Luis rolled his eyes. “Ay.”
“Same,” I mumbled.
“Young love,” Angela said. “Leave it alone. They’ll need something to cling to when their kids are crapping up the back of the onesies. Literally.”
“That’s romantic.” Taylor chuckled.
“No babies.” Hailey shook her head. “No way. Not yet. I’m just turning thirty and I’m not ready to do that.”
“You are all so good with yourselves,” Angela said. “Once upon a time, it would have been national news if a woman hit thirty and didn’t have a child.”
“No, no. Children later,” Bryce agreed. “Not ready for that.”
“So,” Grant said, looking up at the map. “Let’s logistics this out and get a plan going so Angela can talk to the team and we can get this tour on the road on time.”
“And we can go to the Gaggle Gathering tonight,” Luis said, clapping his hands.
I raised an eyebrow. “Dude, what?”
“The Gay Gaggle,” Luis said. “They usually have games and beer at Chase and Marcus’s house. I love it. Nelson Powers hangs out there once in a while if he’s in town, and Maddox. Sometime the other guys from Robot Servant are there too, and supposedly Maddox is dragging along Alexei Shostakovich.”
“Who?” Taylor asked.
“Shakey? Number thirty-four on the Suffolk Raiders AHL team?” Luis asked. “You uncultured swine. How do you not know about my obsession with hockey? Alexei Shostakovich is one of the best players in the league.”
“Are you collecting celebrities?” Bryce asked.
“Pendejo,” Luis grumbled. “Look, Chase and Marcus said that you’re all welcome to come anytime to the Gaggle Gathering.”
“Why the hell do they call it that?” I asked.
“Marcus’s mom. She’s the Gaggle Mom. Anyone who needs a mom, she’s there. His dad, too. It’s pretty cool. They are super supportive. They said there is no stopping his parents and sisters during Pride. I can’t wait to see this.”
I lifted an eyebrow, and laughed. “Which sister are you after?”
He gasped, “You insult me.”
“I know you.”
“The younger one, Christy-Anne. The older is married.”
“I knew it.” I laughed, and everyone was chuckling with me.
Luis slumped in the chair and gave us all the finger. A moment later he sat up and smiled. “Seriously, though. Gaggle is open, just bring beer. It’s fun to hang out, like casually hang out with people like Maddox Jones and Nelson Powers.”
“Nelson is dreamy,” Hailey said.
“Nelson is gay,” Taylor said. “And totally has the hots for that guy Jace. They slammed the door so hard and so fast that night I thought that he was going to take off my nose.”
“He’s gay?” Hailey looked at Bryce, who nodded. “Damn it. So that’s why he didn’t take to my charms.”
“You flirted with him?” Bryce laughed.
“He’s Nelson Fucking Powers! Of course, she flirted with him!” Angela laughed. “She’d have to be dead not to interact in some way with that hunk of man flesh.”
“The hell, Auntie. Are you an Orc now? Man flesh?” Grant was indignant.
We all cracked up laughing at that. It felt good to laugh. We worked our way through the country and decided we were going to do an international separate from the domestic tour, that way we wouldn’t keep flying out of the country.
