Page 45

“So can we, can we, can we? Puh-lease?” Harper begs in the backseat on the way home from school.

“I’ll look into it, okay?” I say. Apparently Imagine Dragons is coming to town and she really wants to go. Badly.

And she wants me to get three tickets and invite Hartley along.

Yeah, it’s a no, but I’m not quite ready to let Harper down just yet. Maybe I’ll grab two tickets and tell her it’s all I could swing. Or something else since that makes no sense.

But either way, I’m not going to a concert with Hartley.

“Oh, and this Friday is the spring festival at school. Can we go? The form is in my backpack,” she says. She’s rambling, and it would be cute if I didn’t have a headache. “They’re going to have bounce houses and raffles and games and food trucks and—”

“Sure, kid,” I say.

“It’s ladybug , remember?”

“Right. Sorry, ladybug.”

“What’s wrong, buddy?” she asks.

“It’s just been a long day.” The truth is I overworked myself this afternoon. I went for a run that was too long and I pushed myself too hard, but I was trying to find healthy ways to quiet the loud voice inside my head telling me I should apologize to Hartley.

Nope. Not gonna happen.

And now I’m paying the price.

And it’s not just that. Hartley didn’t walk Harper to the car after school, so I didn’t get to see her, and I sort of wonder if she was even at school today but I don’t want to ask Harper and seem like I’m interested.

I just want to lay down for a bit, but instead we have to tackle homework and reading and all the shit I don’t want to do, and Harper already asked me to attempt to make dinner tonight, which I also don’t want to do, but I’m a parent now and it doesn’t matter what I want to do because my kid’s needs come first.

“Oh, that’s funny you said that. Ms. Hartley said she had a long day today, too.”

My ears perk up at the mention of Hartley, and I hate that it’s my immediate reaction. So she was at school today.

“Oh? Why?”

“I don’t know. She usually comes to get me from Ms. Miller’s classroom before tutoring, but she didn’t today and I walked down to her office after the bell, and she was arguing with some guy.”

“Some guy?” I ask, my brows knitting together as I wonder what that’s all about.

“Yeah, she was saying something about how he needed to give her back her ball or something, and then she saw me and said she had a tutoring session and he needed to leave.”

“Who was it?”

“No idea,” she says. “He was tall and he had light brown hair.”

“Was he a teacher or the principal maybe?” I ask, though I can’t imagine why she’d be yelling at the principal.

“I don’t know. I mean I don’t know all the teachers at the school but I’ve never seen him before.”

I wonder if it was her ex, though I can’t imagine why he’d confront her at her job. Maybe because she wouldn’t be able to unleash her anger on him there. Safer bet for him.

“Well let me know if you see him again,” I say absently.

“Why? Because you like her?” she asks it in kind of a singsong way.

“I do not,” I mutter, but the kid’s right.

I do.

A lot.

And I feel very much fucked because of it.

I keep thinking about what she said on Friday night when I talked to her in the driveway, and she’s right. There’s a kid involved now, and my reputation precedes me.

It doesn’t make sense for her to take the risk on me, so I can’t really blame her for the constant rejections.

Maybe it makes me want her even more. She’s a challenge, and what happens when I finally win her over and the challenge is gone? Will I even still be interested?

Something tells me that yes, I would be.

Maybe I’m just leaning into her because she’s a woman my kid trusts.

Or maybe I’m already starting to fall for someone I barely know because she’s strong and independent and fun and beautiful and she makes me feel things I’ve never felt before just by walking into the room.

Fuck that line of thinking. I banish the fuck out of it. It’s too dangerous.

We read a book together and I see the improvement where she’s coming from, and while she settles into her math homework, I decide to do a little homework of my own.

I open my tablet and turn to the first play in Mike Sharp’s new playbook.

And I see that he’s added a bunch of plays since the last time I opened this playbook.

Fuck.

I am so fucked.

