Page 45 of Rival Season
He begins loading the groceries onto the checkout counter, and I slide my phone out of my pocket so I can text Hazel.
Penn
Morning, Bubbles. Wanna hang out later?
I don’t mention Chadwick or what he said because I don’t want our first conversation after our kiss to be about that fool, so I’m straight up fishing right now.
My phone pings with a reply a minute later.
Bubbles
I’d love to, but I think I’m going to be stuck at Safe Harbor until really late.
That asshole wasn’t making it up. Quickly, I Google Safe Harbor—she’s mentioned it a few times before—and sure enough, on the front page of the website, there’s an urgent appeal for ‘fifteen to twenty able-bodied volunteers’ for a shift tonight starting at five p.m.
Poor Hazel must be so stressed.
“Hurry your ass up, Matthews,” Fisher says. “By the time we get home and unpack the food, we’re barely going to have time to eat before we gotta get to the practice facility.”
Our practice facility. Where my whole team will be reviewing footage until 4:30.
I stare at him for a moment. “Fisher, you absolute genius.”
“What the hell? Stop showering me with weird compliments and help me pack this shit.”
With a smile, I continue to let him pack the groceries alone and text Hazel back.
Penn
Nah, I’ll see you at five.
Bubbles
Penn, I told you, I’ll still be at work then.
Penn
Yeah, we’ll see you there!
Bubbles
We? Who’s we?
Penn
Me and twenty of my very able-bodied closest friends.
CHAPTER 16
HAZEL
Placingthe finishing touches on yet another Valentine’s Day box, I attach the delivery address with a sigh. One of Bertie’s playlists—mostly Ella Fitzgerald—plays softly through the speakers in the large room. My back is aching from standing on the cement floor for so long, but I’m sure we’re not even halfway done yet.
“How many boxes have we finished?”
Bertie looks up from the box she’s packing and grimaces. “We’ve finished twenty and we have one hundred to go.”
I nod, trying not to look as exhausted as I feel. We’ve been at this since ten this morning…so seven hours. If all our volunteers could have made it today, we would’ve been done already.
