Chapter 23
23
Dylan
“ A re you sure you’re okay?”
Juliette continued staring out the windshield. “Yeah. I’m fine,” she said, not sounding fine at all.
“If it’s too much, tell me and we’ll leave. Doesn’t matter when.”
“I said I’m fine.”
Fuck. I’d been excited for the kickball game and for Juliette to meet more of my friends. I’d been so happy when she agreed to go, but now I felt like the world’s worst boyfriend. Why didn’t I listen when she told me how much she dreaded any sports? I’d heard her, but clearly I hadn’t really understood the depth of her feelings about it or we wouldn’t be here now.
“What’s the game going to be like?” she asked nervously.
“If it’s anything like the softball games, it will be full of cheating and shenanigans. If we win, it’ll be because we were more creative in our cheating, not because we played better. If you fall or in any way get hurt, no one will even feel bad for you; they’ll be impressed that you were so committed to distracting everyone. It’s total chaos and anything goes. You can’t mess up, baby, I promise. I would never ask you to do this if I thought you’d have a problem.”
“Now I know you’re lying. You can’t pretend that a field full of protective alpha firefighters aren’t going to care if I get hurt.”
I threw my head back and laughed. Only Juliette could be so nervous and funny at the same time.
“Tell me again who’s going to be there? And why are we doing this?”
“We usually have firefighter versus law enforcement softball games, which are big fundraising events, but when we were talking to the guys from Station 7 a few weeks ago after finishing up at an MVA, we came up with the idea to do a small, just for fun, kickball game with our two stations. It was Sledge’s idea, because of Beth’s agoraphobia. She’s tried going to the softball games, but it’s too much for her to stay the whole time. They once did a small kickball game with just them and some of the law enforcement guys and she enjoyed it, so he wanted to do it again with us. The other people you’ll meet are Chief and Sophie, Squirrel and Blythe, Moose and Penelope, Taco and Koren, Driftwood and Quinn, Adeline and Crash. And you know Cole and Ryan.”
“Why do they have nicknames and you guys don’t?”
“Apparently our station used to give nicknames a while ago, before I was there, but they kept changing them and the chief couldn’t remember any. There was a big scheduling mix-up and that was the end of that.”
“Okay. It’s a nice day for kickball. Not too hot considering it’s summer in Texas.”
Fuck. I hated the dull look in her eyes and flat tone in her voice, even as she tried to say something positive. I’d turn the car around if I didn’t think it would upset her even more.
“I’m sorry for pushing you to do this. I’ll call Ryan and ask him to tell the others something came up.”
“No. Listen, I’m nervous. But when I walk out of this car, no one is going to know it but you and me. Please be able to deal with that, because I don’t want to have to hide it from you too. I need you to let me be me when we’re alone. I’ll be fine when we get there.”
“Okay, Juls, I get it. I absolutely want you to be able to be real with me. I’ll do my best not to let it get to me.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, looking me in the eye and semi-smiling for the first time today. She swallowed hard, and in a slightly stronger voice, said, “Tell me more about them.”
I moved my hand to her thigh, happier than I could say when she grabbed onto my fingers like a lifeline. “Like I’ve said, they’re good guys and great firefighters. Whenever we need backup, I’m happy to see them show up. The women are all nice and down to earth. I think you’ll like them, Juls, and I know they’ll like you. They won’t judge you, especially for anything related to dyspraxia. Sophie stutters and Adeline has a seizure disorder, although it’s been better since she had brain surgery. Sophie and Quinn work in a burn center, so you guys can connect over the rehab stuff. Adeline will have her service dog with her, but I think Coco’s more of a companion dog now since her seizures have practically stopped, so you may be able to pet him. Penelope will have her support donkey, Smokey, with her, and he’s surprisingly friendly. Beth will also have her support dog.
“Does it make me a horrible, shallow person if that makes me feel a little better?”
“No, baby, it’s reasonable to see your issues and theirs as a similarity that you share. Nothing wrong with that.”
She shrugged. I kept going, hoping to keep her distracted until we got there.
“There’s a bunch of kids too, but I think they are all with Squirrel’s mom and sisters so the women can have a chance to play. They deserve all the good times they can get. That group had really bad luck for a while, but I think it’s all good now.”
“Like what?”
“Well I already told you that Beth has agoraphobia, but I didn’t tell you that it’s because she was kidnapped a few years ago. Blythe was homeless when she first met Squirrel. Penelope was a POW in Turkey. I can go on and on. And that’s just before they were dating. I think almost all of the women were in life-threatening danger at least once while they were dating.”