I flip through it, and I find all sorts of situational plays. Plays at the goal line, in short yardage situations, desperation plays…and we’re supposed to know what every single one of them means in the heat of a game situation.

We’re supposed to be able to hear a single word and know what to do. Some teams—like my high school team, for example—call out numbers, and I knew that the first number was what play I was supposed to run as the wide receiver. But other teams, like the Aces, have one-word play calls, and that means I need to memorize every word and be able to execute the formation, any motion or shifting, the run scheme, and the pass routes associated with that word.

I can rely on my team for some of the information when we meet in the huddle, and I only need to know around twenty or thirty plays during any given game…but the last thing I want is to be the guy who doesn’t know what’s going on because I didn’t bother to learn the playbook.

I try to recall some of Coach Barrett’s tips for remembering plays, and he was big into repetition and visualization. I can also have a cheat sheet of sorts tucked into my wristband, and I always take advantage of that.

So I start with the first section of plays, the ones that start on the twenty-yard line.

Play one.

I look it over. I visualize it. If Harper wasn’t here doing math problems, I might even stand up and run through it.

Instead, I take out a new notebook and start with the first play. I break down the word into the three numbered play call my high school used to do, and I memorize what I’ll need to do for that play.

I turn to the next page.

Play two.

I plan to learn this shit in small chunks, so I just start with the first three for today. I flip back to play one and visualize it again. I do the same for the second play and the third. I go back to the first and do it again.

She spends an hour on math, and I spend an hour on the first three plays.

And then I take her out for ice cream…both because she deserves it and I do, too, even though I’m not totally sure I got anywhere with the first three.

Repetition. I’ll keep repeating and I’ll keep trying until I get them. Slow and steady.

And wouldn’t you know it? Hartley’s at Dairy Queen along with her best friend Ms. Miller.

“We see you everywhere!” Harper says as she hugs Miller first and then saves a longer one for Hartley.

I swear to God, I’ve lived in this town over a year now and I never crossed paths with this woman, and now I’m seeing her fucking everywhere.

Maybe that boyfriend of hers had her on lockdown.

Or maybe she’s just crossing my path more often now because she lives closer to me. Logically, that makes sense.

“Out for ice cream?” Miller asks.

“She plowed through her math homework, so we’re here to celebrate,” I admit. I don’t meet Hartley’s eyes even though I feel hers on me.

“And he was studying, too,” Harper says, jerking a thumb at me. “Are you here celebrating, too?” she asks.

“This one had a rough day, and ice cream makes everything better,” Miller says, jerking her thumb at Hartley to mimic Harper.

“Why’d you have a rough day?” Harper asks, and I’m glad she’s nosy as fuck because I want to know, too.

“Just a mean boy causing problems,” Hartley says, and my hackles rise.

“Was it the guy you broke up with?” Harper asks.

Hartley glances at me, and then she looks at Harper again. “Yeah, it was.”

So it was her ex, and I have the sudden ragey need to fuck that turd up.

“What ball did he take from you?” Harper asks.

“Harper, don’t be so nosey,” I scold half-heartedly because truthfully I’m curious myself.

“It’s fine,” Hartley says a little absently.

“Order two-sixty-one!” the cashier calls.

“That’s us,” Miller says. She grabs two blizzards and hands one to Hartley. “You two have a good night.”

“Aw, can’t you stay and eat with us?” Harper whines.

“Let them get on with their night, kid,” I say to Harper.

“We’d planned to take it home and watch a show together, but I suppose we could stay,” Miller says, and Hartley gives her a look with pursed lips.

Jesus, now Miller and my kid are trying to push Hartley and me together.

I guess I’ll take what I can get even though I’m still on edge with the way we ended things on Friday and I haven’t seen her since then.

I let Harper order whatever she wants, and a few minutes later we’re taking her extra large blizzard and my plain vanilla cone and sliding into the booth beside Hartley and Miller. Except Harper goes first and slides beside her teacher so I’m forced to sit beside Victoria.

