Page 59 of After the Snap

I write his name beside the event, painfully aware of him watching my hand move across the page. “Done.”

“Thanks, Pea.” Easton makes a strangled sound beside me as I groan loudly.

Jubal laughs, his head tipped back slightly while Easton stares at him like he’s discovered something deeply suspicious.

“There it is,” Tuck says, pointing at Jubal.

“What?”

“That smile. Been here a week and I haven’t seen that one yet.”

Jubal’s gaze flicks toward me for barely a second before he looks back at Tuck. “Maybe you’re not as funny as you think you are.”

Tuck looks at me for support, but I’m still caught on the glance Jubal gave me. It was quick enough that no one else should’ve noticed, except Tuck’s comment has me wondering what Jubal’s face looked like before I turned around and what it looks like when I’m not paying attention.

Easton bumps his knee against mine beneath the table. “You still have work to do.”

I drag my attention away from Jubal and look at the two empty spaces beside the youth clinic. “You people survived an alarming number of years without me.”

“Debatable.” Easton taps one of the blank lines. “Who are you putting there?”

“I’m not putting anyone anywhere. People are volunteering.”

“Fine. Who are you aggressively encouraging to volunteer?”

“I’m not in charge.”

“You keep saying that,” Whit calls from the other end of the table.

“Because none of you are listening.”

Whit finally looks up from Archer’s laptop, entirely unbothered. “We’re listening. We just disagree.”

I open my mouth to remind him that, five minutes ago, I didn’t even know how to access their shared calendar, but I’m already reaching for it again when Jubal reaches for the event sheet at the same time. His fingers slide over mine before he takes the sheet, leaving my hand against the table as heat spreads over the backs of my fingers. I curl them into my palm while Jubal leans over the sheet, the chain at his throat visible above the collar of his shirt. Apparently, wondering what that thin strip of metal would feel like against my skin once today wasn’t enough.

He scans the remaining openings before glancing toward Archer’s laptop, but he doesn’t interrupt whatever Archer is showing Whit or try to take over. He stays beside the table while Easton argues about the schedule and Tuck complains about the changes I already made to his, fitting into the chaos around him without needing to control any of it.

The longer he sits here, the harder it becomes to separate the man I met in Houston from the quarterback everyone here already trusts. I expected one of them to eventually replace the other, but instead, I keep finding the same man in both.

“Callie.”

I blink and find Whit holding another laminated sheet toward me. “What is that?”

“Next month.”

I laugh because he cannot possibly be serious, but he doesn’t lower it. “No. I’m not taking this over permanently.”

My protest would probably carry more weight if I weren’t already looking at the sheet. The first schedule is nearly finished, and my folder is still tucked beneath my arm from the conversation that brought me into the building. I could hand Whit everything back and leave exactly as I planned. Instead, I’m wondering whether next month is as much of a disaster as this one.

Whit gives the sheet a small shake, and I take it before I can examine that too closely. “Next month is the last one I’m doing.”

“Absolutely.”

His wink tells me exactly how seriously he takes that, and I’m still trying not to smile when Easton leans over my shoulder.

“Any bowling?”

I cover the sheet before he can touch it. “You aren’t signing up for anything until I check your calendar.”