One Look: A grumpy, single dad small town romance(69)

I stood from the chair. “Thank you.”

I went straight to Joey. I grabbed his arm gently and lowered my voice. “Tell me what happens if anyone finds out about this.”

He looked around. “We have a code of conduct. This is big. They could be suspended from the team. Indefinitely.”

I worried the skin on my thumbnail. “I figured as much.” I gestured impatiently. “Tell me the worst-case scenario.”

“Kevin’s in position to be an early-round NFL draft pick if he gets his grades up. An arrest like this could ruin his entire life. And football is everything to Mike. He doesn’t really have a plan B yet. This is really bad. Do we have to tell Coach?”

“Are you kidding me?” I hissed. “In this town? Everyone already knows!” I took a calming breath. “It’s fine. Everything is fine. I will take care of this.”

I clamped my teeth together, and with a nod, I left Joey behind to head straight outside and into the crowd of Kings. When I spotted Royal, I mustered my courage and pointed directly at him. “Can I speak with you for a moment?”

A cocky smirk flashed on his face, and he stood tall from where he was leaning against the brick planter. He let me lead him a few steps away so I could talk to him in private.

I swallowed hard and hoped this wasn’t the worst idea I’d ever had. “Royal, I need your help.”





29





WYATT





“He was black with little white boots and the cutest, tiniest stripe down his nose.”

I smiled down at a sleepy Penny. “He sounds cute.”

“The cutest.” She pouted as I tucked the covers around her shoulders. “And he was all alone, but when I read him The Wonky Donkey, he curled into my lap and purred so loud, Daddy.”

“I’m glad you had fun. I’m sure he was glad to have a friend for the day.”

“But Figaro wants a home.” Penny looked up at me with big round eyes. I knew exactly what she was getting at, and there was no fucking way we were getting a cat.

“His name was Figaro? Like in Pinocchio?”

“His name was Darryl, but I changed it because he totally looks like a Figaro.”

She named the cat. I was going to kill Tootie.

“So tell me about Cheeto’s adventure today?” I raised an eyebrow at her, and she looked sufficiently sheepish.

“He got out.”

I nodded and kissed her cheek. “I heard. And don’t cats eat rodents? We wouldn’t want to put Cheeto in danger.”

“Figaro would never!”

“I’m sure that’s true. How about this? It’s not a no forever, but a not right now. Can you work with that?”

Her sleepy frown deepened. “I guess so.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “You’re the greatest kid in the world, you know that, right?”

Penny rolled to her side to face me and nodded. “I love you, Dad.”

“Love you too, Pickle.”

“I wanted to talk to you about something, Pickle.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead and rubbed her back.

“Am I in trouble?”

I laughed. “No, not at all. I just wanted to talk to you about Lark. It’s nice having her around, don’t you think?”

“Usually, but I’m mad at her right now.”

Taken aback, I considered my words. “Mad at her? What happened?”

“She tattled on me about Cheeto getting out.”

“Oh, babe. She didn’t tattle—that’s when you tell on someone just to get them into trouble. She was sharing about the day, and your name didn’t come up once.”

“So she didn’t tell you that I was the one who left the door to his cage open?”

I shook my head. “Nope.”

“Now I feel bad. I was just having bad thoughts about her.”

“Oh, Pickle. You are a sweet girl. Maybe you can be extra kind to her tomorrow, since we both like having her around.”

“Are you going to get married?”

My mouth dropped. “Um, no. I like Lark, and she likes me. I want to take her out to eat and hold her hand sometimes. That’s all.”

For now.

I pushed away the errant thought.

“With me too?”

I nodded. “Sometimes. But sometimes I would like to take her out just the two of us. Like a date.”

“Could I hang out with Uncle Lee when you do that?”

I laughed. Penny was so smitten with her fun-loving uncle. “I’m sure he would love that.”

“Lark likes it when you leave the flowers for her.”

I paused the back scratches. “Oh yeah?”

“She always puts them in a little cup of water and smiles a lot when you do that.”

I kissed her on the top of her head as I stood. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“One more, Dad.” She was nearly asleep, and love for her rushed through me. Our lives were finally feeling settled. Lark had had a huge part in that.

When I clicked the door to Penny’s bedroom closed, I walked down the hallway. Whispers coming from the kitchen caught my attention, so I headed that way.

Lark was pacing the floor. Sitting at the table, Michael was shirtless and icing his side, while Kevin looked down at his hands and Joey scrolled on his phone.