Page 37 of Time Out

“You’re such a shit.” He shook his head.

“Yo, loser.” Dawson was headed our way, bag thrown over his shoulder.

I shoved Cole. “I think he’s talking to you.”

“Pretty sure it’s you, kid.”

“Where are you headed?” I asked Dawson, considering Cole and I were leaving practice and Dawson had already left.

“I was looking for you to figure out if you found your baby mama. Forgot to ask before I left.”

Dawson was a pretty grumpy guy. Didn’t say much to anyone really although he and Cole were good friends. I hadn’t expected him to care much at all about my situation, which was one of the reasons why it’d been easier to talk to him.

Cole’s youngest brother was a year younger than me, a senior at Georgia. When I was first traded to Nashville, Cole let me live in his home for a couple weeks before training camp and until the condo I’d bought opened up. In two weeks’ time, he’d become like a big brother to me.

“He spent the night on her couch last night.”

Sometimes pseudo big brothers were big piles of crap.

“On her couch?” Dawson’s expression was one of worry.

“I found her. She was coming home from work and tired. Fell asleep practically mid-conversation. I didn’t want to leave without being able to lock the door. That’s all.”

“So you found her.”

“Belle helped me, yeah.”

“Good. So what’s going on then?” He was now walking with us, headed down the hall to the parking lot with Cole and me.

“She told me about her appointment, we talked a bit before I had to come here, and now, I don’t know. What am I supposed to do?”

“Uh… take her on a date?”

“No can do,” I told Dawson. “She already said she just wanted to be friends.”

“So figure out if she’s working and take her dinner or something.”

Yeah. I could do that, although this time I wouldn’t terrify her by showing up at her house, I’d text first. Might be a good idea, actually. If she hadn’t had decent breakfasts, was she eating well for other meals?

I’d have to look into that.

“Where’s she working anyway?”

“Julio’s.”

Dawson whistled and Cole’s brows rose. “That’s a nice place,” Cole said.

“Belle probably got her the job. I have a feeling she knows everything and everyone in this town.”

“Make sense, with her family.”

It did, definitely, and I was hoping once my parents found out who her best friend was, that’d smooth some of the disappointment. Their love of country music was long and deep.

“So, you’re sure she’s not playing the long con game here—”

“She’s not, Dawson.”

“So what else do you know about her then?”

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