「 okiewrites 」

Cato had met William while attending university in Texas after he served his 4 years in the Marines. The two had become fast friends and Cato was even William’s best-man at his wedding. Only a few years after William had married Cato was named Godfather to a precious little girl named Georgia. The last time that Cato had seen Georgia she had excitedly explained to him, in the best way a first grader could, how her Daddy was going to come visit her in school for career day. Unfortunately, when the time came for William to show up for career day he had managed to come down with a nasty cough and a fever to go along with it. This had prompted him to request that Cato step in for him. Thankfully, Georgia was thrilled either way. 

As he arrived at the door of the classroom the girl darted through the crowd of other first graders and jumped up for a hug which he quickly bent down to catch her. “Georgie!” He exclaimed and hugged the girl. He set her back down as the teacher approached, questioning him on which activity he was there to partake in. “William couldn’t make it,” Cato explained, “Came down with a real nasty cough. He sent me instead,” he continued with a small smile. “He said you wouldn’t mind and sent an email or something?” Cato wasn’t sure that William had really sent anything, but was only reiterating what he had been told previously. “Cato Calhoun,” he said then and stuck his hand out, “Sorry, I - I guess I could’ve started with that. I’m Georgie’s Godfather.” 

Bethany nodded as the man explained the situation, her eyes widening slightly at the mention of an email. “Oh, an email. I’m sure he did, I’ve just been so caught up today that I haven’t had a chance to check,” she explained with a nod, her smile widening. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Calhoun,” she said as she took his hand and shook it. “Bethany McCormack.”  She lingered a beat longer than usual as she took in the man’s gaze, an unfamiliar feeling in her stomach that could only be likened to that of butterflies. “Class,” Bethany said as she quickly let go of the man’s hand, stepping back and gesturing to the room full of students. “This is Georgia’s godfather, Mr. Calhoun.” A chorus of “Welcome to our classroom, Mr. Calhoun,” echoed out from the students before Bethany tucked her hands behind her back and gestured with a nod of her head toward the board at the front of the classroom. “The floor is yours.” 

“The guys were right about you, you are no fun,” Dominic tutted and sighed heavily as if this was an issue to be dealt with. It was interesting to look at the whole image when it came to Quinn and Dominic. Dominic was the eldest of three boys. The middle child, Dayton Knight, was a motorsport photographer and videographer. While Dayton had been involved in other genres of photography his experience with motorsports ran deep. In fact, Dayton worked very closely with Dominic and the rest of the team for media reasons. However, Dayton never received the backlash that Dominic did from Quinn which he would be quick to mention. “Why don’t you bully Dayton like this?” He inquired with a heavy sigh as if her words were stinging deeply. “I mean, really. We can make each other look good,” Dominic continued. “What the hell does Dayton do except fly his little drone around?” Of course, Dominic knew that Dayton actually did quite a bit of work and, much like himself, was an adrenaline junkie of a different kind… but as older brother he had to rip on him. “Don’t tell me,” Dominic said dramatically. “You two are an item and that’s why you’re so nice to him.”

“I’m plenty of fun,” she grumbled, more to herself than to him. She didn’t really believe that anyone thought that about her, but she wasn’t going to let Dominic thing for one second he could get away with saying it and not have some push back. “Because Dayton’s not a fucking prick like you.” Quinn rolled her eyes, her lip curling upward in a slight grin. She had always secretly hoped that Dayton’s friendship with her would get under Dom’s skin. Not that it was reason enough to be his friend, she would’ve done that regardless of the outcome. “There’s not enough room for anyone on this team to be seeing each other with your massive ego. Even if we were an item, it’s unbecoming of you to be so jealous, Dommy.” Quinn’s tongue darted over her lips as she raked her hand through her hair. “But no, we’re not together, so you can keep pining for me without repercussion.” 

Brooklyn allowed herself to be in a relationship with Tate in high school because she was told that was the right thing to do. They were both stars of their sports. He took the football field by storm and Brooklyn led the cheerleading team in all of their supporting rallies on the side of the field and several championships in her time as head cheerleader. She had hardened her own heart from a young age. It hadn’t ever mattered how she felt, no, she just knew that this was a role she was supposed to play. Brooklyn hadn’t blinked twice as she watch Tate deal with losing in a way that would have made anyone flinch. She just knew that she had to be there for him. And she did love him, it just hadn’t ever felt like real love until she grew up and left high school. All the loves to follow Tate Medina never compared. Brooklyn grew to allow herself to succumb to worse men in life as she grew older, meaningless sex becoming an outlet to numb herself from the feelings that threatened to show themselves. The feelings that she was getting as she laced her hands with Tate, the feelings that were bubbling as his lips brushed against the back of her hand. Brooklyn chewed on the corner of her lips, blue eyes lingering on the way his thumb rubbed where his lips had just been. “Shit,” she breathed the word to herself as she dragged her eyes back up to meet his own. “How do you always know the right thing to say?”

Tate couldn’t help but chuckle softly at her question, shaking his head slightly. “I don’t really ever know what the hell to say,” he admitted with a slight shrug. Shifting slightly, Tate didn’t let go of her hand as he rested his elbow on the console in the middle of the truck. Looking her straight in the eyes like this was even more intense for him than it’d been a moment ago. Somehow, Tate felt sixteen again, like the entire world was out there waiting for him to make something of himself. The fact that he was much older didn’t seem to matter, and suddenly, Tate wondered if this was the universe’s way of giving him a second chance to right what was possibly the biggest wrong he’d ever made. His gaze lowered to Brooklyn’s lips before he lifted it to her own again. “I never have when it comes to you, I just can’t help but think that you might need to hear exactly what I do.” Tate was hovering closer to her now than he’d just been, his free hand moving up to cup her jaw while the other stayed tucked in hers.

