Fumbled (Playbook #2)(23)

“The gap in his front teeth. I had that gap. My dad did too. I was in braces from fifth grade until my freshman year.”

“Yeah, the dentist told me we needed to find an orthodontist.” Something else trying to push me to the brink of financial ruin.

“He looks just like me, Poppy.” He pulls his gaze from Ace to me, and even though I want to stay mad at him, I can’t. He looks crushed. “You weren’t lying.”

“I wasn’t.” It takes every last morsel of restraint, but I don’t roll my eyes or punch him in the throat.

“He called me Mr. Moore,” he repeats.

“I know.”

“He doesn’t know I’m his dad?”

“Honestly, TK?” I don’t want to sound cruel, but I’m having a hard time stomaching the scene in front of me. “Why would he?”

He doesn’t say anything. He just watches Ace again.

After a few beats of silence, I leave him to his feelings and walk away.

I turn my back on him, missing it as his beard catches his falling tears.





Ten




“Are you helping close again?” I ask Sadie with my purse on my shoulder and the doorknob in my hand.

“Yeah.” She shrugs. “I told Nate I’d close out the cash registers at the bars for him.”

Where I take any excuse to go home, Sadie will cover whatever task you throw at her so long as she doesn’t have to go to hers.

“Call me when you get home, yeah?”

“Okay, Mom.” She rolls her eyes, but I know she’ll call.

“You better.” I pull open the door and wave behind me. Rochelle is still in the dressing room with Sadie, but I don’t acknowledge her. She’d have something bitchy to say back. And after everything with TK this afternoon, I’m not sure I have the restraint it would take not to resort to an all-out cat fight.

“Bye, guys,” I shout to everyone on the floor as I head out the back door to the parking lot.

The parking lot, though never well lit, seems extra dark tonight . . . or maybe dark is just the new filter for my life. The lamppost I parked under is out, and every gust of wind, every whisper of a car in the distance, causes me to jump and move a little quicker. I hate this creepy-ass back alley lot. I start to dig in my purse, cursing all the receipts and loose change acting as key camouflage. When they appear by what feels like magic, I get in and lock the doors before I even start the car.

Call me a scaredy cat if you want, but I’ve watched too many episodes of Dateline to try to be brave.

I’m turning the key in the ignition when a knock on my window sends me jumping so high the only reason my head doesn’t hit the roof is because my knees slam against the steering wheel.

“Roll down the window,” TK says.

“Jesus Christ!” I yell before the window is down all the way, the sound of my pulse still echoing in my ears. “Are you insane? You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“Sorry,” he says even though he doesn’t seem sorry at all. “We need to talk.”

Fan-freaking-tastic.

As if today hasn’t been long enough.

I knew this needed to happen, but couldn’t he have waited a few years or something?

I hit the locks and let out a sigh. “Get in.”

I close my eyes, dropping my head against the back of my seat. I hear the door open and feel my car dip under his weight, but I don’t open them until the door closes.

I throw my car into gear and reverse out of the parking lot without a word. I have an idea of what’s about to happen, and there’s no way in hell I’d chance someone from my job witnessing even a second of it.

“Where are you going?” TK asks.

“No idea. Just getting out of here.” I twist the volume knob and turn up the radio while I drive. TK doesn’t object—I think we both need a minute to get our heads together.

I end up pulling into the parking lot of an abandoned warehouse I’m sure someone will turn into lofts soon. It’s more than a little bit creepy, but the feeling of a murderer looming in the shadows seems like a fitting atmosphere for the two of us.

I turn off the radio, but neither of us says anything.

TK breaks the silence. “I talked to my mom.”

Well, crap.

That’s not what I was expecting.

“She denied knowing you were pregnant.”

“Surprise, surprise.” I don’t even try to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. “Of course she denied it, TK.”

“I don’t believe her.”

My head jerks back and the smart-ass response I was preparing falls away.

“I told her I needed space while you and I figure things out, because, Poppy?” He takes a deep breath, and I brace. “I want to get to know Ace.”

Now this is no surprise.

After I turned my back on his red eyes earlier, I knew this was the only outcome. But still. Hearing the words? Panic and elation collide in my gut while bile rises up the back of my throat.

“I want that too.” Even against the silence of the night, the words are weak. Forced. Even though they’re the truth.

“How do we do it?” he asks.

We? This is your circus, buddy. That’s what I want to say, but this whole adult, choose-your-words-carefully thing has really gotten to me. So instead, I whisper, “I have no idea.”