Page 11

Chapter 10

Sprinkles

Sydney

I bend down and swipe my lips across Lily’s head, asking, “Not hungry?”

“Not so much now,” she says as I look at Mom and mouth “ Fever .”

“You know what?” I say, sitting beside her on a stool. “I’m super tired after school and usually rest for a few minutes at my place before I come back down here.” I fake a giant yawn. “You wanna come up, and you and I can snuggle on the couch and watch some TV?”

“I never bended to your place, my Syd.” She yawns for real, the poor dear.

I scoop her up and set her on my hip. “Lily Boone, I think your pup weighs more than you do.”

“Mommy says I’ll grow big someday.”

“You surely will,” I assure her.

“You two head up to relax a bit after your busy day,” Mom says and gives me a wink.

“We are, Ms. Molly. You come, too?” she asks.

“I’ll come up a bit later and see how you two are doing.” Mom kisses her forehead—her own internal thermometer—then sucks in a breath through her teeth. “I’m going to go to the store and grab a few things first, though, okay?”

“You could have Dad deliver,” I say, not wanting to wait. “I need one of those forehead thermometers.”

“You got it, sweetheart,” Mom says as Lily and I make our way through the back.

“Your mommy calls you sweetheart like my mommy calls me little flower?”

“She does,” I say, unlocking the door to enter the hallway.

Walking up the stairs, she holds tighter.

At the top of the stairs, I toe off my sneakers and pull her cute little boots off, one then the other.

“You got a bed, my Syd?”

“I do,” I answer, punching in my code—1212—and opening the door, leaving both our footwear outside.

“You got a TV in your room to watch movies?”

“I do, but I haven’t ever watched a movie in there, so that would be both of our very first times.”

“Cool.”

She’s so warm. I really hope Dad hurries , I think.

“You got pink on your stove?”

“Above it?” I ask. “The backsplash?”

“It’s so pretty. Gold, too, like the Knights, right?”

“Just like the Knights, Miss Lily.”

“I so, so cold, my Syd.”

I rub my hand up and down her back. “Then let’s get you all tucked in and warm so we can pick out a movie.”

“I see the rest later?”

“Of course, anytime you want. This is a very special girl boss hideout,” I tell her as I take the stairs up to my room.

“Does Daddy get to come here?”

“Of course, but it’s just more special for girls.”

“Daddys make things special for the girl bossesses.”

“They sure do.” I pull back the duvet and set her in the middle of the bed.

“I so co-co-cold,” she whimpers.

“Well, you won’t be for long,” I climb in, wrap her up in my arm, and pull the down comforter up around us.

“I don’t think I feel good. I think I miss my mommy.”

“I know you do.”

She shakes in my arms, lower lip quivering. “I gotta say prayers for her ’case I fall asleep.”

“All right,” I say then realize I don’t have my phone with me. “I promise to wake you up when I talk to your daddy and we make a plan for tonight.”

“I wanna stay with you, my Syd.”

I pull her even tighter. “We will have to ask your dad about that, but I would love to have my very first sleepover with you.”

“You’re my best friend.” She shivers.

“Oh, Lily girl, you’re mine, too.”

I hold her little hands that are like furnaces as she rubs her little feet on my leg, like she’s kneading me.

Within minutes, she’s asleep, and a few moments later, her little palms are cooler and she’s sweating.

I look up and see Dad walking into my room with a bag, and I whisper, “Her fever broke.”

“Think you should head down and let Boone know that. Heads-up, Lindsey’s parents are here, demanding to see Lily.”

I slide out of bed, pushing my sleeves up. “Over my dead body are they waking this sick little girl up.”

Mom walks into the room. “You and Dad go down. I’ll watch her sleep.”

I walk into the storefront of the shop and look at Beau. “Hey, how is she today?”

“No change,” he says, looking at me as if he’s curious about something.

I look at the couple standing in my shop with pinched faces. “Welcome to Sugar Rush, what can I get for you?”

“Our granddaughter, please.”

