Page 3 of When to Call a Blitz

Briar and I shoot each other one last look before getting up and making our way into the main room. The girls are there, standing next to each other with the most angelic, sweet smiles as Trisha scowls at them from her desk.

“If you can just sign here,” Trisha grumbles, pushing two forms at us.

When the girls are all signed out, we quietly leave. It’s not until we hit the parking lot that the girls start talking. “I can’t believe they wouldn’t let us help it,” Briar pouts, looking back toward the school.

“We may still be able to find it,” Juniper responds, hand on her hip.

“What are you two talking about?” I ask. Briar comes to a stop next to me, looking like she’d rather be just about anywhere else other than here at this school still.

“We found an injured chipmunk,” Juniper explains, pushing a rock with her shoe. “We were trying to bring him home so we could help him.”

Briar lets out a sigh before squatting down in front of the two of them, pulling Elara into her. “You girls have the biggest hearts, and I never want you to lose that, okay? But you also need to be careful that you don’t get kicked out of school. You do that and you won’t be able to play football with Leo one day.”

Leo, my best friend and Briar’s fiancé, has been over the moon excited that Briar’s daughter has now decided that she wants to play professional football one day. She thinks she can play in the League, and who are we to tell her that’s probably not going to happen.

Instead, Elara frequently rushes Leo, who immediately falls to the ground with a girlish scream every time.

“What does that matter if there’s animals out there hurt?” Juniper asks, tears in her eyes.

While most people would have to think about what to say, Briar immediately knows how to comfort her. “In order to save everyone, you need to take care of yourself first. Next time you see an animal that’s hurt, try to call your dad or me before doing anything. Or tell a teacher, okay, Bug?” Juniper nods, wiping her tears before both she and Elara wrap Briar in a big hug. “Now go get in the car,” she tells them as she stands up.

The girls do their handshake before heading off to our respective cars, and Briar bites her cheek.

“Spit it out,” I tell her.

“You need help.”

“I don’t need help.”

“Yes you do.”

“I’m going back to when we didn’t speak.”

“You know I have a secret weapon, Gardner. And trust me you donotwant me to use it.”

Leo.

I scoff. “Why do you think I need help?”

“Football season is starting. You have no help right now, and honestly? I can’t manage the two of them alone right now. They’re insane.”

“So what you’re saying is you need help.”

Briar’s face grows red with each of my words, and I can see her biting her tongue. “Emmett. You can’t keep doing this. You hole yourself up in your garage most nights and Juniper comes to me for advice,” she says, and my heart drops.

“She does?”

“She asked me what a pad was the other week. Where did she even learn about them?”

I can’t think of anyplace. Maybe TV?

“And that’s something that she honestly should start learning about,” Briar continues. “What’s going to happen when it’s something else? I’mnotteaching other people’s kids about,” Briar looks around, “sex, Emmett. Years from now if she asks me, I’m out.”

“I don’t know what you want from me,” I toss my hands up.

“Get. Help.” She pauses after each word, driving them home for the one-hundredth time, hoping that this is the time they’ll stick. “You need a nanny. A long-term nanny. I don’t know. Just someone to be around her and just give her someone else.”

Briar was a single parent for a long time, as have I. I respect her opinion, and although it’s certainly something I’ve thought about, inviting someone into my home wasn’t really my idea of a good time.

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