“Holy shit. That’s crazy. I guess you weren’t kidding when you said firefighters have hero complexes.”
I laughed. “They’ve taken it to the extreme. Taco actually tried really hard to find a woman without any drama, but his problems still led danger to her. Juls, I swear that my crazy ex is enough to satisfy my hero complex. Let’s not bring any more danger to our relationship, okay?”
She laughed as I’d hoped. “No danger. Sounds great to me.”
“We’re here, baby. The field is in this park, and Station 7 is just down the block to the left.”
She nodded, the tension in her body returning tenfold now that we’d arrived.
I walked around to open her car door and reached a hand out for her, but she shook her head. She took a deep breath, rolled her shoulders back, lifted her chin, smiled, and stepped out of the car. Strong as fuck.
“Hi! I’m S-Sophie. You m-must be Juliette. It’s so nice to m-meet you!”
Just like that, the girls surrounded Juliette and introduced themselves.
“It’s so good to finally meet you,” Beth said. “I have everything under control with that bitch and asshole. I dug up some good dirt on them, and I’m tracking their phones, just waiting for the right moment to tell them what I know and scare the crap out of them. They won’t get away with messing with you!” Beth let out a vindictive laugh, and Juliette and the girls joined in.
“I like the way you think,” Juliette said with a smile.
The girls kept talking, and I couldn’t hear everything that was said, but I could see her start to relax.
I greeted the guys with handshakes and slaps on the back.
“I know that look. He’s a goner,” Taco said.
“Yep, he hasn’t taken his eyes off her,” Driftwood agreed.
“Can’t deny that. Juliette’s it for me.”
“Good for you, man. Best feeling ever.”
We caught up for a bit, quickly covering that all was good at work, and I filled them in on Kayla and Leo. Chief, Squirrel, and Moose shared stories about their kids. They sounded so happy and proud. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I wanted what these men had. I wanted a family with Juliette.
“Ready, Tiger?” Moose called out.
“Ready to whoop your ass!”
We debated how to split the teams. It would be uneven to do station vs station or guys vs girls. Just one more reason why I was ready for my friends to find girlfriends.
“Ass,” Cole said when I pointed that out. “I’m not settling with one girl forever so we can have even teams, or to give you a friend for Juliette. She can hang with these girls.”
Koren wrapped her arm through Juliette’s and agreed she should spend more time with them. Juliette tried to play it cool, but I know the joy that filled me was no match for hers.
At the girls’ insistence that they could beat us no matter what, we played boys vs girls.
Turns out that the girls were right. The girls were merciless, and we were suckers for them. They beat us 10 to 5.
Juliette was amazing. The girls were in the field first and Juliette was in right field. The ball went directly her way once. She shrieked and ducked, which somehow worked out when Smokey ran towards her braying and stopped short in front of her, and Juliette fell to the ground to pet him. In all that chaos, Taco was stopped on first by the charging donkey, and it looked like Juliette not only made a great play, but she won everyone over with her sweet reaction to the beloved Smokey. The smile on her face when she saw it work out is one I’ll always remember.
She looked panicked when it was her turn to kick, so I insisted on switching with Chief to be the pitcher. The guy was quiet but observant as hell and gave in with an appropriate amount of heckling. I made it impossible for her to kick the ball by throwing it and immediately running in to block her each time. She struck out within seconds without having any opportunity to kick. I got booed by the girls and cheered by the guys, and Juliette got the support of the girls who told her she was awesome and said I was a mean cheater.
She was at second for a couple of innings and blocked a few runners by standing directly in their path in front of the base and refusing to let them pass. While she distracted them, the other girls managed to get the ball to her base for the out without Juliette ever needing to touch the ball. When I was up and running towards her, she tried to block me too, but I kept running, grabbed her, and spun her around. When she kissed me and whispered “thank you” against my lips, it was more than worth getting out.
Now, we were sitting around the bleachers just hanging out. The game had finished a little while ago. Juliette looked genuinely happy. Her eyes sparkled as she talked and laughed with the girls.
The guys and I talked shop while the girls were doing their thing, but we all tuned into the girls as we sensed the mood change. Crash jumped to his feet when Coco put his head on Adeline’s lap.
“I’m fine, he’s not alerting,” she said calmly. Crash sat but watched them closely, even after Adeline reassured him again that the dog wasn’t alerting her to a seizure.