I look at Beau. “Are these Lindsey’s folks?”

He nods once, and I look back to them. “We’re praying for your daughter’s quick and complete healing, Mr. and Mrs. Bellemont.”

“That’s lovely. We’re here to see our granddaughter.”

“I apologize, but Lily’s got a fever and is asleep right now.” I look at Beau. “Not sure she should go back to the Hart house with Riley there.”

“All right then, I can?—”

“We’ll make it work here.” I look back at the Bellemonts. “I’m sure she’ll be feeling better in a day or so. The stomach bug and flu are both making their way around the school.”

“Kids get sick, Miss …” Lindsey’s mom stops and looks me up and down as if she’s a judge at the state fair looking over a damn goat.

“It’s Sydney.” I smile sweetly. “I know kids get sick, but neither you all or Beau would want to chance catching anything and then spreading it to Lindsey while she’s healing, I’m sure.”

“And what makes you think you are qualified to make decisions for our granddaughter?” she snaps.

“I’m not trying to upset you, Mrs. Bellemont; I’m trying to offer help. As far as my qualifications go, I work with children and?—”

“You feed them food that will make them unhealthy and obese?” she says, mouth filled with disgust.

Beau stands and starts to step toward me. “That’s enough. You will not speak to her?—”

I cut him off by holding my hand out, not wanting him to come any closer than he already is. “I do own Sugar Rush, and I’m also an elementary school teacher at the school Lily attends. My mother, who is sitting with Lily as we speak, is a nurse practitioner with licenses in New York State.” I walk toward the door. “Now, you are welcome to check in as much as you want with Beau, but I will not be waking Lily up when she needs her sleep to get to feeling better so when her mother wakes up, she can see her.”

“She and her mother will be returning to Georgia with her family as soon as a judge decides that is so.”

“Lindsey is an adult; her moving is her decision. But no judge is going to take a daughter away from a father who adores her.”

“No grandchild of mine will be raised by an athlete who rotates women like their pigs on a barbeque.”

“I’m sure there was some dig intended to bruise my self-esteem, but a woman raised by parents like mine, like Beau, will raise Lily with confidence and awareness of their value, and will never flinch at such childish antics.” I hold the door open. “Now, good day.”

“You’re with him.” She makes a disgusted face as she looks me over, and before I have a chance to reply, she spits, “He will use you up and spit you out when he gets what he wants.”

Straightening my spine, I ask, “And what is it that he wants that I haven’t already given him?”

“Let’s go, Madeline,” the older man finally says, and they exit.

I turn and look at Beau, who’s wearing a shit-ass grin. “They’re horrible people.”

His grin turns into a megawatt smile, and he nods.

Odd.

I look at my father, who’s looking down, shaking his head. “I wasn’t as bad as she was, Dad. I know I could have?—”

“No, you did good, sweetheart.” Dad chuckles. “I’m going to let you two discuss what just went down and go see if your mother needs anything.”

“Okay …?”

As soon as I hear the back hallway door shut, I turn and look at Beau, who’s still smiling like the Cheshire cat.

I gasp. “Did I just make things more difficult for you?” I place my hand over my mouth. “Oh, my good Lord, I am so sorry.”

“Nothing about what just went down made anything harder for me. In fact, I think it did quite the opposite.” He laughs.

“What is that even supposed to mean?”

“You sure you don’t mind if Lily and I stay here for the night?”

“It would be much smarter for you to stay away from her so that you can continue being there for Lindsey and stay healthy for practice, and you do have playoffs coming up.”

“And what about your health? You’re not worried about getting sick?”

“I work in an elementary school where kids eat boogers and don’t wash their hands without being told after they pee—or worse. My immune system is like cockroaches. I’ll be fine, and so will Lily. I think this is a three-day thing. And who knows? She could have had it yesterday—she was quiet, but I assumed it was due to her worrying about her mom.”

His grin just grows.

“Why are you smiling so big?”

“Do you even realize what you just did?”

“What I just did?”

“You just claimed us.”

