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By the time we got settled down, my stomach was cramping from laughter, and my cheeks ached from smiling. I hadn’t laughed this damn hard in so long, and god, after last night, I needed it, too.
Maggie sat down next to me. “So, you’re a contestant?”
“I’m a stand-in.”
She frowned. “So you aren’t competing for a second date?”
I shook my head. “No, Holly said I wasn’t this girl’s type. I only did it to help my sister. She was in a bind because one of the guys broke his leg water-skiing.”
“But what if you do it and find out that you like the girl? Are you going to do a second dance?”
I shrugged. “I have no clue. Until eight this morning, I didn’t know I was doing this one.”
Most everyone started asking questions about it, and after the first few, Maggie began answering them. I did not miss the fact that this woman knew a hell of a lot more about what I was getting myself into, and I listened intently.
“What’s the dance look like?” Joe asked.
“Why? You want to be my partner?”
“Well, you do look awful sexy with that smeared makeup on. Let me take your picture.”
“Don’t you dare.” I reached for his phone, and he jumped back.
“Alright, guys!” Jake stood up to get everyone's attention. “Let’s clean up a bit and get moving. We will all be sure to watch Harv make a fool out of himself later.”
I was still eating, but others cleaned up and then got seated while Mike set things up on the big screen and logged into our new website that was going live soon. It looked clean and welcoming, but also business-like and patriotic, too. Maggie, Jake, and Mike took turns talking about different aspects of the website and what they hope to add soon, including more training, photographs, and bios about all the instructors. Although for safety reasons, they wouldn’t be too extensive. That information could be shared during classes and meetings like we usually did now.
Then they started showing off the videos that Maggie had been creating. They were fantastic. Not only did Maggie work up a great video about the delivery of the medical supplies that we had done a few weeks ago, but she had also done a few others.
Jake had collected a bunch of random videos that we’d shared with him, and she had compiled a fantastic five-minute video of us doing different things. From training to travel, and even some of our more stressful moments when we were under fire, and civilians were put to work to show what they learned.
A couple of the guys whistled when it was over, and Alex spoke up. “I just want to make it known that while I absolutely love what Maggie has done, and I honestly do. I have been trying to get Jake to do these things for months!”
A bunch of us laughed as Jake replied, “Yeah, well, who wants to listen to you jack-jawing. Maggie is much easier to listen to.”
Greg snorted. “That’s not what you said to me the other night.”
“Wait! What?” Maggie spun on Jake. “You said I wasn’t nice to listen to?”
Jake’s features went dead serious as he put his hand to his chest. “Never.”
“Bullshit!” Greg crowed. “You said that if you had to listen to one more thing that Maggie wanted to change, you were going to go nuts!”
Maggie’s jaw dropped. “I thought you liked my ideas.”
Jake came to stand in front of her. “I do! I do, Maggie. I love your ideas; we just don’t need to do all of them in the first month you are working here.”
For a second, I thought she would cry, and Jake looked like he was going to freak, but at the last second, she giggled. “Okay, fine, I’ll slow down my ideas. It’s just nice to be taken seriously.”
“You got it.” Jake looked so relieved, and then serious as he glanced my way. “Although we are going to need to update Harvey’s profile to read professional dancer.”
“I’m never going to hear the end of this.”
Alice stepped around me, patting my back, and stopped next to Maggie. “See what I have to deal with all the time?”
Maggie put her hand on Alice’s shoulder. “I feel for you, I honestly do. At least you aren’t the only woman in the office anymore.”
“That is an excellent thing. I was about to lose my mind with all these men.”