Kit and Harper had been together for a few months now. How he’d gone this long without letting it slip to her brother was truly a miracle, and frankly, he didn’t know how he’d managed it. She’d just arrived in Texas again, the two of them getting to spend a little bit of time together before they slipped back into long distance mode. Lowering her bag to the floor just inside the door, Kit walked over to the kitchen and rested his hands on the countertop. “Every time I see you standin’ in this living room, I start thinkin’ about how much I could get used to that view,” he admitted as a grin spread over his face, turning his gaze to her slowly.

Hunter took a long, last drag of the cigarette in his hand, looking down at it carefully as he waited for the blonde to approach. Letting out his breath slowly, he flung the butt to the ground and dragged his foot in a circle over it to put it out completely. “Coach stopped by ‘bout an hour ago,” he said as he looked up to meet her gaze. Hunter didn’t despise Tate Medina, he just was protective over Brooklyn the same way he’d be over any of his girls. The fact that a guy like Tate had everything handed to him his entire life only made Hunter wary of the guy, not jealous. As much as he’d loved sleeping with Brooklyn and just about all of his bartenders, he was happy with his girl and he knew by the way Tate had been coming around that something was heating up between him and Brooklyn. The guy always tried to seem nonchalant when Hunter told him that Brooklyn wasn’t working, but Hunter could see the disappointment in his eyes every time. “I let him know you’d be working tonight, though. The way he buys a round for everyone? That guy’s good for business.” He cleared his throat and looked Brooklyn over slowly out of habit, lips losing their slight upward tilt. “He’s good for you, right?”

“I’m glad to hear you say that,” his cheeks were pushed up under her hand by the growing smile on his lips. He couldn’t believe that Lou was his girlfriend. After he was left at the alter, Nick was certain that he would never find love once again. “Take me out? But it’s you we are celebrating. But, alright, if you hate my cookin’ that much.” The doctor was only teasing her, knowing full and well that simply wasn’t possible. “Alright fine, we can go out. Your choice though,” he grinned as her nose rubbed against his own, arms sliding around her waist once more, “Mm, I’m sure glad you on board with the at home celebrations as well,” he teased her, “I’d be quite disappointed if you weren’t.”

At times, Lou had been amazed at how quickly the two of them fell into this relationship. Moments like this had her looking back at their entire friendship, wondering how on earth they’d managed to keep themselves out of it. The pair that had chosen friendship back in school was clearly mistaken, and Lou was so glad that Nick was by her side now. “You know I don’t hate your cookin’, Nicholas,” she replied. “I love it almost as much as I love you.” Lou shifted her weight slightly, resting in his arm as she moved her lips to his earlobe and whispered against it. “If you thought there was any chance I’d keep my hands off you tonight, you’re sorely mistaken.” 

Career Day was always one of the most stressful days for Bethany, but she adored it more than any other day of the school year. Behind the scenes, it was chaos: making sure her classroom looked spotless but still fun and authentic, ensuring her students were on their best behavior, coordinating the arrival of parents and using everyone’s time to the best of her ability. She knew it was hard on the parents. No one wanted to waste half their day sitting in a classroom where the other parents talked about their jobs and everyone tried to sound as impressive as possible. She’d started staggering their arrivals a few years back, and now Bethany had a foolproof system.

The mother talking about her career as an interior decorator was a complete hit, which Bethany had expected. She had scheduled a short break between this one and the next parent, so Bethany had her students stand up and have a dance party. It was short, but she knew it could make a huge impact on the way they behaved throughout the morning. The classroom door was open so the next parent could come right in when they arrived, and Bethany was never one to miss a good dance party. In the heat of her dancing, she almost missed a student call out “Uncle Cato!” Turning to the door, Bethany cleared her throat and smoothed her hands over her skirt. “Hi,” she said, glancing down at the student who came rushing over to hug the man in front of her. “Are you here for the dance party or is someone skipping out on the rest of career day?” 

brady knew he probably needed to get out of here at some point and take some time for himself but he just had worked so hard and he didn’t want anything to happen while he was going. he knew he was probably just stressing himself out though. “when i can, i like getting out and enjoying the outdoors. i like camping, hiking, and swimming. what about you? what do you like to do?”

“I love hiking,” she said with a smile. Millie took a bite and chewed slowly, humming softly. Once she swallowed the bite of food, she folded her hands in her lap. “Okay, don’t laugh,” she said with a smile, waggling her finger at him. “I’m a pageant coach.” 

Maggie’s ex-boyfriend didn’t have siblings. She hadn’t ever really thought about it while they were dating, but now that she was dating Dakota, it was like an entirely new world had opened up where she had this built-in friend who didn’t constantly ask her about her boyfriend. Not that her friends bothered her when they did that, it was just nice to spend time with someone who knew Kota better than she did. Lifting the flowers from the stall’s bin in front of her, Maggie took a whiff of them and looked up at Brooklyn. “Wouldn’t these look gorgeous in Kota’s kitchen? I’m thinkin’ they’d be a beautiful centerpiece on the counter for when your mama comes over for dinner this week.”