Shrugging unrepentantly, she whispered, “Never thought that would do it for me either, but the man’s good looking.” She gestured at him, blushing when he grinned at her.
Maybe now was a good time to introduce them before she said anything to make me puke again. “Sadie, this is my grandad, Hurst. Gramps, this is Sadie.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Sadie,” Gramps said as he held his hand out. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Likewise, Hurst. Wait, don’t you live somewhere else?”
His eyes widened as he heard her accent properly. “Place called Piersville, about two hours from here. My grandson’s wife is British, too, but she doesn’t sound like you. Well, she’s part British. Technically she’s French, but she spent a majority of her childhood in England.”
I could see Sadie was only just following the lineage of Sabine, my cousin Brett’s wife. “Where about in England?”
“Somewhere in the south west.”
Shaking her head, she leaned both elbows on the counter. “I don’t really know much of the West Country apart from places like Bristol and Bath. I’m from a village near a place called Bromley. It’s closer to London.”
“We went to London a few years ago when Brett crawled across the pond to beg her forgiveness. I got arrested at Buckingham Palace.”
Sadie looked at him, obviously trying to gauge if he was lying or not. “I think I might like you, Hurst Townsend,” she snickered. Then, noticing someone waiting to be served, she held a finger up and started down the bar toward them, still chuckling. “Arrested at Buckingham Palace. Bloody Nora.”
Turning back to Gramps, I chuckled at his comically dazed expression. “She’s awesome, isn’t she?”
Laughing as he shook his head, he reached over and grabbed my hand, holding it gently on the counter between us. “That she is, and I think she’ll be good for you. In fact,” he pulled back and looked around the bar. “I think working here will be good for you, too.”
“I love you.” I’d said those words to him before, but they held gratitude and deeper meaning right now. I’d been worried he’d be disappointed in me for leaving the company, but as always, he just wanted the best for me.
“Love you back, sweetheart.”
Our moment was broken by Sadie whispering, “Great Gods of fire. What am I looking at right now?”
Both of us followed where she was staring with her mouth open, seeing none other than my cousin Elijah standing in the doorway of the bar.
“What’s he doing here?” I whispered to Gramps, who groaned when he started walking toward us.
“Torture. Pure torture.”
I couldn’t help the giggle that burst out of me at his words. The Townsend-Rossis were wild, absolutely freaking wild. They’d never conformed with anything and were a law unto themselves. And it wasn’t that Gramps didn’t love them, he absolutely did, but they lived to give him shit and stress the hell out of him and Grams.
“Old man,” Elijah greeted with a smirk that spread into a grin when Gramps growled at him. His expression softened when he looked at me. “Hey, Arikins.”
I swear I heard Sadie swoon behind me.
Pulling myself up onto the bar, I leaned over to give him a big hug. “It’s so good to see you.”
Hearing it, Gramps grunted like he disagreed, making Elijah’s shoulders move under my arms as he laughed silently. Pulling back, I noticed he was watching Sadie as she bustled about doing something behind me.
Not taking his eyes off her, he instructed, “Introduce us.”
“Sadie, come and meet my cousin Elijah,” I called as I climbed back down off the bar.
“Nice to meet you, Sadie.”
Sadie shook herself out of her stupor and took the hand he was holding out to her. “Likewise, Elijah.” Then, turning to me with her hand still in his, she raised her eyebrows. “Exactly how many of you lot are there? I’ve not been here long, and already I feel like I’ve met a hundred of you.”
Eh, I could understand that. “There’s a lot of us.”
“And more arriving every day,” Gramps muttered. “Your cousins and brothers are reproducing at a crazy rate, but you’re my sensible girl. Well, you and Layla. I take full credit for that.”
“You’re British?” Elijah asked, still holding her hand.
Not showing that this put her out, Sadie cocked her head slightly as she looked at him. “That I am.”
Elijah sucked in a breath and blinked a couple of times, his mischievous sense of humor showing in his expression now. “This might sound weird and creepy, but could you say daddy for me.”
Ew!
Pulling her hand back finally, Sadie leaned into the bar like she was going to whisper something to him. When he moved closer, obviously assuming she was going to whisper it to him and make all his dreams come true—double ew—she said loudly enough for Gramps and me to hear, “No, I won’t say bloody daddy to you. If you want someone to call you that, go to a club or get yourself a woman who wants to be your little girl.”