Page 98 of Teasing You

Standing, he grinned at her. “Oh, believe me. If it all goes the way I hope it will, this town’s going to have something brand new to gossip about.”

Chapter Fifteen

The weekend flew by in a crazy flurry of activity. Between finally having the time and the enthusiasm to work on the salon and everyone wanting to talk with her and find out all the details about Becky and Sandy’s arrest, Ashlynn didn’t have a second to herself. Chloe had invited her for a sleepover Saturday night so they could have a little one-on-one time away from everyone else, and it was the highlight of the weekend.

The best part about it? Her sister just knew how much Ashlynn didn’t want to talk about herself anymore, so they spent almost the entire night talking about what was going on in Chloe’s life.

“So I caught that lingering look between you and Evan King,” Ash had teased. “I didn’t think he was your type.”

“You mean tall, dark, and stupidly handsome?” Chloe asked with a giggle. “I mean…I felt a little flustered every time he looked at me, but it’s not like anything is going to happen there. He was only here as a favor to Ryder so…”

“And if he happened to come back to town you wouldn’t be interested in going out on a date with him?”

Her sister gave her a bland look. “Ash. Come on. Do you think a super rich lawyer like Evan would ever even want to go out on a date with a small-town kindergarten teacher? Be real.”

“What’s wrong with being a kindergarten teacher? For all you know, that’s his catnip.” She winked. “And by the way he was looking at you, it just might be.”

Chloe was blushing pretty much from head to toe. “Stop. He was not.”

“Fine. Don’t believe me. But I bet if you asked Avery or Billie, they’d say the same thing.”

“Anyway…we need to start planning Jade’s bridal shower. I think her mom and Billie have started working on things, but I really want all of us to be involved. And I’d really like to do something for Silas too. Maybe we can do some sort of weekend camping trip or something!”

“Camping? Wait…what? Who are you?” Ashlynn laughed. “And what have you done with my twin sister?”

“What are you talking about? I thought it would be fun!”

“Chlo, you hate camping. I hate camping. We both hate sleeping in a tent and on the ground. What’s gotten into you?”

“We’re gaining a nine-year-old nephew! I just want him to think we’re cool and for him to know how excited we are to have him in the family.” Then she pouted. “I thought it was a fun idea.”

“It would be if it weren’t something we both hated. Hmm…” Pausing, she gave it some thought. “Maybe we could ask Mom if we can set up her yard like a mini carnival! You know…a bunch of games, a bouncy house, one of those blow-up movie screens so we can watch something after dark…and lots of fun food and snacks! We’ll all be there and maybe even ask Dad to come for the weekend so he can be in on it. After all, he’s gaining a grandson.”

Chloe’s eyes filled with tears.

“What? What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

Her sister launched herself into Ashlynn’s arms. “I just love how you thought of Dad. I’m so proud of you! And I think your idea is amazing! You can even do face painting on all of us!”

“Oh my goodness! Yes! Definitely!”

That had set a whole bunch of plans in motion and this morning when she stopped at Books & Beans on her way to the salon to check on the progress, she ran the idea by Jade, who promptly burst into tears.

“Are those happy tears, or…?”

“Happy! Definitely happy,” she said as she tried to dry her face. “Your entire family has just been so amazing and I love how you want to do this for Silas.”

“He’s a great kid, Jade, and we want him to be comfortable with us and maybe think we’re the cool aunts.”

“Are you kidding? You’re the one who painted his face so he looked like a Stormtrooper at the Fourth of July festival. He hasn’t stopped singing your praises since!”

It was crazy how much that meant to her. “Well, we figured everyone’s been focused on you and Levi—between the engagement party and then there’s gonna be bridal showers and bachelor and bachelorette parties—but Silas isn’t getting anything that’s just for him. So we’ll have to come up with a really cool name for it so he knows it’s just for him.”

“I really love this. Thank you.” She stepped back around the counter. “What can I get you to take over to the salon? A muffin? Coffee cake? A scone?”

“It would be wrong to pick a brownie, wouldn’t it? I mean…it’s only 10:30 in the morning.”

“Pfft…it’s practically lunch time. And you can have whatever you want!”