Below the Belt(54)

“Well, duh.”

“Then we’re good.”

“I’m surrounded by children. Children who can’t eat properly without Mommy or Daddy forcing vegetables down their throats.”

“We could put olives on the pizza,” Sweeney suggested. “I might have a jar of olives somewhere in my pantry.”

Brad let his head fall into his hands as the other two laughed. But he was fighting back a smile himself as they pulled out of the back gate and headed toward Sweeney’s house.





CHAPTER


16


“So, in closing,” Marianne said, lifting the last sheet of her poster board back to the chair she’d set up as a makeshift easel, “if you feel any of these symptoms, stop what you’re doing and immediately come to me. I’ll be able to work with you and determine whether a headache is just a headache, or the start of something more serious. Heatstroke is no joke.”

She grinned when a few of them groaned good-naturedly at her lame rhyme. They’d really love the fact that the pamphlets she’d created during her break had “Heatstroke Is No Joke” as the title. A pamphlet could be funny and informative at the same time.

“I’m not a poet. But I’m here to support you all, and I’m not going to let you down. I’m doing my best, so give me some help and don’t make me look bad in front of the boss.” She nodded to Coach Willis, who stood off to the side. “There are going to be some heatstroke pamphlets sitting on the stool outside my office. I say this because I know you will all be dying to get one. You love my pamphlets. Don’t lie.”

A Marine in the back made a gagging motion. She ignored that.

With a sigh, she added, “Anyone who can recite the preventative measures outlined in the pamphlet to me tomorrow morning gets a cookie.”

There was enthusiastic cheering at that.

Sometimes, you just had to bribe a guy.

“Thanks, Coach. I’ll get out of your way.”

She started to pick up the poster boards, then a few of them scattered. She bent to pick them up, and the nearest Marine also bent over to grab a few. It was Higgs, and he waited until she was ready to carry the ones he’d picked up, then handed them over with a wink.

That was no ordinary flirtatious wink. That was I know about you and my roommate, and it’s cool code.

Or it was I’m being a good guy and helping you out code and she was being a freak.

“Higgs,” Coach Willis barked. “Help Cook carry those posters to the training room, then get your ass back here. We’ve got work to do that doesn’t involve pop quizzes and cookies.”

Marianne ignored the sarcasm. Coach Ace had seemed okay with it, but the other two coaches acted like it was a waste of time. Such was her life. People either thought she was a waste of oxygen and athletic funds, or that the fate of the entire world depended on her fixing a broken leg with Scotch tape and toilet paper during halftime. There was no middle ground.

Higgs gathered the last of her poster boards, then waited for her to pick up her tote bag.

“Nice presentation.” Higgs looked down at the boards. “I haven’t seen these things since I did my last science project in high school.”

“I’d have had something better, but it was sort of last-minute.” She had a gorgeous PowerPoint presentation—animated with GIFs, even—that she’d used in one of her final projects in college. But where the hell she was going to project that in the dim gym, she’d never know. So she’d resorted to scurrying over to the exchange, begging the Marine she’d recognized in the parking lot to help her purchase the boards and Sharpies since she didn’t have a military ID, and then hurrying back to scribble down the bullet points. Nikki, though, had been super helpful when she’d come in half an hour ago. The presentation wouldn’t have been complete without those little flower doodles in the corners.

Nothing said Please take me seriously quite like flower vine doodles.

“I just wanted to say,” Higgs started as he followed her into the room, “that Sweeney and I know about you and Costa. But we’re not saying anything. Your business is your business.”

She froze, then turned to look at him. “You know . . . what?” How much did they know?

“That you guys are . . .” He held up his hands, as if embarrassed that she was making him say it. “I don’t know . . . together. An item. A thing. Dating.”

“He told you this?” That surprised her. For all that Brad was now more open and relaxed with her, he didn’t seem to have reached that same level with his teammates.

“He told me nothing. But I figured it out. I’m a quick study.” He winked again, then turned and almost ran into a woman. “Whoa, sorry, ma’am.”

“That’s okay.” She took a step back quickly out of his steadying grip and tugged on the jacket of her suit to straighten it. “No harm done.”

“Later, Cook. Ma’am,” he said, hand to his forehead like he was pulling at a hat. Sarcastic cutie.

She gave him a dry smile, and Marianne waved before sliding the poster boards behind a file cabinet to keep them out of the way, then went to start filling the jugs. Levi wasn’t coming in, and Nikki had jumped on the chance to help a few Marines stretch, so she was SOL on grunt work. But first, she had to deal with the suit.