“Well, she hates me. Sort of.” I grimaced. “Maybe.”
Remi might not have hated me anymore, but I wasn’t sure she really trusted me either.
“So she knows you?” he asked carefully.
Brooks lost his battle, leaning in to Smith as he burst out laughing. I glared, which made them both laugh harder. Mitch coughed, but he couldn’t hide his smile either.
The rookie’s face turned red. “Fuck, that’s not what I meant. I just ... I meant, you two have met and everything.”
“Yes,” I answered dryly. “And everything.” I pulled the hat off my head and ran a hand through my hair. “Her life is complicated. She’s a single mom. Always working, taking care of people. Her friend, uh, she said that meeting her standards would be like climbing Mount Everest.”
All of them made an “oh” sound.
Brooks straightened. “Look, Archer, you gotta be straight with women like that. Single moms don’t fuck around with liars or playboys.”
“I know, I’m trying. I’m not either one of those things.”
“Yeah, but you’re not a saint either,” Smith said.
Tell someone.
I pushed my tongue into the side of my cheek. “Yeah, I know. I met her doing my community service. Well. Met her a second time. The first time was ... complicated.”
Williams’s eyes widened. “What does she do?”
I gave him a dry look. “She runs the animal shelter.”
“Oh.”
Brooks smiled. “Oh shit, for real? I’ve been thinking about getting a dog. They got any cute ones?”
“Lots of them. I’m not there when people come in for adoptions. She doesn’t want it to become a circus with me there the whole time.”
They all nodded.
“So this is, like, important to her.”
I looked over at Williams. “Yeah.”
“Have you asked her out yet?”
“No,” I said with a roll of my shoulders. “Like I said, it’s complicated.”
“Dude.” Smith smacked my chest. “You’re a quarterback for a professional football team. That uncomplicates a lot.”
“I think my résumé is a strike against me, unfortunately.”
“You gotta play it smooth,” Brooks said. “Under the radar. You don’t want to scare her off.”
“Right.”
Brooks nodded. “But let her know you’re interested. Not, like, too much. Just enough.”
“Okay. Fuck. How do you know if it’s too much?”
“You know,” they replied in unison.
Williams shrugged. “I think you should ignore her about coming in during adoption hours.”