Club Scars by Mara McBain Page A

He’d given her plenty of rope up to this point, but if the spoiled little princess wanted to hang herself, he was more than willing to take this game to the next level.

Nine

    Clipping the baby carrier into the stroller, Kat adjusted the blankets swaddling her boy. The snow had stopped, but the wind was biting.
    “I would love to push him if you want to look around,” Eva said a little shyly.
    Kat bit her lip, looking up through her lashes at the eager girl. Eva was gazing into the stroller with a look of longing. Kat grinned. Mox better keep an eye on this one’s birth control. It looked like she was getting baby fever.
    “You want Aunt Eva to chauffer you, little man?” she asked the wide-eyed infant and then smiled at Eva. “You have to watch him. He’s his father’s son, a bit of a flirt.”
    Ginny and Eva laughed and Eva took the stroller, pushing it toward the aroma therapy shop. Ginny hooked an arm through her best friend’s, hugging her close.
    “How’re you doing?”
    “Better.” At Ginny’s doubtful side glance Kat hurried to reassure her. “Honestly, I’m doing fine. Crux is being a real rock. My gruff old man has been going out of his way to make me happy. I’m spoiled.”
    “That’s the way it’s supposed to be. You’re the new mama.”
    “Everything is going to be okay, Gin. I promise you. We’ve all been through so much and we’ve come through it as a family. This is no different.”
    “I’m supposed to be comforting you!”
    “You make everything better just being here. Sitting at home all day is killing me. I have way too much time to think and obsess.”
    “Come over to The Lantern.”
    “You know I love being there, but I feel like I’m in the way, like Cam and I are disrupting things.”
    “Please! We all love having you there and if someone has to wait a minute for their cheeseburger, they’ll get over it. It’s not like we’re performing brain surgery there,” Ginny scoffed.
    Kat laughed, shoving at her friend’s shoulder. “Hush, you!”
    “Well! It’s the truth. I would rather a customer or two have to wait a minute to get their order because we’re fawning over Cam than for you to be sitting home driving yourself crazy. Not that that is a long drive.”
    “Yeah? Well, it’s no road trip for you either, honey.”
    A sales clerk who had been approaching them suddenly steered clear as she got close enough to hear their spat.
    “Now look what you did. You scared off the help.”
    “Good. We didn’t need her anyway,” Kat answered leading Ginny toward the incense in the back corner.
    “Are you looking for a new box?” Ginny asked as they started to browse.
    “Nah, they put extra stitches in mine just like Crux requested.”
    “Drag your mind from the gutter!”
    “I saw yours down there. Did you want me to say hi?”
    “Very funny,” Ginny said, her haughty sniff turning into a snort of amusement.
    “Actually, my beloved husband bought new hinges for my incense box. It was so sweet. Silly or not, that box means the world to me.”
    “It’s not silly at all and what a sweetheart. Don’t worry. I won’t blow the hard asses cover.”
    Kat grinned. “He’ll appreciate that.”
    “Where did Eva go?”
    “I’m right here,” Eva laughed from behind them.
    “Those candles that I bought you are over there on the East wall. This place also has the best incense ever. Karna hand dips her own stock and the smell is so amazing. A lot of places have old incense that has been sitting around losing its potency. “
    “It’s like a hippy den in here,” Eva teased, pushing aside a curtain of beads.
    “I think this family could use a little make peace, not war,” Ginny said dryly.
    “Amen,” Kat seconded.
    “I’m all about being nice until it’s time not to be nice,” Karna said with a saucy grin as she emerged from the back room. “Hey there, ladies! Have a basket.”
    “You know us too well,” Ginny said, taking a couple of shopping baskets