The girls continued talking quietly, and we continued watching them until Penelope eventually said, “Jeez, we’re all okay. We’re just talking here. If we need you, we’ll let you know.”
I caught Juliette’s eye and mouthed, “You good?”
She smiled and nodded.
I watched the rest of the guys check in with their women too. Ryan observed the interactions without showing any emotion. The man had a huge heart, but he hid it well.
“You got a woman you’re interested in?” Squirrel asked Ryan, obviously seeing through him as easily as I did.
“Eh, maybe. Juliette’s friend Nicky was supposed to come, but she had to work,” he said with a scowl.
“You think she shouldn’t work so she can play kickball with you?” Chief asked.
“It’s not that. I hate her job. She’s an OT like Juliette, but she does home care visits in shady areas, and she’s had issues with some of the families. I don’t fucking trust the assholes, but she gets fucking pissed at me if I say anything about it. And who am I to her? She doesn’t care what I have to say.”
“Sucks when there’s nothing you can do but wait and hope she’ll come to you. Take it from me, though, man, if she’s in real danger, don’t take no for an answer,” Squirrel said.
Ryan nodded and we looked towards the women again, although attempting to be more subtle this time. Coco’s head was still on Adeline’s lap while she pet him. Smokey and Second were also close to Penelope and Beth. If the animals were concerned, so were we.
“This might be the longest I’ve been out at a park like this,” Beth said. “It’s not like I wasn’t aware of being out in the open, but the fear didn’t consume me like it has before. I don’t think I would have been okay if I was in the outfield, but as long as I was close to Cade and everyone, I really had fun out there.”
“That’s amazing. I, uh, I was worried about today, but I had a lot more fun than I thought I would,” Juliette said.
“Why didn’t you think you’d have fun?” Penelope asked.
“I’m not really good at meeting or talking to new people. And I’m definitely not good at sports.”
“Why do you s-say that? You’ve been s-so nice and friendly. This kickball game barely counts as a s-sport anyway, but you were the best at blocking the guys.”
“Thanks. It means a lot that you think that. I, um, have dyspraxia. That’s why I talk the way I do.”
Warmth spread through my chest. I hid my smile and avoided eye contact with Juliette, lest I interrupt this moment, even though I itched to touch her, to tell her how brave and strong she was.
“You thought we would judge you for your speech? It’s not that bad, and we wouldn’t care even if it was,” Quinn said, obviously affronted. “You’re nice. That’s all we care about.”
“Not everyone is so understanding.”
“You don’t need to tell us that. I know how it feels to be judged for something you can’t control. We would never do that.” Quinn gestured to her face as she spoke.
“People give you a hard time because of your birthmark? It’s like a big freckle. Who the hell cares about a freckle? People suck.”
Quinn laughed softly. “It’s a little more than a freckle. It’s better now. It used to be much bigger and redder and darker.”
“So you had a giant red freckle? Still, who the fuck cares?”
“Um, a lot of people?”
“That’s why I don’t like most people. But I like all of you a lot!”
“We like you a lot, too!” Blythe said.
“Let’s all hang out again soon. Want to come to the Sloppy Cow with us?” Koren asked Juliette.
“I don’t know what that is, but yes!”
“It’s a bar near here. Our friend Erin works there.”
“We see you all watching, ya know,” Koren said to us. “You can stop eavesdropping and come over here.”
Taco shrugged. “We didn’t want to interrupt.”
We moved over the few feet to the other end of the bleachers. Juliette was at the end of the bench, so I stood behind her, loving the easy way she leaned into me and tilted her head back for a quick kiss.
“You didn’t want to interrupt, just to listen?” Penelope said.
“Yep. Heard things get serious, had to make sure our girls were okay,” Sledge said unapologetically.
None of the girls looked offended. If anything, they leaned in to their men a little more. Sometimes I worried that my need to protect and take care of Juliette could backfire, but seeing these couples who’ve been through hell and back bask in that protectiveness soothed my worries.
After a bit more chatting, we all said our goodbyes, agreeing to talk soon to make plans to go to the Sloppy Cow. Juliette hugged the girls and promised to keep in touch, and we made our way back to the car.
As soon as the doors were closed, Juliette turned to me with an ear to ear grin. “I had fun! I like them a lot and I think they like me too! Thank you for encouraging me to come and introducing me to your friends!”
“You were amazing, baby. They’re our friends now.”