Page 118 of Fierce-Michael

“It’s funny,” she said. “If I came last year, you would have been here, right? Maybe we could have started to talk then. I mean, I’ve been staring at your”—her eyes dropped down to his ass, but she wouldn’t say that with Ty there—“for a long time.”

“I think things happen for the right reasons. I wasn’t here last year,” he said. “Ty was with Electra so I didn’t come.”

He didn’t feel right. To him, he was invited to the kids’ party which included Sam Fierce’s son, Kasey, from Durham, as Cade’s twins and Sam’s son were born on the same night, just one before midnight and one after.

“This year will be fun,” she said. “And I can’t wait for all the kids to see the shirts.”

“It’s nice you had all the sizes,” he said. He’d decided to have red July Fourth shirts made for all the kids that said “Fierce Fourth Of July” and there were red, white and blue fireworks on it, each kid’s name on the back. Having so many running around with the same shirts on, as he knew Jolene would have them put them on, would make it hard to find your kid.

He got one for Ty too, just so he didn’t stand out, even though he wasn’t a Fierce. To him, it had to do with the party.

“Jolene might cry when she sees them,” she said. He was carrying the box and Kelly had the gift bags for the kids in her hands. One for Kasey too. Ty had his bookbag on his shoulder with his bathing suit and life jacket in it. The kids would be in the pool soon, he was positive.

“I’m sure she is going to,” he said. “I’m also hoping it will distract her.”

They got to the back of the house and opened the gate to get in. “I’ve heard rumors of the amount of food and drink here, but holy cow, the setup.”

There was a massive outdoor kitchen that Liam and Aiden were at. Margo and Nic were at another table doing something with food. Many things would have been brought over from therestaurant already. Aiden and Liam would grill burgers and hot dogs for the birthday party and serve their other salads. The rest of the food for the party would come out later.

“Look who decided to show up,” Jolene yelled. “Alex said you’d be here, but I was getting worried that I might scare you away.”

“We don’t scare easily,” Kelly said.

“I’m so glad you could make it this year,” Jolene said to Kelly. “Here, let me take those gifts. I’m going to steal you away and introduce you to the family from Durham. They like to know who is who.”

“Why don’t you wait for a few minutes,” Michael said. “I’ve got something here for the kids.”

“What did you do?” Alex asked, moving over. It was obvious the box was from Marshall Printing.

“Something fun,” he said.

“I know,” Cade said.

“And you kept it a secret?” Alex asked her husband.

“I just found out a few days ago. I saw them,” Cade said.

“We hadn’t planned on telling anyone,” Kelly said. “It was Michael’s idea, but I designed it and then had the information from Easter.”

He pulled the first shirt out and turned it around. “This is for Sidney.” Brody’s daughter. The oldest one here.

Sidney came running with the rest of the girls. There were so many between the Durham kids and Charlotte kids. The boys noticed what was going on and made a mad dash and soon he was pulling out shirts and calling names and handing them off.

“That is the sweetest thing ever,” Jolene said. “I think you might have started a new tradition.”

“It was easy enough,” he said.

“I like the names on the back,” Gavin said, moving over. “So the parents can find their kids. Your idea?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m going to want to be able to see Ty, and if there are so many in red shirts, I’ll go nuts if they are running around.”

“We wouldn’t want you going nuts over that because we know my wife is going to cause it to happen for other reasons.”

“You told me I had to be good,” Jolene said. “And now that the kids have their shirts, Kelley can come with me.”

Michael watched Kelly being ushered away. He wasn’t worried. She knew most of the people here anyway or had heard their names.

He knew everyone, even if he had to try to remember their names.