“I did not do any such thing. I may have overstepped when it came to Lily, but I will not apologize for that. Those people, that woman, is maddening.” I head back around the counter to clean up a little bit and also put some distance between the growing intensity of what just went down, because, yeah, I can see how it may appear that I did, in fact, do so.

Wiping some flour and crumbs off the countertop and into my hand, I scowl down at the mess, and he laughs as he moves toward me.

“You claimed her, Cupcake, and she’s mine. So you bet your sweet ass I’m claiming you.”

“That’s not how it works!” I throw my hands in the air, accidentally tossing flour into the air.

“Sure as fuck is.” He grabs a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting from the display case and heads to the door. “Tap those little paws of yours all you want; it’s your goddammed fault.”

I look down and realize I’m doing that anxiety-tapping of the foot thing I thought I outgrew. “I … I … I?—”

He’s already at the door, opening it and causing the bells to jingle. He looks over his shoulder and chuckles. “Throw some sprinkles on it and call it good, Sydney Sparks. You. Are. Now. Mine.” He steps out, stops, then turns back around and … taps a fist to his chest? “Officially.”

“Boone, you have lost your damn mind.”

“Take care of our girl, Cupcake.”

I just stand there, jaw dusting the ground, watching Beau Boone, number 21 of the New York Knights, step into an SUV that most people have to climb into, shut the door, blow me a kiss, and then pull away from the curb.

I’m not sure how long I stand there looking at the spot Boone just left empty, trying to fight a smile, but in a snap, I’m fighting tears.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” Mom asks, and I turn, and yep, the dam breaks.

“I think I did something bad.”

“Dad told me what happened, and you didn’t do a thing wrong.”

“Mom, but I did.”

“You were fighting for a child who can’t fight for herself and a friend who needs your help.”

“Lindsey is fighting for her life, and I felt like, in a way, I was helping her, fighting for her life, too, for Lily and Beau. But now it’s like I’m actually fighting for her place, and I am not. I would never.”

She smiles and hugs me tight. “Oh, sweet girl, one day I swear you’ll see what everyone else does.”

“Who is everyone else, Mom?” I sniff. “I have no friends outside of family, and I’m not saying that isn’t a blessing, but my whole life?—”

“Listen to me, Sydney Marie Sparks.” She takes my hand and pulls me behind her, around the counter and to the corner table where I sit and she moves away. I know where she’s heading, as this seems to be one of those conversation that calls for hot tea. “I’ve always taught you that we’re no better than anyone else, and I’m going to admit that’s something all people should be taught, but because they aren’t, because there are bitches?—”

I gasp, and she shakes her head.

“I’m not opposed to the use of foul language when it’s called for. That woman is a bitch. A nasty, horrible bitch at that.”

“Ohmygod, Mom,” I gasp and laugh at the same time.

“I was tagged good girl by this family from the time I was born, but I’m not beyond wanting to cut a bitch and doing it with surgical precision, might I add, if needs be.”

“Mom!” I palm my face.

“I’m your mother, Sydney Marie, but I’m also a woman and have watched every female but your cousins look at you like you were in their way, and you, my sweet girl, always stepped aside.”

“I will never want a man I have to fight for. I want one who will fight for me.” I laugh. “Or one who will stand quietly beside me like Dad did earlier.”

“He wasn’t the only man who was down here, Syd.”

I shake my head as she sets the lavender tea in front of me, trying not to recall the warmth of Boone standing beside me, stepping in even though I didn’t need it, and stepping back when he realized I was capable … even if he wasn’t even aware he was.

Have I just found a kink?

I shake the thought away.

“You also taught me that the only person I should ever compete against is myself, and I certainly don’t want people to view this as me competing against a woman in a coma.”

“Another lesson with colorful language that none of us are ever too old to learn?” she asks, and I nod. “Fuck the haters. Let them lay in their disgust until they realize they’re the real problem.”

“Bless their hearts.” I hold up my teacup.

Laughing, Mom taps hers to mine. “Assuming they have one.”