Page 115 of Finding the Forward: Part One
“I’ve got fried chicken, biscuits, potato salad with and without egg, and macaroni salad. I also brought dessert,” I told them as I continued taking things out.
“You made macaroni salad and two kinds of potato salad?” AJ’s dark eyebrows rose.
“Grif said you didn’t like potato salad.” I had trouble getting off the lid. My body wasn’t having a good day today. Probably because I’d pushed myself.
“I’ve got it.” Grif planted a kiss on my cheek. “That fried chicken smellsdelicious.We have some baked ziti, a green salad, garlic bread, and wine.”
“I’m eating this all by myself.” Dean held the bread to his chest.
Jonas started pouring wine. “Let’s eat?”
AJ eyed my crutch. “What happened? You got injured playing, and they cut you, so you went back to university? As far as I knew, no one suffered severe injuries in the explosion.”
“In May I had a stroke. I never went pro. Instead, I started a PhD program.” I sat down next to Dean, not sure how I should handle being affectionate with Grif around AJ.
“Does the bride still talk to you, or was she pissed about her wedding being ruined?” AJ took a sip of wine, casually crossing one leg over his knee, back to the picnic table.
Grif sat down next to AJ and put an arm around his shoulders. “AJ. Please?”
“It’s a legitimate question.” He turned and put food on his plate.
“She was pissed at our teammate, not me. She recommended where to get the goats. While I didn’t intend to get my old coach fired, I’m not sorry for it. I shouldn’t have to put up with comments like that, even if I’m an alpha female. I didn’t like how he’d touch me.” Putting a scoop of baked ziti on my plate, I then added some green salad.
His actions weren’t sexual but were still creepy and unnecessary.
“I’ll kill him, Kitten,” Grif growled.
“Coach is now in jail. Him being fired caused an investigation. While I was the only alpha female on the team, I wasn’t the only person he was like that with throughout the years. He just hid it well.” I felt bad for his family. His daughters were grown, but his wife was always nice to us.
Grif hugged me. “Assholes. They can’t hurt you anymore.”
“I know.” I pressed my face to him. With a sigh, I let go and turned to AJ. “The animals are doing well? The pictures Jonasshowed me from when you were there for gratitude day were adorable.”
“My nieces love those cows.” AJ rolled his eyes. “They areso dumb.One of them keeps getting stuck in the dog door. They’re in the petting zoo by day and sleep in the house at night. Meanwhile, the goats are escape artists. The bunnies think they’re chickens.”
The image made me chuckle.
“I’m so glad they’re doing well. If we weren’t going away for Christmas, I’d get a tree from her farm. I’ve always wanted a real tree. Christmas wasn’t much of a thing at my house growing up.” I took a bite of baked ziti, the sauce exploding across my tongue. “Who made this? It’s so good.”
“Me.” Dean spooned someontohis bread.
“This macaroni salad is excellent. I’m so happy you don’t put raisins in it,” AJ grimaced. “I also appreciate the level of petty that is sending cows to my office. You know where her farm is and you know what I meant.”
“It was funny.” I grinned. “They’re baby mini cows. It’s not like I had 1,200-pound steers sent to you. Um, I know I should’ve sent adult cows, but it’s what I could afford. They’re so cute.” They’d taken over the farm’s social media.
Jonas pointed to the potato salad and nodded, mouth full, a drumstick in his hand.
My shoulders slumped as I met AJ’s gaze. “I felt dreadful about letting someone down.”
“I know. Hey, is your little brother okay? The one they used the money for?” AJ added some more macaroni salad to his plate. “I have a little brother, too. He’s at National Tech.”
“Oh, my big brother went there for engineering school. My little brother’s fine. I just wish they would’ve told me. Actually, AJ, I should thank you. The omegas that stole the bunnies looked me up and then hired me for an upcoming project.” Theirwebsite was cute. I was excited to book some modeling work because my savings were sad.
AJ chuckled. “Does it involve llamas?”
“I don’t know. It’s a fashion photo shoot.” I laughed. Llamas?
“They’re always doing weird shoots with animals. Um, so, Grif says you like to watch fútbol?” He had some chicken and nodded.
