“I’m at the rock gym. Give me a few minutes to shower, and I’m on my way.”
He hit the locker room, showered, and then headed off to Knockers. The parking lot was packed, forcing him to park down the street and walk. He pushed through the front doors. The Timberline Mudbugs were playing on stage, and the place was full.
“Jesse!” a tiny voice called.
He turned and saw Daisy running toward him, her mother standing with Daniel in her arms a few feet away. “Hey, Daisy.”
Ellie smiled when she saw him. It was a genuine smile that reached her eyes, and it lit up something inside him.
He took Daisy’s hand, walked over to Ellie. “You here for the fundraiser?”
She nodded. “I’m waiting for a table. We might have to go because the kids are pretty hungry, and there’s a twenty-minute wait.”
At that moment, Rain walked up and handed him a menu. “Hey, Jesse, the Team’s back at the usual table. It looks like you’ve made a friend.”
“This is Daisy, Ellie Meeks’ little girl.”
“Hey, sweetie.”
“Can we get a couple of—I don’t know—high chairs or whatever?”
Rain nodded. “You bet.”
Jesse scooped Daisy up and headed toward the Team table. He glanced over at Ellie. “You coming?”
Everyone was here, several tables grouped together. The surprise on their faces when he walked up holding Daisy was priceless.
“Well, now I’ve seen everything,” Megs said.
Hawke and Taylor got to their feet and said hello to Ellie.
Lexi waved. “Hey, Ellie.”
Ellie said hello back, then explained for Jesse’s benefit. “We know each other from high school. They were all in the same class as Dan.”
“Oh. Right.” Because everyone knew everyone, except Jesse, who after almost three years was still sometimes called “the new guy.”
Rain walked up carrying two wooden high chairs. “Hey, Herrera, do you mind?”
“What?”
Jesse was more direct. “Move.”
People scooted around the table to make room for them. Megs moved to a different seat entirely, opening up the spot next to Hawke. Jesse helped Ellie arrange the high chairs so that the twins could sit between them and so that he could sit beside Hawke. Only after they sat did he realize the disadvantage of this arrangement: He wasn’t sitting next to Ellie.
Megs watched this with interest.
Jesse turned to her. “What?”
She got an innocent look on her face. “I just never thought I’d see you carrying a toddler. You must like her quite a lot—not the toddler, the mother.”
Jesse ignored that and hoped that Ellie hadn’t overheard. He hadn’t come here to talk with Megs anyway. He turned to Hawke. “Hell of a day yesterday.”
Hawke took a sip of scotch. “Yeah. You could say that.”
“Ellie took care of the Kirby boy in the ER.”
Hawke’s gaze shifted to Ellie. “Yeah?”