Just like that, the girls surrounded Juliette and introduced themselves.
“It’s so good to finally meet you,” Beth said. “I have everything under control with that bitch and asshole. I dug up some good dirt on them, and I’m tracking their phones, just waiting for the right moment to tell them what I know and scare the crap out of them. They won’t get away with messing with you!” Beth let out a vindictive laugh, and Juliette and the girls joined in.
“I like the way you think,” Juliette said with a smile.
The girls kept talking, and I couldn’t hear everything that was said, but I could see her start to relax.
I greeted the guys with handshakes and slaps on the back.
“I know that look. He’s a goner,” Taco said.
“Yep, he hasn’t taken his eyes off her,” Driftwood agreed.
“Can’t deny that. Juliette’s it for me.”
“Good for you, man. Best feeling ever.”
We caught up for a bit, quickly covering that all was good at work, and I filled them in on Kayla and Leo. Chief, Squirrel, and Moose shared stories about their kids. They sounded so happy and proud. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I wanted what these men had. I wanted a family with Juliette.
“Ready, Tiger?” Moose called out.
“Ready to whoop your ass!”
We debated how to split the teams. It would be uneven to do station vs station or guys vs girls. Just one more reason why I was ready for my friends to find girlfriends.
“Ass,” Cole said when I pointed that out. “I’m not settling with one girl forever so we can have even teams, or to give you a friend for Juliette. She can hang with these girls.”
Koren wrapped her arm through Juliette’s and agreed she should spend more time with them. Juliette tried to play it cool, but I know the joy that filled me was no match for hers.
At the girls’ insistence that they could beat us no matter what, we played boys vs girls.
Turns out that the girls were right. The girls were merciless, and we were suckers for them. They beat us 10 to 5.
Juliette was amazing. The girls were in the field first and Juliette was in right field. The ball went directly her way once. She shrieked and ducked, which somehow worked out when Smokey ran towards her braying and stopped short in front of her, and Juliette fell to the ground to pet him. In all that chaos, Taco was stopped on first by the charging donkey, and it looked like Juliette not only made a great play, but she won everyone over with her sweet reaction to the beloved Smokey. The smile on her face when she saw it work out is one I’ll always remember.
She looked panicked when it was her turn to kick, so I insisted on switching with Chief to be the pitcher. The guy was quiet but observant as hell and gave in with an appropriate amount of heckling. I made it impossible for her to kick the ball by throwing it and immediately running in to block her each time. She struck out within seconds without having any opportunity to kick. I got booed by the girls and cheered by the guys, and Juliette got the support of the girls who told her she was awesome and said I was a mean cheater.
She was at second for a couple of innings and blocked a few runners by standing directly in their path in front of the base and refusing to let them pass. While she distracted them, the other girls managed to get the ball to her base for the out without Juliette ever needing to touch the ball. When I was up and running towards her, she tried to block me too, but I kept running, grabbed her, and spun her around. When she kissed me and whispered “thank you” against my lips, it was more than worth getting out.
Now, we were sitting around the bleachers just hanging out. The game had finished a little while ago. Juliette lookedgenuinely happy. Her eyes sparkled as she talked and laughed with the girls.
The guys and I talked shop while the girls were doing their thing, but we all tuned into the girls as we sensed the mood change. Crash jumped to his feet when Coco put his head on Adeline’s lap.
“I’m fine, he’s not alerting,” she said calmly. Crash sat but watched them closely, even after Adeline reassured him again that the dog wasn’t alerting her to a seizure.
The girls continued talking quietly, and we continued watching them until Penelope eventually said, “Jeez, we’re all okay. We’re just talking here. If we need you, we’ll let you know.”
I caught Juliette’s eye and mouthed, “You good?”
She smiled and nodded.
I watched the rest of the guys check in with their women too. Ryan observed the interactions without showing any emotion. The man had a huge heart, but he hid it well.
“You got a woman you’re interested in?” Squirrel asked Ryan, obviously seeing through him as easily as I did.
“Eh, maybe. Juliette’s friend Nicky was supposed to come, but she had to work,” he said with a scowl.
“You think she shouldn’t work so she can play kickball with you?” Chief asked.