that wouldn’t be nearly enough for all the guys coming from the shop. Danica had eyed him suspiciously as she’d prepared the lasagna yesterday. Even before she’d finished making it, she could see it wasn’t going to be very pretty. Still, it’d been the thought that counted, and Dominic loved lasagna. “I’ll just order a few things to compliment the main dish,” Orlando had assured her. There were at least eight extra-large boxes of pizzas, two boxes of fried chicken, and two six-foot-long sandwiches on the table, along with bowls of chips, dips, and an assortment of restaurant-bought side dishes She could barely see her lasagna amidst the overabundance. She turned when Orlando and Nine walked into the dining room.
“Damn! You expecting an army?” Nine asked, opening one of the boxes of pizza and grabbing a slice.
“Yeah.” Orlando glanced at Danica, his expression a bit contrite. “I didn’t realize I’d ordered so much. But”—he turned to Nine—“all the guys are coming down, and you know how they eat.”
Nine nodded immediately as if in complete agreement. It made Danica feel a little better. It had almost felt as if Orlando had purposely bought all this food to try and make up for her lasagna. She remembered the look on his face the day she’d told him she’d be taking on the task and making it for the party. It’d been the day after her attempt at meatloaf. But that wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t until she had everything prepared that she realized Orlando didn’t even own a loaf pan. She’d had to improvise and used a cookie sheet instead. It’d been a bitch to try and shape the soggy mess. Then each time she’d taken it out and it still wasn’t cooked all the way through. she’d try to reshape it again, but it only got worse. By the fourth time she put it back in, she’d been so frustrated she’d upped the temperature so it’d be sure to cook through that time, and it ended up burnt on the outside and still not completely cooked all the way through. As usual, Orlando had been a sweetheart and assured her it was okay to eat medium-well red meat. Like her lasagna it may not have been pretty, but once cleaned up a bit and in between bread slices with mayo and mustard, her meatloaf sandwiches had been pretty good. The seasoning packet she’d used had saved the day. They were tasty enough that she decided she’d try again once she bought a loaf pan. Despite feeling slightly emotional for a minute there over something so petty, she was glad Nine and Orlando were still on the subject of the food. Danica was certain her feeling sensitive over something so silly had everything to do with what she was suspecting, especially because she could hardly stand the smell of all that food anymore. Before Orlando asked her how she was feeling and before she’d start gagging, she decided to make a quick exit. “I’m gonna go check on the baby.”
“Your sister has him,” Nine explained. “Dee Dee was getting hungry.”
Orlando glanced down at the plate he was loading. “Dee or you?”
“Nah, man,” Danica heard Nine say as she walked away. “She eats like a dude when she’s breastfeeding. Doc says it’s normal, but holy shit.”
Squeezing her eyes shut as she remembered her swollen tender breasts, Danica took a deep breath as she made her way out to the deck. More people had arrived, and she’d been right about Beast being on his way. Just as she walked out, he and Byron walked in from the side gate. She let everyone know there was plenty of food in the dining room. The guys from the shop arrived shortly afterward, and with the game on now and the food flowing, the party was in full swing. She spent most her time pretending to be utterly engrossed in conversation with whomever she happened to be sitting with or standing by. The rest of the time she kept busy hosting. They waited for the seventh-inning stretch to bring out the cake for Dominic. He’d baked it himself, and Danica had bought the Dodger cake toppers for it. But even the smell of the cake was a bit too pungent for Danica to stomach. So, she left the cake-cutting to Delia after they sang to Dominic, using the excuse that she had to change the baby. Walking into the nursery completely lost in thought, Danica couldn’t imagine