Page 123 of The Friends and Rivals Collection

DEREK

I grab Jodie and wrap my arms around her the second I see her. “So good to see you.”

“Whoa. You okay, sweetie?”

I nod, grateful her heart is beating. “Just glad you’re alive.”

“I’m not going anywhere, but it sounds like you had a bad day.”

“You can say that again.” I let go and pinch the bridge of my nose, squeezing hard like I can erase the night.

She glances inside. “Travis, watch the baby. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Yes, Mom!”

She steps onto the porch and shoots me a serious stare with her dark-brown eyes. “Want to talk about it?”

I shake my head. “Not really. Just one of those days. Know what I mean?”

She brushes a hand over my shoulder, understanding completely. “I do. Those days are hard. You do your best, but sometimes it’s not enough.”

“Yep.”

“But you keep going. You keep doing. It’s all you can do.”

“Yeah. You’re right.” I tell her why the shift hit me harder than most. I mention the thirty-six-year-old and how it brought so many unexpected fears to the surface.

She taps her sternum. “I can’t make any guarantees, but this ticker is in solid shape. And I’m going to do my best to boss you around for a long, long time.”

I manage a laugh. “You always were a third parent.”

“And I probably always will be.” She reaches for the door. “Come on in. Have some coffee and eggs. It’ll make your day better.”

It’s early on Saturday morning, but the crew is already wide awake, crowded around the dining room table, playing a board game that looks nothing like the board games we played as kids—no chutes, ladders, or lands of candy.

Travis and Molly shout out their rowdy good mornings to me as Travis plays from the floor, entertaining Devon who is strapped into a bouncy chair.

“What game is that?” I ask Jodie.

“Imploding Kittens? Exploding Kittens? Kittens with Mittens?” She shrugs, whispering, “Trust me, I tried to get them to play Monopoly.”

I do my best to ignore the name of the game, because I don’t want to think about Perri. I stop at the table and peruse the cards. “I bet I can beat you guys, and I’ve never even played.”

“No way! I’m an expert.” Travis puffs out his chest, his dark hair sticking up in all kinds of Saturday-morning angles. I ruffle it as Jodie sweeps up the baby and sets her in a high chair.

“You can be on my team,” Molly says, patting the chair next to her. “Devon’s on Travis’s team.”

I drop a kiss to Devon’s cheek, then snag a chair and join the kiddos for a rousing game.

Travis beats us, and I suspect it’s my fault, since I was all talk. This game barely makes any sense.

But what does make sense is this. Being here. These kids. Their smiles. Chatting with my sister as she makes eggs. Feeding the baby a waffle. Soon enough, I’ve shucked off the cloak of doom from work, and I remember something I have in the side of my bike.

I head outside, grab the gift I tucked there the other day, and bring it in.

“Is it for me?” Molly asks, her big eyes sparkling with enthusiasm when she spies the wrapping paper and bow.

“Nope. It’s for your little sister.”

“She probably needs me to help open it though,” Molly suggests.

“How thoughtful of you.”

I hand the gift to Molly, and she assists—ahem, does all the work—opening it for the baby, who’s now perched on my sister’s lap on the couch.

Devon grabs the pink hat and coos, laughing at it. She flaps it up and down like a pom-pom, then Jodie tugs it on Devon’s head.

“That is the cutest hat I’ve ever seen. I almost wish it were cold out so she could wear it,” Jodie says. “Where did you get it? I want to see if it comes in my size.”

“Perri made it,” I say on a yawn. “Sorry. Forgot to mention that. I think the coffee is having the opposite effect.”

Jodie arches a brow. “Perri made it? For Devon?”

“She did.”

Molly adjusts the hat on her sister. “Perri makes the best stuff. She’s so fun and so nice, and I like her. Also, I like to draw animals, and I want to go work on a zebra.”

Jodie lifts her chin. “Molly, why don’t you and Travis go draw on the sidewalk for a few minutes?”

Uh-oh.

That means only one thing.

I’m getting a talking-to from the third parent.

Once they’re outside, Jodie stares at me expectantly. “What’s going on with you and Perri?”

Heaving a sigh, I drag a hand through my hair and sink down next to her. “Nothing.”

“Is that what you want to happen?”

“No.” I’m dead tired from denial. I’m exhausted from acting, with Hunter, with Jodie, and with Perri, like I’m not wildly in love with the woman I live with.

“So . . .” Jodie gives me that big-sister look. Wait, it’s definitely the third-parent look.

“So what?”

“What are you going to do about the fact that you’re in love with her?”

Yawning again, I shrug. “What is there to do?”

She pats my knee. “I could think of about ten things. Especially since I suspect she feels the same.”

Hope dares to sit up and take notice. “You do?”

Jodie smiles wisely and pats the wooly pink fluff on Devon’s head. “I sure do.”

But then I remember Perri’s words in the kitchen—our deal distracted her from work, and she doesn’t have the time or the inclination to explore more. “Look, even if she feels one-tenth of what I do, she’s not interested in relationships.”

“Hmm.” Jodie eyes the hat on the baby’s head. “Yet she’s interested in knitting hats.”

“What are you saying, Jodie?” My eyes start to flutter closed. Night shifts are rough.

“I’m saying why don’t you get some sleep?”

Seems about right. I’m ready to conk out on the same damn couch that sent me to Perri’s house in the first place.

“Sure.”

She nudges me. “I’m going to take the kids to the park. Travis has a nice bed. Go crash in his room.”

She doesn’t need to tell me twice.

In less than a minute, I’m drifting to dreamland.

When my eyes snap open, I’m not sure what time it is, or how long I’ve been asleep.

But Jodie’s parked on the side of the bed. “Okay, it’s late afternoon. And we’re going to discuss ten things you can do. Are you ready?”

I rub my eyes. “Guess I better be.”