Page 114 of Just One of the Groomsmen
Easton certainly did, and Shep and Ford would undoubtedly feel the same way about anything that might mess with the group dynamic.
In time they’d get used to it. Hopefully.
They’d have to, whether they liked it or not—now that Tucker had Addie, he didn’t plan on letting go.
She opened her mouth, and then she scrunched up her forehead. Which meant she was holding back instead of spitting it out, and trepidation and doubt crept in.
“What’s up? You’re starting to worry me.”
“That was one of the things I wanted to talk about, but I have news, actually,” she said. “It’s not bad news, exactly. I mean, it might be good. But there are bad aspects, I suppose, just like there are good ones. It doesn’t matter, though, because I’m rethinking everything again.”
“Okay, now you’ve gotta tell me.” He grabbed her hand and laced his fingers with hers, trying to brace himself, although without knowing why, he didn’t know how. “Spill.”
“I’ve got a possible job lead.” She swiped a section of her still-damp hair behind her ear.
“That’s great. And a huge relief. I thought you were gonna tell me you didn’t want to do this anymore.”
“I do want to. It’s just the job is…well, it’d be a sports therapy position with…the University of Alabama. Working with their football team. Can you imagine me having to cheer ‘Roll Tide’? It’s enough to make my stubborn side stand up and say hell no, but it’s one of the biggest sports organizations in the country, and the pay would be a lot more.”
His stomach sank, his relief doing a quick one-eighty spin.
For all his talk about Addie not caring about money, there it was.She wants more out of life than this tiny town. Than someone with a meager salary could give her.
ThanIcould provide her.
And it wasn’t like he could say,Who cares about a big bump in pay? Just live on hopes and dreams with me in my tiny-ass houseboat.
She tucked up her knees and looped her arms over them. “As I’m sure you know, considerin’ how you lived near there not all that long ago, Tuscaloosa is also two and a half hours away.”
He’d been so focused on the money angle that he hadn’t thought about it.
He’d finally returned to where he belonged, and she was thinking of leaving. Timing was such a bitch.
He’d be back here working on small cases, and she’d be working for one of the biggest football teams in the country.
Which also meant she’d be around football players day in and day out, guys who wouldn’t be the type to get easily intimidated and run. Unless it was running toward her, racing to see who could ask out the sexy new physical therapist first.
She’d be taping up their knee or helping them work their muscles, her hand on their leg…
“Apparently the thought of that makes you have murdery feelings?” she asked.
Yep, you touching other guys, other guys touching you. Murdery applies to both.
“I’m just processing.” Honestly, the players were a bit young—okay, they were practically kids, hardly competition.
The blood in his veins cooled for all of two seconds before he realized there’d be a lot of coaches and other staff members around her as well. Guys closer to her age, who pulled in impressive salaries, no doubt.
“Tucker, I really need you to say somethin’ right now.”
He shoved away his personal feelings and focused on how good this would be for her.
Ever since he could remember, she’d talked about working for a professional team, and she hated her job here. She dealt with it, and she’d continue to duck her head and bear it if she felt like she had to, but it’d grate on her more each day, until she was completely miserable—he had too much experience with what that was like, and he didn’t want that for her.
“You’d be crazy not to go for it.”
Addie bit at her thumbnail. “I know. Or anyway, I tell myself that. But then my grandma came over the other night and was talking about how nice it was to have me so close, and my family totally flipped when Alexandria moved so far away—do you remember how upset they were? They took her leaving personally, and considerin’ who I’d be working for, they’d take mineextrapersonally.”
Obviously she was attempting to make a joke, but there was too much truth in there for it to land.
