I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Okay. We’re going to host Friendsgiving that Friday, then. So, everyone, add it to your calendars.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And you better bring this cutie with you,” Morgan said, rubbing Maverick’s belly.
“You gonna rub my belly like that later, Princess?” Wes joked.
Gabe snorted. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous of the damndog.”
“Luke, we should get a dog,” Callie said.
Lucas smiled. “If you want a dog, baby, I’ll get you a dog. Just say the word.”
“He’d probably get you a pack of them,” Morgan teased with a grin.
Friendsgiving had become a tradition with them. It all started when Callie first came back to Bayport after her mom died—she’d been struggling with the holidays, so Morgan and the others showed up at her house unannounced with all the fixings for a Thanksgiving feast. This would be my first year joining them in person instead of over a video call from base.
“Oh!” Morgan grinned, then looked at Callie and Lucas. “Did you ever tell Blake about Ava?”
Lucas chuckled. “No, I completely forgot.”
I looked between them, my brow furrowed. “Who?”
“So, a friend of mine and Morgan’s from high school was at The Sandbar last Saturday, and we were talking to her, and she was asking about you,” Callie said.
Wes waggled his brows with a smirk. “Asking about him, huh?”
Morgan chuckled. “Yeah. You just walked in from work in your scrubs, and she was all butdrooling, then saw you go to our table with Luke and Wes, and she was all, ‘you guysknowhim?’”
“She asked us to pass along her phone number,” Callie said, writing something on a small piece of paper before handing it to me. “So, there it is. Do with it what you will.”
Later that evening, while Morgan and Callie were inside with Maverick, Gabe, and Wes, Lucas and I remained outside, each nursing a glass of bourbon.
I reached out to the table in front of us and grabbed the fancy Blackwood bottle, looking it over. “Is this some kind of special edition bottle?”
Lucas chuckled. “Yeah. Corbin gave it to me as a housewarming gift when we finished building. Said it was from all of them—him, Tate, Kade, and Levi.”
“Kade, huh? Last I heard, he was gone.”
Lucas shrugged. “Still is, I guess.” I set the bottle back down, right next to the small scrap of paper on which Callie had written that phone number. He tilted his chin, gesturing to it with a subtle grin. “You gonna call her? Seems like it’s been a long time since you’ve been in thegame.”
I let out a breath, shaking my head. “No. I’m not gonna call.”
“What?” Lucas smiled. “Why not? I’ve met her a couple of times. She’s a nice girl.” He stopped and looked at me suspiciously. “Unless…there’s already someone…?”
“No,” I lied, shaking my head. There was someone. Our best friend’s younger sister, to be exact. But that wasn’t the only reason why I had no plans to call this other girl. “I’m just not in the market for a relationship or anything. I don’t need the distraction.”
I wasn’t just saying that because of what was going on with Haley. Being afraid ofthatkind of distraction was a big part of why I was still holding back with her.
Lucas looked at me. “I didn’t know you saw relationships as a distraction.”
“For me, they are.”
“You mean because of work?”
I nodded, staring off at the open backyard as my mind started to wander. “That’s a part of it, yeah…”
