Page 15 of A Baby for the Firefighter
Had I pissed Dean off by avoiding him that day by the lake? I must have. Maybe I should call and apologize. But I still didn’t know how to explain myself without admitting to my secret crush—which would ruin everything even if it was reciprocated. I couldn’t date anyone if my first instinct was to tug my tail between my legs and run like a scared puppy when things turned interesting.
It was absolutely ridiculous. Not every alpha was out to take advantage of me, but the rational side of things didn’t seem to matter much to the part of me that was terrified.
Clearly, something was wrong with me.
I wanted to die of embarrassment at just the thought of telling anyone about this. Thank God the one or two people I’d run off on in the past had kept their mouths shut. Nobody liked to talk about how they’d been rejected, I guess.
My cell phone rang and pulled me out of my reverie. Sadly, it wasn’t Dean. The caller ID said Eli.
“Hey,” I answered the phone. I’d expected my brother to be on the other end of the line, but instead I was greeted by the cheerful voice of my nephew.
“Uncle Griff! Guess what!”
“Your daddy doesn’t know you stole his phone?” I joked.
“Nooo. Wrong! Try again!”
“Uh…” I flopped on the couch. “You’ve decided that you want to become a firefighter?”
“I’m totally going to be a firefighter!” Of course. “But that’s not it! I’m going to be in the play this year.”
“The school play? That’s awesome!” He’d tried to be in it once before when he was seven, but then some misbehavior on his part had gotten him kicked off. It was nice to know he got another chance this year. His behavior in school had improved and he deserved it.
“I have like five lines! I’m a dwarf.”
“Awesome,” I said again. “I’m sure you’ll be the best dwarf ever.”
“Yeah! Daddy is helping with the costumes. And you need to help with the props.”
I needed to what? “What props?”
“Somebody has to do the uh… wait,” he said, and then I heard him yell for his daddy. A minute later, I heard some rustling as the phone was handed over from Jake to my brother.
“Hey, Griff. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. Everything’s fine. What’s that I hear about doing props?”
“I’m sorry about that. I offered to help with the costumes, and Jake’s got it into his head that you need to be involved too. Matt got off easy. He only has to read lines with Jake, and honestly, there aren’t that many lines. He's even tried to rope Olivia into it, but she's having none of it. Just threw all her toys at him. I'm fearing I might have another alpha on my hands.”
I had to laugh at that. “Wouldn't that be wonderful?” I asked, remembering all the trouble Eli had gone through with Jake when the boy had first expressed his alpha tendencies.
“Don't mock me.” But Eli was laughing too. “Anyway, apparently the guy who usually does the props can't do it this year, so Jake's teacher asked if we knew anyone who could spring in.”
“And that would be me?” Lovely.
“C'mon, it could be fun, and it would mean so much to the kids. I remember you used tolovebeing in these plays when you were that age.”
I cringed, because I remembered too. One year I'd been a mushroom and I'd worn that costumeeverywhere, feeling like some kind of fungal super-hero.
Eli was right. Every kid deserved the opportunity to make memories that would embarrass them as adults.
“Okay, okay, I'll do it.”
“Great! There's a meeting at the school that you should come to next Thursday at six. I hope to see you there.”
“I'll be there.”
“Cool.” And that concluded the call. As soon as Eli hung up, I found myself staring at the phone.
