know, real wild shit.
Lex and Cal were still locked in a glare-off when another chair suddenly appeared at the end of the table.
“Hey, guys,” Lauren chirped, giving my shoulder a squeeze before sitting down.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” I glanced around her. “Where’s Jack?”
“Ah, he couldn’t get in, so I ditched him with the bouncer. We really need to get him a better fake ID.”
“What?” Cal exclaimed, knee-deep in his lifelong struggle with sarcasm.
“I’m kidding,” Lauren said. “He’s actually with Judy and David. They called and asked if they could take him to see a movie.”
Like a good uncle, Cal visibly relaxed.
Vanessa clutched her heart. “Awww. That’s so sweet. Those two are desperate for more grandkids.” Tilting her head back, she silently asked Cal for a kiss. “We better get working on that, hubby. We might be their only hope left.”
I didn’t even have to look at Lex to see the verbal slap hit her. I also didn’t need to wait to see how she was going to react.
Tossing an arm around her shoulders, I cupped a hand over her mouth and kept talking to Lauren. “Ah, so you’re free tonight and decided to finally grace us with your presence? How generous of you.”
“Something like that,” she mumbled.
Cal slid her the empty cup Carmen, our favorite waitress, had brought out for Vanessa before she’d ordered a cosmo and asked, “Did they finally find a cure for your allergy to social gatherings, or was that specific to my wedding?”
She wrinkled her nose, flipping him off as she scratched it. “Good to see you too, asshole.” Her blond hair brushed her shoulders as she looked at Vanessa. “Sorry I missed the wedding. I would have done anything to be there, but with the way things are at work right now and all these automation upgrades, they’ve got me flying out at the drop of a hat. I couldn’t get out of it. Just know I went in halfsies on whatever Hudson bought for a present.”
Vanessa’s pink-painted lips formed a tight line. “Oh, you mean the pool Cal won’t let us have?”
“And here we go.” Cal rolled his eyes and grabbed the pitcher, spreading the last few sips around to everyone’s glasses.
Lauren swung an incredulous gaze my way, mouthing, “You bought them a pool?”
I took a page from her playbook and mumbled, “Something like that.”
Just as quickly, Lex tore my hand off her mouth and turned to face me in the booth. “I’m sorry. You gave me a fifty-dollar discount on a seventy-thousand-dollar cat condo, but you bought them a pool? I thought we were friends.”
And just like that, it was old times again.
Shrugging, I relaxed deeper into my seat. “We are. Hence the discount.”
She scoffed. “You can keep your crappy discount. Besides, after reviewing all the bids, I’ve decided to go with Delaney Construction for the cat condo. Your loss.”
“No, you aren’t.”
“Yes, I am. His bid was a tenth of yours. You need to work on those prices or you’re going to be out of business soon.”
“No. I mean, you really aren’t. I emailed every contractor within a hundred-mile radius yesterday and told them you stiffed me on a job. You’ll be lucky if you can find a neighborhood handyman to hang a picture for you with that kind of track record.”
The rest of the table broke into laughter as Lex’s eyes stretched wide. “You didn’t!”
“I did. But I’ll keep my prices in mind. Though, if I suddenly go out of business, it will free up my schedule to install Cal’s pool.” The side of my mouth hiked as I chanced a glance at my best friend.
“No pool!” he declared. “Jesus, Hudson, let it go. It’s too much.”
“I agree,” Lauren stated with a nod and lifted her palm my way. “I’m going to need my half of that purchase back.”
My brows shot up my forehead. “Oh, you mean the money you never paid me for the gift you had no part in? Yeah. I’ll get right on that.”
“You know what’s not too much?” Vanessa asked, her eyes filled with a sparkle that did not bode well for Cal. “A sunset party around our pool for our first anniversary.”
Lex’s head snapped in my direction, the antithesis of Vanessa’s sparkle showing in her dread-filled face. “Please tell me we don’t have to attend anniversary parties too?”
“No parties,” Cal declared, curling his arm around his wife’s shoulder. “And no pools.” He leveled me with a pointed glare before turning it on his sister. “And