Chapter 24
Since she showed up at my condo in nothing but a trench coat on Tuesday night after the game, we’ve spent every spare minute of the past two days together making up for lost time. Talking, touching, fucking. I can already tell I’ll never get enough of her.
The only reason we’re not still wrapped up in her bed together is because I have to be at the humane society this morning with Fields and Miller before we head to the stadium for tonight’s game. I’m still trying to decide what my local charity will be and they’re helping me with field research.
“Hurry up, Rook. We got places to be and pups to see,” Miller shouts from across the parking lot.
“Sorry, sorry. I’m here.” I shake their hands and lead them inside to meet the program director. For the next hour, we tour the facility, pet animals, and discuss various options for program support.
After we’ve left the humane society to get lunch at a local restaurant near the stadium, Miller is still oohing and ahhing over every dog he saw in a kennel.
“Dude, why don’t you just get a dog?” I ask later when we’re seated in a booth.
“One doesn’t just get a dog. It has to be the right dog.”
“You’re gone too much to have a dog anyways.” Fields tosses a straw wrapper in Miller’s direction.
“Okay, gramps. No one asked for your negativity.” Miller throws it back at Fields across the table.
“Have you ever had a dog?”
“Yeah, my parents still have one. Our family dog growing up was a golden retriever. Loved that little rascal.” Miller shows me a picture of the dog on his phone.
“It’s where he learned his personality traits,” Fields teases.
“Har har har.” Miller rolls his eyes.
“I dunno, chicks dig a golden retriever vibe,” I say, fist bumping Miller.
“Exactly.”
“So, is that what you’re looking for?” I ask, referring to the golden retriever.
“A chick to dig me? Aren’t we all.”
“He meant a golden, dumbass.” It’s Fields’ turn to roll his eyes.
The more I hang out with the two of them, the more I understand their dynamic.
Miller’s a constant jokester and Fields is all serious.
The only ones who can pull him out of his shell are Miller and the girls.
When he gets going, he’s pretty funny too.
“No need for name calling,” Miller responds to Fields. “I haven’t decided yet.”
“What did you think of the place?” Fields changes the subject.
“I’m not sure, man. What do you think?”
Fields shakes his head. “It’s not my charity, Chase. You have to decide.”
“It just feels like they have enough support. Is that bad to say?” I feel bad admitting it out loud, but it’s true.
“Nope. I get it. A lot of people pick the humane society as an easy place to write a check. They’re the low hanging fruit,” Miller agrees with me.
“That’s what I was thinking. Don’t get me wrong, I loved what they said and all they have going on, but it feels like the easy way out.”
Fields gives a sage nod. “And you want to choose something that makes it seem like you really considered your options and how to make a meaningful impact.”
“Yeah.” I scrub my hand down my face, trying to collect my thoughts. “This feels like a big test, ya know? Like I need to pick the right thing to make up for all the wrongs I committed.”
“Rook, you’ve been making up for it. You’ve hit up the children’s hospital in every city we’ve visited. You stop by the community center whenever we’re in town.”
“You freaking trained with the horse po-po,” Miller offers.
“That was actually fun.” I smile, remembering the training exercises I did with the unit.
“I’ll bet. Take me next time. I wanna play cops and robbers.” We shake our head at Miller as the server drops off our food and we thank them.
“Let me ask you this, does your charity have to be with animals?” Fields asks the question I’ve wondered myself.
“I guess not. Taylor just suggested it because of the nature of my crime.”
“What about a horse rescue?” Miller suggests.
“Honestly, that’s not a bad idea. I haven’t looked into whether or not there’s one around.”
“Could be a good idea.” Fields shrugs as he picks up his sandwich.
“Like, where do police horses retire to?” Miller pops a fry into his mouth.
“Dude, where do you come up with this stuff? What is going on in your brain?” I laugh because I would’ve never thought about that.
“You don’t really want to know that,” Fields grumbles, taking another bite.
“I’m just full of great ideas. Don’t shoot the messenger.”
“I guess I can ask my arresting officer what they do.” They laugh at me. “I already made a donation to the unit. Shouldn’t I choose something different?”
“Like what?” Fields asks.
“Maybe a smaller local rescue that isn’t as supported as the humane society?” I do like the idea of supporting the animals, I’m just not sure how to go about it.
“Or what about a massive pet adoption drive? Bring all the local rescues together, including the humane society, for one event,” Miller says.
“Who would get the money though?”
“I didn’t think about that. Maybe they can split the proceeds?”
“Is there a common vet clinic they all use?”
“Why don’t you just spin it and create one umbrella foundation and then the different rescues or clinics can apply for grants as needed?” This is from Fields, jumping into mine and Miller’s brainstorming.
“How do you mean?” I furrow my brow.
“Well, obviously the humane society has external funding already, so they likely don’t need as much.
Maybe they get the adoption fees from the specific animals they bring who are adopted, but the donations otherwise collected at the event go into a pot for your foundation.
” Fields is always thinking, always a step ahead.
“Then the smaller guys that need support have somewhere they can go to ask for help. Maybe they need a stipend for food one month or need to relocate a litter or are trying to host their own adoption event,” Miller finishes for him, thinking out loud.
“They come to me, and we act as the overall sponsor.” I consider what they’re offering. It’s a great idea. “I like it. Widespread impact and investment in the community as a whole instead of picking one organization.”
“Could be a way to put on more events too.”
“Maybe at the stadium.” There has to be a way to tie this back to the team. That’s the whole point, right?
“Oh, I’ve got it. ‘Bark at the Park.’” Miller lets out a ruff.
“I may regret saying this, but that’s a genius idea.”
Miller dusts off his shoulder. “I know. Don’t know why y’all insist on pretending I’m not smart.”
“So how do we make this happen?” Now that we have an idea, I’m eager to get started.
Fields swallows his drink and says, “Taylor Baker. That woman can organize anything.”
“But she doesn’t even work for the Troubadours, right?”
“Try telling her that.” Miller sniggers.
“She’s still in town. Call a meeting and tell them you’ve decided what you want to do. She’ll take it from there.” Fields wipes his hands and tosses his napkin onto his plate.
“You’re sure?” It feels weird to throw out my idea and then let someone else execute the plan.
“Definitely. She lives for this kind of thing. You won’t be able to do all the administrative pieces of it anyways with our schedule.
” Fields isn’t wrong. We’re in town for two more days then we’re on the road again.
The season is nonstop. I’ve never had to juggle so much during a baseball season before, and I just added Bree to the mix.
Hopefully we can make it work until the season is over.
I don’t want to lose us before we even have a chance to see what we could be together.