Some of them had come to accept her in the months she’d been doing custom work around the Sound. Some she knew second- or thirdhand from Colman as well. Others were like Mick. Suspicious of her. Most of them would be all right once they got to know her better. The rest? It didn’t matter. She was with Asa.

Still, it was nice to see all sorts of friendly faces, so when she went in, PJ let go of that discomfort with Mick. It was time to relax and have a drink with her friends.

Audra held up a beer. “Just grabbed this for you. You have great timing. Tom and the guys are getting us food.”

PJ took the beer and her stomach growled. “I was on my way to get a burger hours ago and then I got waylaid.” Or rather Asa had kissed her and she’d forgotten about everything else.

Tom returned with a tray of burgers and fries. “I just got us a bunch of everything. I figured Asa would be hungry too.”

“He didn’t eat before the race. I know that much.”

Tom grinned, waggling his brows. “You do, don’t you?”

Audra punched his arm and he pretended it hurt.

“Who’s the hot man-meat with Asa?” Audra asked.

PJ turned and stifled a groan. “That’s Mick. I don’t know much more than that he was in the army with Duke and Asa. They’re all close friends.”

“Now why don’t you tell me the real story and what he did to make you not like him?” Audra didn’t miss much, PJ had to give her that.

“I have no idea what you mean.” PJ attempted a prim tone.

“You went all disapproving and your eyes narrowed just a teeny bit. I’ve known you since before you had boobs. I know when you’re repressing something.”

Ugh. How much did she not want to do this? “I’m going to grab us another round. I’ll be right back.”

“No way.” Audra shoved Tom. “Tom can go. And then we can talk.”

Tom groaned but headed off, and the two them bent their heads together so PJ could speak quietly and be heard, relating the story about how Mick had acted.

“He doesn’t like me. I don’t know why. Maybe Asa dated his sister back in school or maybe Mick hates women in general. Maybe I did something I wasn’t even aware of to offend him. Whatever it is, he’s not a PJ fan.”

“How can anyone not be a PJ fan?” Audra asked.

They laughed, straightening up, and were changing the discussion to non-Mick-related topics when someone bumped into her. Ray something or other. She knew he worked at a body shop over in Lake City.

“Sorry about that.” He put his hand on her shoulder, and when he didn’t remove it quickly she stepped back.

He appeared to have gotten the message, but was still friendly. “It’s PJ, right? You did the paint on that Olds?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Amazing. Did you leave Colman?”

She nodded. “I did. I started my own custom design shop.”

“Really? Wow, congratulations. Things are going well, then?”

Asa approached, talking with Mick and Duke. He scanned the crowd until he found her. She waved, smiling, and they headed over.

“We just brought some food over less than five minutes ago if you want some of this. Tom went to get beers, so he’ll be back.”

Asa kissed her, wrapping an arm around her waist. “I have a special request order coming up. The cook is a friend of my mom’s, so she takes care of me.” He stole some chips off her plate. “I’ll happily take a few of these, though.”

“Who’s your friend?” Mick asked, tipping his head at Ray. His tone implied friend meant PJ banged him on the side or something.

And PJ knew she wasn’t alone in that perception because Audra’s eyebrows practically hit her hairline. PJ reached out to squeeze her friend’s hand to keep her from jumping on Mick’s face and pulling his hair out.

“Mick, this is Ray. He does bodywork for Andy Benton up in Lake City.” Duke winked at PJ. Duke was awesome and she would have kissed him in gratitude, but Mick would probably see it as her blowing him.

They did that chin-tipping thing men did to say hello. Tom approached with beer and a bunch more food arrived at the table.

Her phone kept buzzing and she finally checked to see her mother had left a message and two texts.

She touched Asa’s arm. “I need to call my mom. I’ll be back.”

“Is everything all right?” He brushed the hair back from her shoulder.

“I think so. It’s been a week since I’ve checked in and she’s a little testy.” Her mother wasn’t one for being put off when she wanted to be heard. It was the one area in which Lenore Colman was actually aggressive.

His concern faded into amusement. “I get that too. Moms are good at it.”

She ducked out but didn’t go too far. In fact, from where he stood at the table eating and hanging out with their friends, he could see her leaning against a fencepost with the phone to her ear.

After a glare at Mick, Audra said her good-byes to Duke and Asa and headed to another tent along with Tom and several others, leaving him alone with Duke and Mick.

He would normally have asked PJ’s friends to stay and called Mick out, but he wanted to do this in private. Once it was handled, he’d talk to Audra because this situation had lost him some hard-fought ground with PJ’s circle.

“Now that we’re alone, I’ve dialed Jesus, so he and I want to have a talk with you. Mind telling me why you’re being such a dick to my girlfriend?” Asa polished off his burger and paused to drink some of his beer.