After the Game(32)

“Pay boat.” She loved her little pink boat that floated in the bathwater. Playing boat was her favorite part of her bath.

“Okay, sounds like a plan.”

“Ookies,” she said, pointing to the kitchen.

She nodded enthusiastically.

“He likes you. Trust him,” Mother called out as I followed my daughter down the hall.

“I’m trying” was my only response. “But I know how this ends.”

“You don’t know him. That boy is different. He always has been.”

I remembered him turning on me two years ago. He wasn’t different then. “He’s nicer, but in the end he isn’t all that different.”

I could hear my mother’s sigh, and I kept following Bryony to the bathroom. Spending time with my daughter and reminding myself what was important in life was what I needed after that kiss. I wasn’t a normal girl, and sitting around and dwelling on it was pointless.

“One day you’re going to have to trust again,” Mom replied, following us to the bathroom. She wasn’t ready to let this go.

One day I was. Today wasn’t that day.

“Did you save me some cookies?” I asked her.

“Of course. Bryony made you pink ones.”

I had heard her, but I wanted a subject change. That had worked.

“What all did you do today?” I asked Bryony.

“Ookies,” she told me again.

Cooking anything was the highlight of her day, other than going to the park. Especially cooking things she liked to eat.

“Did you play outside?”

She nodded. “Me duddy.” She beamed up at me as if being dirty was an accomplishment.

“Then you had a perfect day,” I reminded her.

She dropped her towel and ran to the bathwater that my mother had run for her. It was full of her toys and bubbles.

This was my enough.





I’ve Got This Under Control





CHAPTER 24


BRADY

West had woken me up at nine this morning. He was going for a run and wanted me to go with him. Maggie had turned him down, so I got up and went. It was good to work out the stiffness from Friday night. It also gave Mom time to fix breakfast.

The route he was taking us on went right in front of Riley’s house. My plan had been to text her this morning and find some way to see her. I’d lain in bed for hours last night thinking about our day. Her laughter, her smile, the feel of her lips on mine. All of it. I wanted to see her again. Now.

Looking toward the house, I wondered if she was awake and what she was doing. Did Bryony wake her up early? Did she fix breakfast at her house? Was her grandmother being difficult today? What did she normally do on Sundays? I had a million questions. I wanted to know everything about her. I just needed time and freedom to run up to her door right now and see her.

“What’s going on there?” West asked, and it snapped my attention back to the road we were on and the fact that I wasn’t alone.

“What do you mean?” was my response. Although I knew exactly what he meant.

“With Riley,” he replied.

West wouldn’t be on Maggie’s side about this. Sure, he’d offered to help find her grandmother, but he wasn’t about to become her friend.

“They’re living here taking care of her grandmother,” I told him, although I knew he already knew that.

“Not what I meant, and you know it.”

I didn’t say anything to that. We were running, not talking. He needed to stop being nosy and focus on his own love life. Mine was off-limits.

“You suck at hiding things. It’s going to come out,” he finally said when I didn’t say anything.

“Nothing to hide,” I lied.

He laughed. “Sure.”

I picked up speed in hopes of getting home and safe from his questioning faster.

“Gunner’s gonna find out. Then all hell will break loose. Might as well tell me now what you’re thinking. You’re my best friend. I’m not going to turn on you.”

Out of everyone, I never really expected West to turn on me. He was closer to me than he was Gunner. There was also Maggie, who was going to take my side in this. And there was no way West wouldn’t be on Maggie’s side.

“Right now there isn’t anything to find out. After we win the championship, then things may change.” That was all he was getting out of me.

“You need to do a better job of hiding it, then. Because at this rate you’re gonna get found out and you’ll have Gunner to deal with. We need him to win.”

He’d have his followers too. People who would side with him and turn on me. That would split the team, and we would be over. I had played this scenario in my head a million times, it seemed. I knew how it went and how it ended.