I sit as far away as I can manage, but I still smell her strawberry scent, which only reminds me of her strawberry lips, and my cock hardens at the thought of her lips pressed against mine.

Down, boy.

I didn’t bother dressing up, and I’m wearing gray sweatpants that do little to hide my…outline. Good thing I’m sitting.

“Can you get me a napkin?” Harper asks right at that moment.

Fuck.

“Sure thing, kid,” I say, and I slide out of the booth and grab a bunch of napkins as I try to tame the snake—an impossible feat, but made worse when my eyes meet Victoria’s.

I look away first, and then I head back to the booth.

And I’ll be damned if I don’t catch her checking out…the outline .

I set the napkins down next to my kid, my eyes on Hartley, and when her eyes move up to mine, they’re wide.

That’s right.

I’ve got a fucking pipe in there, and I’m not afraid to use it.

Not in front of my kid, obviously, but I do sense some interest from the lady in the booth.

I sit back down, and she seems to shrink into the corner. But I’m suddenly feeling a little ballsy, so I sit like I always do—with my legs open wide to accommodate the firehose. My knee bumps hers, and I leave mine there.

Harper takes about four bites before she says, “I’m full.”

“Why’d you order the extra large?” I ask.

“You told me to get whatever I wanted, and I wanted the big one.”

I laugh.

“And I need to go to the bathroom.”

“I’ll walk you there and wait outside,” Miller volunteers immediately, and she shoots me a secret wink.

I shake my head with a little bit of disgust as she very clearly wants to give the two of us a minute alone.

I’m not sure I want a minute alone.

I’m not even sure what to do with a minute alone.

I’m about to bring up the fact that I caught her checking out my cock when she initiates the conversation.

Okay, okay. Truthfully, I wasn’t going to bring it up, but that doesn’t mean I’m not basking in it anyway.

“Is her new backpack a Kate Spade?” Victoria asks.

I nod. “I call her ladybug, and they had a ladybug pattern…so I got it for her.”

“That’s really sweet, but isn’t it a little…you know, a little expensive for a ten-year-old?” she asks.

I shrug. “I don’t know. Is it?”

“I have a Kate Spade clutch I use on special occasions. My other purses are from Target and run me around twenty bucks,” she says dryly.

“Oh.”

“The extra large ice cream, the hot pink phone…I’m not a parent or anything, but aren’t you worried about spoiling?” she asks.

“I didn’t really think about it,” I admit. “I didn’t exactly have the best role models of what parenting should look like.”

She glances over at my profile, and I happen to be taking a nice, long lick of my cone. She darts her gaze back down to the table and clears her throat. “I can look up some resources for you if you’d like.”

“Nah, I’m good,” I say. I take another long lick and imagine it’s her pussy I’m licking.

Okay, so that’s the wrong thing to do. My dick is now fully erect and it’s not exactly the time nor the place to do anything about it.

“I just mean I can look up some parenting books if you think they’d be helpful,” she says, oblivious as to what’s happening in my pants.

“Sure. Throw in some books about how to get the girl who keeps rejecting you while you’re at it,” I say pointedly. “You wanna tell me what happened with your ex today?”

I take another lick of my cone just as she turns to look at me, and my eyes meet hers at the same time.

Her nostrils flare a little, and she doesn’t answer my question as her eyes flick to my mouth.

I quirk a brow. “See something you like?” I lean in a little closer to her and lower my voice to a gravelly rasp. “It doesn’t just have to be the ice cream that gets all the action, you know.”

She clenches her jaw for a second, and she opens her mouth with what’s surely a witty retort when Harper appears.

“Made room for more ice cream!” she squeals with delight, and I tear my gaze from Hartley and force a laugh at the kid’s joke.

The moment is interrupted, but the truth remains.

This thing between us…I get the feeling it’s inevitable. She’s pushing back because she thinks it’s the right thing to do, but she’s starting to wear down.

It won’t be long before she finally gives in, and I for one can’t wait to take part in the explosion.