Page 9 of Love for a Lifetime

Jennifer chuckled. “Sometimes. Though, you were great with Braxton. He took to you really quickly.”

“Kids love me.”

“It’s because you’re still a kid,” Jennifer said.

“Thanks.”

Dawson’s phone dinged, signaling a text.

Asa: You coming to the garage? Jacob has something to show you.

Dawson typed out a quick reply.

Dawson: Be there in an hour.

“You have big plans this afternoon?” Dawson asked.

Jennifer flipped through her small notebook as she walked. “Nope.”

Jennifer was about as introverted as Dawson was extroverted, which meant his mission as her co-worker was to slowly fold her into his friend group. If she spent her days home alone because she wanted to, that was fine, but he tried to at least offer her something to do where a few close friends were involved every once in a while.

“I’m heading over to Beau’s garage to meet Asa and Jacob. Wanna come?”

“I would, but I don’t want to,” Jennifer said without looking up.

“Suit yourself.” He’d given it a fair shot.

“See you later, Keller,” she said with a wave over her shoulder as she slid into her cruiser.

The rest of the workday should have wrapped up quickly, but his worry about Olivia kept jutting into his thoughts like a kid playing peekaboo–always reminding him he could find a million ways to think about her.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket the minute he walked out of the station, pressing the name “Chicken Tender” in his contacts like it was second nature.

Olivia answered on the second ring. “Is this an emergency?”

Her no-nonsense voice was out today, greeting him like a well-meaning mother. “That depends. How is my queen?”

“You have got to stop calling me that. People are going to think we’re more than friends.”

Dawson hummed. “I see no issue with that.”

His relationship with Olivia had grown in interesting ways over the years. She’d gone from his best friend’s little sister who wanted to tag along wherever the boys went, to the alluring, beautiful woman he’d give his left pinky toe to spend every second of every day with.

Somehow, she still thought he was joking when he poured his heart out.

Olivia groaned. “I’m fine. You caught me at a bad time yesterday.”

Dawson unlocked his truck and got in. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure you’re gonna regret it if you call me during work hours again without a broken bone.”

Olivia was a nurse, and she took her work very seriously. She told him once that her friends–as she called the patients–deserved her undivided attention during work hours, and he respected that commitment.

“What about a papercut?” Dawson asked.

“Bye, Dawson,” Olivia sang before ending the call.

He pocketed his phone and headed toward Beau’s garage, somewhat assured that Olivia was okay.

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