Brokenhearted Beauty(Divine Creek Ranch 19)(95)

Grace and Leah laughed and Grace said, “It’s good to have friends you can rely on to keep you from chickening out, right? How about you guys? Did you need similar motivation?”

All four men instantaneously shook their heads and frowned negatively. “No, no, no. No trouble here. Jumped right out,” Jack said a little too quickly.

Adam nodded wisely. “Yup, it was awesome. I was totally up for the challenge.”

James fist bumped with Vincent and said, “Total freedom, jumping from that plane, honey. Best feeling ever.”

Vincent nodded and then made a sudden slashing motion across his throat as Duke Rivers, one of the resident skydiving veterans, and Emma’s husband, joined their group.

Grace smiled at Duke expectantly but all he did was chuckle and say, “I’m the picture of discretion, ladies. Your men were valiant to the end, landing on both feet with bladder and stomach still intact.”

He patted Jack on the back and Leah noted the relief on the men’s faces as he stepped back to head to the bar. He winked at the girls and put his hands in his armpits and flapped like a chicken as he walked away.

Grace and Leah laughed but didn’t say another word, except to extol their bravery. The men had originally wanted to make the outing a coed endeavor but the ladies had all been united in giving them a big “hell no.”

“I hear Duke and Gage go skydiving on a regular basis,” Leah said. “Are you all planning on going with them again sometime?”

All four men coughed and shook their heads and Vincent said, “Hell no. Nope. Once was enough for this fool.”

With her arms around their waists, Leah hugged them both and said, “I think you were very brave.”

Grace’s attention was drawn to the club entry. She tapped Leah and pointed. Leah was pleasantly surprised when she saw Presley Ann, and then shocked when she saw who Presley Ann walked in with, chatting like pals.

“Am I seeing right?” Leah asked, blinking her eyes even as she smiled and waved at her sister…and Lydia Carlisle and her husbands, Chance and Clayton.

Grace grinned and waved, too, and quietly said to herself, “Good for you, girl. That took guts.”

The four of them joined the group. At first, several of the girls, and even some of the guys seemed surprised but they quickly got over it. If Lydia was fine with Presley Ann being among their group, that was all that mattered. Leah beckoned to her and Presley Ann came over and hugged her and seemed to relax right away.

“How was work?” Leah asked. She’d tried to get Presley Ann to come with them to the spa but her sister had turned her down, unwilling to take the time off or to spend the extra money and refusing to receive it as a gift from her sister. Leah had pressed her and Presley Ann had finally told her that indulging herself like that was a slippery slope and she didn’t need the temptation that a spa day represented. Every spare penny went into savings and that was that. Leah could respect that.

“The store was really busy but everything was fine, otherwise, so you don’t need to worry. I ran into several of your friends who were shopping for the wedding and made lots of sales.”

“Did you run into Lydia and her men there?”

Presley Ann shook her head with a grin. “No. I reached out to her several days ago. I knew with the wedding fast approaching that she and I would be around each other a lot. I didn’t want for things to be uncomfortable for everybody. I’ve wanted to talk to her for months now and I finally screwed up my courage and just called her, to apologize for the idiotic way I acted a few years ago. She was gracious and invited me out to the ranch and we talked for a long time. She and her men came by and picked me up from my apartment tonight and they’ll be taking me home, too. She thought it might be less distracting for everyone tomorrow if they saw that we had made friends beforehand. Judging by the way everyone’s jaw dropped when we walked in, she was right,” she added with a grin.

“You sure shocked me, sis,” Leah replied. “I’m happy though.” Presley Ann smiled at her and she could see in her eyes that a burden had been lifted. She felt a little guilty that she hadn’t done more to facilitate that reconciliation, since it was her wedding that was bringing them together in close proximity. In the rush to put the wedding together, she’d forgotten that there had been enmity between them for a long time.

“I’ll be damned,” James said, mild surprise also showing on his face as his attention was drawn to the front again. “I’ll be right back, honey.” He nudged Vincent and the two of them headed to the front and that was when Leah spotted who had just walked in the door.