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I throw up my hands before pointing back to the truck bay angrily. “I can’t pretend not to care. That she’s a stranger! That I shouldn’t be with her right now instead of going about my day like nothing happened!”
“To be fair, you’re not going about your day like nothing happened. I will attest to that. Not at all.”
I glare. “So not the time for jokes, man.”
“Of course it is. It’s the perfect time for jokes because jokes will make you laugh, and laughter will loosen up your muscles. You need to loosen up.” He looks me up and down again and winces. “Really need to loosen up.”
“You just made all of that up,” I accuse gruffly.
He shrugs, his face softening with just a tiny bit of sympathy. The rest of it, though, is holding on to the fact that he’ll be able to give me shit about this for the rest of our lives. “Maybe. But it made sense, and frankly, I probably deserve some credit for that, given how closely you currently resemble the Hulk.”
I roll my eyes. I’m not that worked up.
He raises his eyebrows like he can read my mind, and it makes me reconsider.
Am I really turning into some freaking superhuman green monster?
Jake nods. Yes, you are.
“Well, I’m freaking out! I don’t like this, okay?”
“I’m gathering that.”
“Well…offer something helpful, then!”
“You want me to be brutally honest? Because that’s all I really have to offer.”
“Yes! Whatever! Just say something.”
“Okay. Here it is. Don’t like the way this makes you feel? You need to step up to the plate. Take charge of your life. If you don’t want the two of you to be a secret anymore, make you not a secret anymore. Tell people. Tell her dad. Take responsibility for your relationship, and take charge of your destiny. Go get your dang woman, Garrett!” he exclaims, voice determined. “I’ve known you a long time, and other than making the actual decision to get out of your loveless marriage, you don’t hesitate to charge into the middle of anything—including, but not limited to, actual flames, by the way. So, treat this like that. Charge into it. There’s no reason you have to be a bystander, and there’s no reason you should let your life continue on any course you don’t want it to.”
“I’ve only been dating her for a month, Jake. Doesn’t that seem crazy to you?”
He shakes his head with a laugh. “Who in the hell do you think you’re talking to? Christ, look at me and Holley, man. It’s possible. You’re the one who told me it was. Sometimes, when you know, you just know.”
“I’m afraid to want it this badly,” I finally admit, my voice shaking. “I’ve never…I’ve never felt like this before. I don’t want to end up letting her down.”
“Come on, now. You and I both know it’s not some intangible magic force these women—our women—are after. They just want to be loved and respected and treated like they’re both. That’s it.”
I snort. “That simple, huh?”
“Yes. It’s really that simple.”
I heave a big breath and roll my neck in an attempt to ease some of the rigid tension. I don’t want to feel like a psychopath for wanting to be with my own girlfriend after she passes out. And I sure as shit don’t want to be back on that stage watching random women throw money at the chance to go on a date with me. There’s only one woman I want to go on a date with.
“Man up. Tell everyone the truth. Deal with the consequences. Got it?” Jake summarizes, his face forged with the seriousness only a dad is truly capable of when giving the enough of this nonsense talk.
“Geez. Okay. Yeah. That’s what I have to do.”
I put one foot in front of the other, completely pumped up to charge out into the truck bay and declare my intentions, but Jake puts a hand to my chest and pushes me back.
“Whoa, cowboy. Did you think I meant now? I did not mean now. Now is a very bad time to do this.”
“You just said—”
“Yes, but not while the firehouse is literally fucking full of bodies. Come on, bro. Set up a time one-on-one. Talk to the Cap without so much collateral damage, for fuck’s sake.”
I’m blown back. It’s not like Jake doesn’t curse ever; he just doesn’t usually drop more than one f-bomb within fifteen seconds of another.
“What am I supposed to do, then?” I ask. It’s not like me to feel so out of my depth, but the truth is, Jake is right. I tackle things head on. Charge in first. I don’t know how to strategize in a fucking holding pattern. I only know how to attack.
“You’re going to go back out there and make sure Lauren is okay…from a distance. Which, by the way, I’m certain she is, or Holley would have come to tell us by now.”
