foods.
“Bruins by a mile. The Boston Garden has Lucky’s Chicken. Winning!” Stan declared.
“You can’t discount the pulled pork nachos at the Pittsburgh Penguins arena. Oh, sorry, guys. Are we interrupting?” Ned Wanamaker noticed Dottie and threw his hands up. “Really, woman?”
Dottie snickered. She gave excellent sarcasm. “A suit, Ned? Overkill, don’t you think?”
Summer wondered if the two were about to start bickering when Dottie stood, and the two went in for a laughing hug. She heard part of what they said. Dottie called Giselle a fucking bitch, and Ned suggested a dirt nap was too good for his ex-wife especially after she pulled the trigger on the son they shared.
Stan was laughing quietly. Her eyes swung to him as he gleefully did something on his phone.
“What are you cackling about?” Ned asked.
Stan held up his phone and showed them all a snapshot of Dottie hugging the stuffing out of Ned. “Thought I’d send this to your doctor friend. Let her know the kind of trouble you’re up to on the mainland.”
Dottie laughed loudest. Arnie looked equal parts exasperated and amused. Ned puffed up, and drawled, “I had my shot with the bodacious Dorothea Anders about ten years ago. She shot me down right quick.”
“Now you know why I go by the name Quick.”
Feeling like a spectator at a secret society meeting, Summer avidly watched everyone interact.
“Are you here to start trouble?” Ned asked as Dottie took her seat again.
“Official business,” she told him with a saucy wink. She tapped a perfectly manicured fingernail on the edge of the iPad. “I was just about to show Summer where she and the baby will be staying.”
“What?” She jolted at this announcement and squawked. “I’m not staying anywhere but here.”
Arnie put a hand on her shoulder, and she nearly gnawed it to a nub but went with a determined brush-off to make her displeasure known. His frown was downright pouty, but she didn’t have room for his feelings at the moment.
Dottie attempted a smile, but Summer took it as a look of pity. Right then and there, she was over being the last one to know what was going on when it came to her own damn life. She wasn’t used to being swept up in anyone else’s worldview.
An epic explosion was locked, loaded, and ready to fire when a sudden counter maneuver stole her moment.
“Gentlemen? G-T-F-O,” Dottie snarled. “As in, get the fuck out. Summer and I need a moment without the alpha stench wafting off you three.”
Summer never saw three grown men move so fast. In a heartbeat, the small room emptied, and it was just her staring down the indomitable Dottie Quick.
“Summer,” Dottie began in a calm, controlled voice. “Nothing happens without your say-so.” She reached out and patted her knee. “Take a breath and listen, okay?”
Although her skepticism remained, she nodded and chewed her bottom lip.
“Welcome to Arnie’s world, where five adults crammed into a little guesthouse is barely the tip of the iceberg. You can’t stay here. It’s not big enough, there’s no security, and let’s face it, this place isn’t your forever home.”
Her thoughts whirled. She remained silent and wary but didn’t put up an argument.
In a gentle, motherly tone, Dottie asked, “What did you think would happen when you and Arnie reunited? Was all of you squeezing into this place part of it?”
“No,” she grumbled. “But it isn’t the point. You can’t just come in here and tell me how to live and what to feel as though I’m some daft twit without a clue. If you expected a compliant bimbo, you’re in for a rude awakening.”
“Compliant bimbo? Good lord, Summer. I can guarantee you not a single person in Arnie’s life imagines anything remotely close. Only a female whose strength equaled his was ever going to take a man like him down. It’s true, we don’t know you, but we know Arnie. He was always destined for someone extraordinarily special. You’re his twin self. He needs you.”
Winning an argument with this lady would never be easy. She was far too wise and way too observant.
Pushing the iPad forward, Dottie murmured, “Just take a look and then you tell me what works and what doesn’t. I won’t rest until you’re happy.”
Summer had to admit the slide show was impressive. Did deluxe accommodations at The Peninsula Hotel make her happy? She had a hard time finding fault with the one-bedroom suite with a complete kitchen. Dottie explained arrangements were already in the works for a crib and