“She just blessed your heart,” Bouchard whispers.
“I know!” Dozer cries. “Ouch. I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Ignore them,” Marissa tells me. “I know things are pretty crazy right now, but I’d love to get together with you sometime. This is a tough city to make friends in, and I know you’re new to town, so I don’t want you to have to fight for friends the way I did. And once games start, you’ll meet Tina. She likes to take all of us newcomers under her wing.”
“You’re hardly a newcomer anymore,” Maggie chimes in.
“Well, not now that you and Hailey are in the picture. To some of those women, though, you’d think I just fell off the turnip truck.” To me, she says, “It’s the accent. They think because I say y’all and fixin’ to that I must be a country bumpkin.But I grew up in the fourth-largest metro area in the US.Muchbigger than Seattle.”
“I’m not sure Hailey needs to know all of that,” Maggie says, stepping in smoothly to head off the mini rant Marissa’s starting. “We don’t want to scare her away before she’s even come to a game.”
“Has Chalmers gotten you the schedule already?”
I glance at Jason, but he has his back to me. “Oh, uh …”
“Of course he hasn’t,” Marissa says, rolling her eyes and giving an exasperated shake of her head. “Boys never think of these things. If you give me your number, I’ll text you the link so you can add the home games to your calendar. And away games, too, so you can at least know when you’ll be on your own.” Her eyes go wide again, but this time with excitement. “Okay, I know I’m getting ahead of myself, but while the guys are on the road, you and I will have to get together. Maggie’s got a kid, so she’s not always available.”
“You travel for work,” Maggie chimes in, “so you’re not always available either.”
Marissa rolls her eyes again, and now I’m just grinning at these two. “I travel for work far less than you have to take care of your son.”
“Yeah, okay, true,” Maggie grumbles.
“Okay,” Marissa says, looking at me expectantly. “Number?”
As I rattle off my number, a hand slides along my back, and I turn to see Jason. Marissa and Maggie smile knowingly and exchange a look that I know means they think there’s more going on with Jason and me than there really is.
But this is the deal, right? I mean, we’re not spreading it around that we’re not romantically involved. Everyone will assume we are, because of course they will. Hence the kiss. And him standing next to me like this.
“We’ve got the signed marriage certificate. We just have to file it with the county once they’re open for business, and this is all official.”
“Oh, wow. Okay. That’s, uh, that’s great.” I dart a look at the other two couples watching us.
Jason scratches his nose with his free hand. “And, um, so, apparently Dozer and Marissa made reservations for us at Alessandro’s in lieu of a reception.”
“Thatisthe reception,” Marissa says, glaring at Jason. “And you’re welcome.”
“Right,” Jason says. “Thank you both for arranging that for us. I appreciate the way all of you have pitched in to make this happen, from Bouchard becoming the officiant?—”
“That’sMinisterBouchard, to you.”
“Right. Thanks for your noble sacrifice in paying to be ordained by …”
“Oh, well …” Bouchard rubs the back of his neck. “It was free to be ordained, actually. I did go ahead and order the official documents, though, so I spent a little bit of money, but not that much.”
Jason looks amused at this confession. “Where did you get ordained? I don’t think you ever said.”
Maggie starts giggling, and we all look at her.
“The Church of Gnome,” Bouchard admits, the tips of his ears turning pink, though he’s holding his chin up like he’s not embarrassed.
“It’s a real place,” Maggie says between giggles.
Shrugging, Bouchard says, “I like what they stand for.”
“Gnomes?” Marissa asks.
“Well, I mean, that too.” Bouchard grins. “Seriously, though. Check out the website later. It’s a lot of stuff about being a good person, basically. But they lay it out nicely, and”—he shrugs—“who doesn’t like gnomes?”
