Tumble (Dogwood Lane, #1)(49)
Penn’s head sweeps from her to me, to her, back to me. “You aren’t sleeping with Haley, are you? Damn it. I called dibs on her.”
“First of all—” I start before Haley chimes in.
“You can’t call dibs on a person. I’m not something you can put a stake in.”
“Wrong choice of words,” I mutter.
Penn smirks. “Oh, baby. I could put a stake in it all right.”
Haley’s eye roll is long and deliberate. “You’re disgusting.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Penn heads back up to the house. “I’m taking lunch in twenty.”
“Okay,” I call after him. Turning my attention back to Haley, I sigh. “As you were saying?”
“I made a decision. I’m going cold turkey. I’m not dating anyone for six months.”
Draping my arm over the steering wheel, I raise a brow. “You think you can pull that off?”
“I don’t know, but I have to do something. My track record is broken heart, broken heart, broken heart. Even if you think they don’t qualify.” She looks over her shoulder as Matt and Mia start down the slope. “I fall in love too easily. So, new rule: no talking to, dating, having dinner with, having sex with anyone for six months. Starting now.”
“I want to be all supportive, but I don’t think you can do it.” I chuckle. “You aren’t without a guy for three days at a time, Hay. How do you think you’ll make it six months?”
She sticks her hand out toward me. “Bet me.”
“What are we betting?”
“If I win, I get to name your baby with Neely.”
“What?” I ask, laughing hard. “You’re outta your mind.”
She shrugs. “And if you win, you get to pick the next three guys I date.”
Rubbing my hands together, I watch her confidence wane. “Deal.” I snatch her hand in mine and shake before she can reconsider.
“That looks like serious business,” Matt says as he and Mia approach. “Do I even want to know?”
I glance quickly at Mia. “Not right now. So what are you doing today, rascal?”
“We did the library this morning, and now we’re going for shaved ice.”
“News to me,” Haley says. “I thought we were going to your house and cleaning out your closet.”
Mia twists her face. “Maybe shaved ice and then the closet?”
“I think we can make that work,” Haley says. “Dane, I need ten bucks.”
Fishing in my back pocket for my wallet, I pull out the soft leather. A twenty goes from my palm to Haley’s.
“Dad, I was wondering something,” Mia says.
The wallet goes back in my pocket at a snail’s pace as I absorb the inkling of something behind Mia’s words. “What’s that?”
“Can we see Neely tonight?”
Just mentioning her sends a zing of excitement through my body. Mia catches this and starts a little dance, and I realize I have to catch myself, and her, before this gets any further out of control.
“I bet she has things to do,” I say. Mia stops moving. “She’s going home soon. You know that, right?”
Matt takes a step back. Then another. Then makes his way back up the slope, not wanting a part of this conversation. Haley, on the other hand, stands behind Mia with her hands on my daughter’s shoulders.
“I heard her tell Aerial that. I know she doesn’t live here. But . . . but that was before you kissed her, Dad.”
Blowing out a breath, I climb out of the truck. I kneel in front of her so we’re eye to eye. “That was a friendly kiss. I told you she and I are friends,” I say gently. “Neely is a nice person, and I like her very much. But that’s all. She’s going home soon and that’s that.”
The words taste awful coming out of my mouth. It’s hard not to cringe at the way my stomach twists admitting that. Haley watches me, putting me on the spot, and I try to remain as unaffected as I can. For Mia. For Haley. And for me.
Mia’s head cocks to the side, her cheeks rosy from the sun. “I don’t know a lot about kisses, but I know I don’t kiss my friends like that.”
I laugh as I stand straight again. “And you better never kiss anyone at all. Got it?”
She just grins. “I think Neely thinks she’s your girlfriend.”
That’s enough. I pick up my daughter and toss her over my shoulder. She squeals in delight as I twirl her around and head toward Haley’s car.
“What do you know about girlfriends, anyway?” I ask. “You’re a baby.”
She kicks her sandal-clad feet in the air. “I’m not a baby.”
Haley’s laughter fills the air as she steps in front of me and opens the back door. I plop Mia in her seat.
“You behave today,” I tell her. Bending down, I kiss her cheek.
“Now that’s a friendly kiss,” she says. When I groan in response, she shrugs. “What? See the difference?”
I swing the door closed and turn to Haley. “Good luck with that today.”
“I’m kind of on her side,” Haley teases, climbing in the front seat of her car. She talks to Mia as they get buckled in and then backs down the driveway.