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Possibly right from the frying pan into the inferno.
Dillon went back to the truck and grabbed a couple shovels. When he returned, he handed Bryan one and stuck the tip of his own in the packed earth. “You think it’s a possibility that you won’t get picked up?”
“Sure it’s a possibility. Football’s fucking competitive. You can’t hang, you get a helmet to the nuts for your trouble. We all know the score when we sign on the dotted line. Only a moron doesn’t have an alternative plan for the day the clock runs out.”
“What’s yours?” Dillon asked quietly.
Bryan gripped his shovel and fought the urge to hammer it into the dirt. That wouldn’t help anything. “Don’t have one.”
His buddy didn’t say anything for so long that Bryan figured the subject was tabled. They weren’t exactly emotive guys, and this conversation about equaled their longest in years.
Then Dillon said, “So what if I gave you one, working on the Helping Hands homes with me? Would you take it?”
Bryan cut a glance at his friend. “Huh?”
“Are you looking for an alternative plan? It’ll be open to you when and if. Or you can tell me to fuck myself, since you intend on hobbling across the field until you’re wearing dentures and hair plugs.”
“I’d shave my head first,” Bryan said absently, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.
“Might need to be done soon. You’re looking a little thin up top, boy.”
Bryan grinned and whipped the shovel through the air close to Dillon’s crotch, making him jump back. “Big mouth, slow reflexes. You’re lucky I didn’t lop that baby-maker of yours in two.”
“I’d like to see you try.” Dillon’s smile deepened. “Think about what I said, okay?”
“Yeah. I’ll think about it.” He had a feeling he’d be doing a lot of that over the next couple of weeks. “Thanks.”
“Nothing to thank me for. You’d be working harder than you ever have in your life. This isn’t chasing rawhide across Astroturf. By the end of the day, you’ll be one throbbing ache.”
“Already am, dude.” Jill had made sure of that.
“All right, let’s get the tree in the ground. I told Lex I’d stop by in a couple of hours to get some more plants and for an, ahem, coffee break. She’ll have my ass if I’m late.”
“Some separate spaces you got there, pal.”
“There’s a time to be separate and a time to be together.”
Bryan laughed behind his fist. “Good on Lex for keeping you in line.”
“You laugh now. One of these days, my man, you’ll know the sweet agony that is mine. I bet it’ll happen sooner than you think.”
Bryan swallowed his retort. Sweet agony, indeed, knowing that he’d already found the perfect woman for him…and he was going to have to let her go.
…
By Saturday night, Jill had reached one definite conclusion—some dates didn’t require anything but a bit of private time. Serving as proof, later on she would have date number four with Bryan. They’d discussed going to a late-night movie, but their latest plan involved another kind of performance. In her bedroom, all alone.
First, she had a Big Dipper to find.
“Who wants another hit?” Vic held up a bottle of champagne and gestured at the stars. “Alcohol will help all of you see it.”
Sprawled on her back on the blanket beside her best friend, Jill squinted up at the velvety black sky. The sprinkled stars didn’t look like anything to her but an explosion of diamond dust.
Though camping out on blankets on the snow-charred ground near the water tower in the center of town didn’t count as a traditional bachelorette party, it seemed to fit perfectly for Vic. She and her astronomy-crazy fiancé actually got their rocks off—sometimes literally—to star stuff, so Jill hadn’t questioned Vic’s decision for them to all meet outside. At least they were all clad in jeans and flannel-lined parkas. Add in the sentimental value that Vic had felt for the water tower since her high school sexual encounter here and it made a strange kind of sense.
“I don’t see anything dipping.” Based on Nellie’s hiccup, she was truly drunk. No wonder. First night out without either her baby or husband would prompt most women to go a bit wild.
“Patience, Noelle. Wait for the clouds to clear and all will be revealed. It’s like getting off. Delayed gratification is best.” Vic saluted her friend with the bottle she’d barely drunk from.
