“Okay,” I bark, “you know the rules for visitors.”
A little girl in pigtails with a nametag that says Junie beams up at me. “No running! No touching things! No going near the big trucks unless you say it’s okay!”
Her excitement squeezes something in my chest.
Briar touches the little girl’s shoulder gently. “Very good, sweetheart.”
My eyes flick to Briar. Is she a mom? Is Junie her daughter?
The little girl nods, eyes cast down. “Yes, mommy.”
Briar catches me watching then, going still as soon as I look at her.
Like she feels it too.
She says, “Thank you for letting us visit.”
“Didn’t exactly volunteer,” I mutter.
“But you didn’t cancel,” she fires back.
There it is—her spark.
I step closer. “Didn’t know I had permission to cancel.”
Her breath hitches. “You always have permission.”
“Funny,” I say low, leaning in, noticing for the first time that this woman isn’t wearing a wedding ring, “doesn’t feel like I do.”
The tips of her ears flush.
Worth it.
Behind me, someone whistles. The rest snicker.
“Captain’s got himself a sunshine crush,” Axel calls out.
I whip around. “Axel, I swear to?—”
“Oh come on,” Ash interrupts, “we all saw the way you hustled her into the closet at school. Thought you were gonna throw her over your shoulder and carry her off next.”
Briar’s jaw drops.
I face her again. “Don’t listen to them.”
Junie tugs my pant leg. “Do you want to carry her on your shoulder because she’s pretty?”
Rowan practically chokes. “Kid’s got him clocked.”
My crew is dead.
Briar tries not to laugh. “Junie, honey, don’t?—”
“Sheispretty,” Rowan stage-whispers.
“Axel, write that on the board,” Boone adds. “Captain Cole is speechless. Historic day.”
I’m two seconds from sending them all on hose-testing duty for the rest of the week.
