Anything for Her(59)

“You’ve got a hell of a shot,” Nolan told him. “Your coach pleased?”

“Yeah, he said he’d planned to put me at center, but he’s changed his mind and decided I’ll play forward. Except I’m not so good at defense yet.”

Nolan shrugged. “You’ll get it.” His smile grew into a grin. “It’ll help when you quit tripping over those big feet of yours.”

If she hadn’t been so tangled up inside, Allie would have giggled at the way Nolan’s foster son scowled at his feet, as if he hadn’t figured them out yet.

“I went up two sizes this year.”

“You’ve passed me by,” Nolan said.

Allie estimated Sean was wearing a twelve at least, and his feet looked even more monstrous in the kind of athletic shoes that would have made her feet look big. She could only imagine them if he left them untied the way boys did.

“Do you think they’ll stop now?” Sean sounded plaintive.

“Maybe. Probably not.”

“Dad wasn’t that huge.”

“What about your mom’s side of the family?”

There was a noticeable pause. “I think she was tall. Like, almost as tall as he was.”

“There you go, then,” Nolan said with an easy smile. “Heredity in action. Boys aren’t usually done growing yet at your age.”

He frowned at them. “What about girls?”

“Mostly girls are, I think,” Allie told him apologetically. “Not all. I had a friend who was teeny tiny because she didn’t reach puberty until she was almost sixteen. So she grew after that. But I was done by the time I was twelve.”

“Well.” He looked at her kindly. “You kind of got stuck.”

Allie stuck out her tongue at him, and he laughed.

“What were you guys arguing about?”

“None of your business,” Nolan said bluntly. He groaned. “I suppose I should start dinner.”

Please, Allie thought. Maybe he’d quit asking her questions. “Yes, you should. Since you insisted on making this a big deal by inviting my mother.”

Sean twirled the ball on a fingertip. “Is she, like, not that nice or something?”

“What?”

“Well...” The ball fell into his hands and he looked uneasy at her tone. “’Cause you didn’t want us to meet her.”

“Of course she’s nice! I didn’t not want you to meet her....” She floundered. “It was just...”

They both waited politely.

“Meeting the family is kind of...” Nolan’s eyes narrowed, unnerving her. “It’s not something you do when you’re first dating someone, that’s all.”

“But he wanted you to meet me right away.” Sean evidently saw something on Nolan’s face and gulped. “Um, I guess you kind of had to, when we live together and stuff.”

She swiveled to look right at Nolan. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know I was hurting your feelings.”

His expression softened. “No. I was impatient, that’s all. I’m not usually,” he added ruefully.

Allie only nodded. Her hands, she discovered, were clasped together so tightly she wasn’t sure she could pry them apart.

I should have told Mom I’ve slipped a few times. So she doesn’t contradict me.

Too late. And, heaven help her, Nolan was sure to grill her mother.

“Do you want to shoot some baskets?” Sean asked Allie.

Heaving himself to his feet, Nolan glanced at her with amusement. “Do you think you can throw the ball up that high?”

“I could get the stepladder,” Sean chimed in.

“Is that a challenge?” Allie stood and dusted off her behind. “How hard can it be to put a stupid ball through a ring?”

They both laughed.

“And to think, I was going to offer to help with dinner.” She grinned at Sean. “You’re on.”

She strolled down the steps, snatched the ball from the fourteen-year-old’s hands and carried it to the free-throw line. Now, if only she hadn’t lost her knack.

Nolan, she was aware, had grabbed Cassie by the collar and pushed her into the house, then lingered on the porch himself, still amused. Sean sauntered toward her with a shit-eating grin on his face. Allie dribbled the ball a couple of times to get in the zone, letting it come back up to smack her hands. Then she lifted it, jumped and let the ball slip off her fingertips. It made a perfect arc, dropping through the net with a swish. No backboard.