Page 97 of Forever Offsides

Classic rock.

“He must be good,” Jaime teases conspiratorially. “She’s smiling.”

Shit. Was I?

“I know I’m beautiful, but you’re staring a little hard. Do we need to have an HR consent moment?”

“What’s he like?” Jaime asks, ignoring my barbs. “I mean, gorgeous, yes, but ugh, I’m so jealous you get to date hot football players.”

“He’s all yours, babe. He’s not what I’m into anymore.” But his father is.

I snicker, and Jesus, I’m losing my edge. I turn my back on their shocked expressions and head out of the PACU. It’s somewhere past eight, and my shift ended over an hour ago. I’m hungry and tired, but today was a good day. I saved lives. I was in the OR for most of it. And other than Hirsh and Jaime, no one asked me about Russel Jones.

“Well, heya, love bug,” comes from behind me. I spin around to see Braelyn walking with Sorel.

“Hey! What are you two doing here this late?”

“We had a trauma that kept going,” Braelyn explains, pulling out the elastic on her ponytail, setting her curls free.

“Yikes. Did the patient make it?”

“We’ll see,” Sorel states. “We got him up to the ICU. Drug overdose. We’ll have to see about brain function.”

I grimace. “This is why I work with bones and not in the ER.”

“Yeah, well, I have a bath in my future,” Sorel says through a yawn. “Hopefully with my husband.”

“Um, ew. That’s my brother.”

She snorts out a laugh. “Yeah, I probably shouldn’t have mentioned that in front of you.”

“The things my ears can’t unhear.” I tsk at her as we head out of the building.

“You’re not dating Russel, right?” she continues. “Mason wanted me to ask in a girl chat kind of way, but I don’t really do that so well so I’m just going to straight up ask you.”

Braelyn is watching me too after the stunt Russel pulled at Starbucks last week. I haven’t had a chance to talk to her about Rhett and what happened while we were away. Truth be told, I could use some girl talk. Like ordering our favorite pizza, drinking a bottle of wine, and asking for advice, kind of girl talk. But I can’t do that with Sorel, can I?

Rhett is her husband’s coach.

I’m hit with the same pinch in my chest I had when I lied to Crew. It doesn’t sit well with me to have this kind of secret, but I’m also not sure what the benefit of them knowing is. Rhett said let’s give it time, which I took for that but also as a euphemism for keep it a secret.

“Nah. Come on now. You know me better than that. I’m done with him. Besides, I caught him face-deep in a woman’s tits on the road trip.”

They gasp. “For real?” Brae asks, her nose scrunched up in disgust.

“Yep. So even if I were considering a reprieve, which I wasn’t, I’m definitely not now.”

Both of them look very relieved, but I can see the question in Braelyn’s eyes all the same.

“Is everything all set for the baby shower this weekend?” I ask, changing the subject. “Is there anything I can bring or do?”

“Just yourself,” Brae tells me. “As far as I know, Rina, Halle, and Octavia have it all covered.” Rina is Skylar’s mom, Halle is Aston’s, and Octavia is Skylar’s grandmother, the matriarch of the Fritz family. This baby shower is no small affair when the Fritzes get involved. There will be well over a hundred women and more presents than Skylar and Aston have room for in their house.

“This is why I’m not having another baby shower,” Sorel notes.

I cough out a laugh. “You mean because your water broke at yours and you went into labor?”

She points at me. “Exactly. God, please tell me the guys aren’t crashing this the way they crashed mine.”