She walked back and stood by Josh again. Turning her attention back to the game, she winced. She’d never played soccer and was a little surprised at how rough it could be. When a really big kid tripped Eric and stole the ball, she opened her mouth to protest, but Josh beat her to it.
He called out, “Where’s the card, ref?”
She smiled as the referee tugged a yellow card from his back pocket and held it up. That set up some sort of penalty kick that had Eric lining up in front of the goal.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to watch. What if he missed? It was just a game, but Eric seemed to love playing so much she hated to see him disappointed. He’d had way too much of that in his life recently.
She circled her arm around Josh’s waist and squeezed as the ball flew toward the big goalie. It whooshed past the kid and into the net, and the crowd went wild. The ref blew time on his whistle and declared the Anderson Butte Rockies the winners.
Eric glanced their way and smiled as he jogged back to the sidelines to give his teammates and Toby high fives.
After Eric packed up his gear and joined them, he still beamed a giant smile.
Josh held up his fist for a bump. “Nice game, buddy.”
Meg gave Eric a hug. “Glad you had fun today.”
As she released Eric, Meg’s phone vibrated in her back pocket. She tugged it out and opened the text from Casey.
Dad’s back and called a family meeting. Grams’ll keep the kids so you can come. Where r u?
Meg tapped back, Park. Be there in 5.
She turned to Josh. “Family meeting. Can you drop the kids off with my grandma?”
He gave her a quick kiss. “Yep. See you later.”
“Thanks.”
Meg hit the stone steps of Town Hall. Her emotions were mixed—relief her dad was back so everyone in town could relax warred with the familiar dread that surfaced every time she was summoned to her father’s office. With Dragon Breath behind bars where she clearly belonged, Meg walked past the receptionist’s desk and toward her dad’s open door. Her brothers and sister were all deep in whispered conversation and had clearly started the meeting long before they’d invited her. Not sure what was up with that, she called out to her father, “Welcome back, jailbird.”
Her siblings chuckled, but Sue Ann took her usual offense. “It’s not funny, Megan. Can’t you take anything seriously?”
Meg sat in the empty chair beside Casey. “You must see the irony here, Sue Ann. For once it’s not me who’s been in trouble. But we all knew Dad wasn’t guilty.”
Dad’s brows shot up. “You never doubted my innocence? Not even for a moment?”
“Nope.” Meg shook her head. “Besides your inept computer skills, you love this town too much to ever jeopardize it. That, and you’d never risk embarrassment to the Anderson name.”
Dad leaned back and crossed his arms. “I’m glad you finally seem to get it, Megan. And since you’re the computer whiz in the family, you need to help me clean up Mrs. Duncan’s mess.”
“Uh, sure. That’d be fine.” Her dad had never asked her help for anything before. Although it was more of a demand, it put a little smile on her face.
“So.” Dad cleared his throat. “The bottom line is, Mrs. Duncan had been running an illegal gaming operation, essentially stealing money from innocent people using the Internet, right here under my nose. She blamed me for it until Ryan got Barb’s testimony, which led to Mrs. Duncan finally confessing that I had nothing to do with it. She’s going to jail for a very long time. We’re all going to forget it ever happened and move on.”
Dad’s gaze landed on her. “Agent Watts told me Josh believed I was innocent and that his opinion counts with them. He said Josh is a good man, Megan. Watts trusts Josh and is sorry he decided to leave the FBI. Seems your choice in men has finally improved.”
Sue Ann added, “And he’s pretty damn good-looking. I’m not sure you could do much better than him. Maybe he’ll be the one who sticks for a change.”
Not sure if that was a compliment or another slap, Meg said, “Well, I guess time will tell.” She rose from her chair. “I’m glad it all worked out, Dad. After I get the work crews started at my house in the morning, I’ll drop by and help with the computers.”
As she started to leave, Dad said, “Wait, Megan. We need to talk about that. The Three Amigos came to visit me this morning. They said since seeing how you’re sticking this time and are going to fix up your grandparents’ place, how you’ve taken responsibility for your actions as a kid, and that you’ve taken in Eric, they wanted me to consider giving you another chance.”