“Mav already has one,” she said, not taking the bait.
“I know how much you love running.”
“Adore it. My favorite thing ever.” Sutton gagged. “I like it as much as you like babies.”
Morgan cracked up. “I like Jason.”
“He doesn’t count. You have to love him.”
“Fair.”
“You both are ridiculous,” I said with a laugh.
“Truth,” Morgan said. “I don’t like babies. Sutton hates running. What about you?”
“Heights. I’ve never liked them, but a couple of years ago, I…” I trailed off. What the hell had I been about to say? I couldn’t tell them that story. “I don’t know. They just freak me out.”
“Understandable,” Sutton said.
“I don’t mind heights. It’s the falling that would bother me,” Morgan said.
Sutton laughed and pushed Morgan. “They go hand in hand!”
“Yeah, they do,” I said softly.
I was glad when they changed the subject.
David came and sat down on our blanket. He was dressed comfortably, like the rest of us, in khakis and a cerulean polo. He and Morgan seemed to hit it off right away. I found that most people got along with Morgan if they had a real personality and didn’t threaten her family. She would cut you faster than you could blink if you did anything to her family. But seeing her with David made it very obvious that they could work together well.
“And you work for the company, too?” he asked.
I nodded. “I do. I’m head of HR.”
“Wonderful to meet you. Did you grow up here as well?”
“No, I’m the only transplant. I moved here from Ohio.”
“That must have been a big change.”
“It was,” I agreed. “I would assume as big as coming from northern California.”
He laughed easily. “Yes. Though you have snow.”
“True. It doesn’t snow that much here.”
Morgan rolled her eyes. “It snows enough for me.”
“I’m glad I never have to shovel another driveway in my life.”
“I could see that,” David said. “Things seem…slower here. California is always go, go, go. Do you love it?”
“Well, I would say that Wright is still go, go, go,” I told him. “But Lubbock is definitely a slower pace. It has that nice small-town vibe in a bigger city.”
“I’ve noticed that. I like it so far. Different than I expected.” His eyes turned to Sutton. “And you don’t work for the company, right?”
“I’m the only one,” she said, though her eyes were glued to Jason where he played with Bethany and Lilyanne.
“He’s adorable. Yours right?”
She nodded. “He looks just like his dad though. I had to carry him for nine months, and he came out looking like someone else. Not exactly fair.”
David laughed boisterously. It was the first completely genuine look I’d seen on his face. I could see why everyone liked him.
I turned to Austin and found him joking around with Patrick. Their bromance was pretty ridiculous, but at the same time, I enjoyed it. I liked that Austin wasn’t a loner. I liked everything about this situation right now.
I had just about had as much heat as I could handle before the Wright barbeque this afternoon. I turned to tell Austin that maybe we should head out when Sutton jumped to her feet. Someone was breathlessly screaming her name.
My eyes shot to a girl wearing a marathon number and flagging as she approached Sutton.
“Annie,” Sutton said, “what’s going on with you?”
“Mav,” Annie got out. “Mav…Mav, he collapsed.”
“What?” she gasped. Her body was so still. As if she couldn’t process what had just been said. “Is he okay? Where is he?”
“About a mile back. They were going to send an EMT, but I just took off to come get you. They’re taking him to the hospital. I don’t know what’s wrong. We had almost made it all the way. One minute, we were joking about hugging you with how sweaty we were. The next, he was on the ground. You…you need to get to the hospital right away.”
My jaw dropped open at her words. Maverick had collapsed while running, and they had to rush him to the hospital. That wasn’t normal. And Sutton was as white as a ghost.
“We’ll take care of Jason,” Kimber said at once, shuffling him in with her kids.
“Thank you,” Sutton gasped out before dashing from the parade route without another word.
Morgan chased after her.
I offered her friend Annie a bottle of water. She gratefully took it in her shaky hands and downed it.