. Hugging them to my chest, I turn to Ken with misty eyes. “Thank you,” I whisper breathlessly.
His clean-shaven cheeks turn a soft shade of pink as he nods.
I instantly ditch the sneakers and pull my mules on. This, right here, is how I feel powerful and indestructible.
“Do you feel better now?” he asks with an amused voice as he watches me dance in front of the mirror.
“Much better!” I run to him, and he catches me as usual with his steely arms. I wrap myself around him, trying to imprint my body on him. “Thank you so much, Sheriff.”
The kiss I give him after that nearly makes us late, but his satisfied look when I fix my red lipstick in front of the mirror is totally worth it.
When we arrive at his parents’ house, there’s no parking available, and every single spot on the street and nearby driveways is taken. So we park far and walk, holding hands, while he gives me a quick rundown on everything I might have missed about his family.
Right before Ken is about to open the front door, it flies open, and a tiny, red-headed woman who looks a lot like Leila greets us with the widest smile on her face. Stella, Ken’s mom.
“Josie!” She rushes toward me, and before I can even say a word back, she’s hugging me like I’m her long-lost child. “I’m so happy tofinally,” she shoots a glare at Kenneth, who has the decency to look ashamed, “meet you! Come in. We’ve been waiting for you and weren’t sure if he snatched you away.”
She wraps her arm around me and leads me inside, totally ignoring Kenneth. The entire place is packed with people talking. When they see me, they call out my name with a wave, and I wave back. When we enter the kitchen, Alex’s eyes go wide for a second before he pumps his fist in the air.
“Pay up!” he cries out, his palm outstretched and open.
A younger-looking version of Alex, who must be Aiden, takes a twenty from his pocket and puts it in Alex’s hand with an eye-roll. Leila does the same with a loud sigh as Alex hugs her, only making him laugh harder.
“Oh, shit.” Justin comes from the living room. “We won?” He looks at Alex, who’s standing there with a shark smile on his happy face.
“Oh, no. I lost.” Kayla follows Justin and pushes a twenty into Alex’s hand. “And, oh, yes, Sheriff finally found his balls,” she snickers, sending a look Kenneth’s way.
Archie lets out a loud snort while Kayla moves toward Justin, who wraps his arm around her shoulders and tucks her in under his arm. A look of pure adoration descends on his face when he presses his nose into her hair. She wraps her arm around his torso as a happy smile stretches across her beautiful face.
“I had faith in you, Kenny. I did,” Kayla says, trying hard not to laugh. “But after the rumor about your activities with Joz on the table at Donna’s coffee shop, I figured you wouldn’t show your face in your mama’s kitchen.”
“I bet his mama’s kitchen’s seen worse,” Archie chimes in, making Stella giggle loudly, which makes all her kids groan in unison.
“You fuckers.” Kenneth walks up to me and takes a stand by my side.
I glance up at him. “What’s happening?”
“They made a bet,” he explains, annoyed.
“How does it feel, bro?” Alex chuckles as he puts the money into his back pocket. When he sees my confusion, he tries to explain. “Ken and everyone else here made a bet about me proposing to Freya. And now he’s on the receiving end of the same thing.” Alex cackles.
“What did you bet on?” I ask, curious. For a moment, it felt weird, but now that I see it’s not ill-natured, it sounds hilarious, actually.
“I was the only one who had faith in you. Not like you returned the gesture, fucker,” he mumbles, looking at Ken.
“Language!” Stella yells and smacks the back of Alex’s head with a towel.
“Sorry,” he chuckles sheepishly. “But anyway, I said you’d bring her here while everyone else,” his eyes dart around, “thought you’d ditch us and lock your woman up in your sex dungeon.”
Stella starts giggling again, making everyone groan. Again. I feel like I’m in a sitcom from the eighties, and I’m totally loving it.
“Mom, no,” Aiden says.
All of us suddenly feel incredibly hungry because a tall man comes in from outside carrying a huge plate of steaming grilled food. My mouth instantly waters.
