I Want You Back (Want You #1)(55)

“Good. After brunch we’ll go buy the rest of your sports gear. There’s open ice late this afternoon at Lakeside. We’ll suit up and skate, since we didn’t get to finish our weekend.”

In a flash Mimi disappeared beneath the table, and then she was crawling between me and Lucy. She hugged me and then her mother. “This is the best day ever! I can’t wait to tell Calder!”

“Can you hold off on telling him until after you’re done with the skills class?”

“But Daddy . . . he’s my best friend! We tell each other everything.”

I heard Lucy suck in a sharp breath. I glanced at Nolan. He shook his head, indicating that Mimi hadn’t relayed last night’s events to her BFF, thank god.

“It’d be a way better surprise for Calder if you told him about playing hockey after you had two weeks of skills training,” Nolan suggested. “When you’re absolutely sure that you want to play hockey.”

She considered it for a moment before she said, “Okay. I’ll wait to tell him. But we don’t gotta wait to sign me up for a team because I know I want to play hockey.” She sighed with pure eight-year-old exasperation. “You’ve known that longer than anyone, Uncle Nolan.”

Nolan shot me an “I told you so” look. “You are absolutely right. Now come over here and finish the picture you were coloring for me.”

As soon as Mimi had fallen back into her own little world, Nolan’s gaze zipped between us. “Everything all right?”

“It’s great,” Lucy said. “You coming to get her gave us the chance for a long talk last night.”

“A long overdue talk,” I amended.

“I’m happy to hear you both can adult when cornered,” Nolan said with a smile.

“Hilarious.”

“On a side note . . . it’s been two weeks since you dropped the bombshell about ditching the corporate world at LI. The family is gonna grill you on what you’ve been doing.”

“Is this your not-so-subtle way of asking what’s going on with the bar remodel?”

“Yes. We didn’t talk about it at all yesterday.”

I wasn’t sure if Nolan was testing me to see if I’d mentioned the full-scale remodel and reinvention of the bar spaces to Lucy, or if he worried I’d talked a good game and hadn’t done anything to get the project underway. “I met with Walker and his partner Jase two days after our five-way phone conference. They assessed the room upstairs that’ll be the barcade, testing it for structural integrity since it’ll have to hold all those heavy gaming machines. The good news? No structural issues. The bad news is they’re still waiting on permits to start the teardown.”

“What’s the time frame once the permits are released?”

I shrugged. “Depends on what issues they find beneath the lath and plaster. In the meantime, Dallas found a place that’ll sell us fully restored machines. It’s more money up-front, but they guarantee the games are plug-in ready, so that’s one added expense I don’t mind paying. She’s also hired an online marketing firm in the Cities to incentivize the demographic we want into taking a quick poll so we have an idea of what types of games and drink specials will bring them to a barcade.”

Nolan whistled. “So you haven’t been sitting around polishing your trophies.”

Asswipe. I scratched my cheek with my middle finger.

He laughed.

“Someone want to clue me in on what you’re talking about?”

I glanced around to make sure no one was eavesdropping before I detailed the plans to demolish one bar and rebuild it into two vastly different clubs.

She blinked at me. “Jax. That’s brilliant.”

Inside I was grinning like an idiot from her praise. Outside, I played it cool. “You really think so?”

“Absolutely. I was sort of afraid you’d cash in on your name and turn it into another sports bar.” She scowled. “Which are far too plentiful as it is.”

I sent Nolan an “I told you so” smirk.

“Has Dallas started on PR yet?”

Was Lucy angling for a chance to help out? “Umm . . . not sure. That’s on this week’s agenda. Why?”

“Because you definitely should get Annika to spearhead your campaign. She’ll know exactly what will make the biggest splash. But you need to get her on board ASAP because she tends to overextend herself on new projects during hockey season since Axl is gone so much.”

I must’ve looked confused or surprised because she said, “What? You thought I’d ask to get involved?” Then she laughed. “Uh, no. Can you imagine us working together? We’d disagree on everything, and then everyone would disappear when we reverted to our loud and emphatically stated discussions.”

I glanced at Mimi; she wasn’t paying attention to our conversation. “Yeah, we’d definitely fail at HR’s suggested conflict resolution tactics.” I bumped her with my shoulder. “Although there was a time when our unique approach to resolving our conflicts caused us both to forget what we’d been arguing about in the first place.”

Lucy turned the same time I did. We shared the lovers’ look that held secrets, desire and a smugness that no one else was welcome in our little world.