She doesn’t look up. “Thanks.” She presses on the doors and doesn’t hold them open for me like she usually does.
I step into the sun and see Dane walking toward us. His smile falters as he takes in Mia’s demeanor. “Hey, rascal. How was practice?”
“Good.” She stops in front of her dad.
“Everything all right?” he asks.
“Yup.” She takes her dad’s hand and then looks at me. “Can we go get a hamburger at Mucker’s?”
Dane and I swap glances. I wish we could click over into the playful mode I see hidden beneath his concern for Mia. I wish even more I could stand next to him and feel him at my side. But just as I wish for those things, Mr. Snow’s offer pops up like an annoying online ad.
“Sure,” Dane tells Mia. “We can go get a burger. Sounds good to me.”
“Will you come with us, Neely?”
I want to say yes. I need to say no. All I can do is look at the adorable little girl with a sad streak in her eyes, and I can’t find the guts to answer either way.
Dane does it for me. “She better go or we’ll kidnap her.”
This puts a piece of the sparkle back on Mia’s face. That, in turn, trumps the best solution of starting to wean myself from them.
“Let’s go, ladies,” Dane says.
Mia offers me her free hand.
I take it.
“And then a cab pulls up to the curb, right? I’m thinking my luck has finally changed, and I start running down the sidewalk, waving my arms like a lunatic.” I demonstrate, with a little exaggeration, my arms flailing around in the air.
Mia giggles before taking a bite of her burger.
“I almost get there. I’m this close,” I say. “And my heel gets caught in one of New York’s famous sidewalk cracks, and I go face-first into a pile of snow.”
“I bet that was cold,” Mia notes. “How’d you get up?”
“Luckily, this man was walking by and helped me up. That’s not common in the city. Most people would just watch you walk out into the middle of traffic and not blink an eye.” I take a drink of my vanilla milkshake and shrug. “The man hailed me a cab, and I got back to my apartment. It was a heck of a day.”
Dane sits next to me, not saying a word. We’re early for dinner at Mucker’s and are the only people in the actual dining area. There are a few groups on the patio.
“I need to go to the bathroom,” Mia says, wiggling in her chair. “May I be excused?”
“Go ahead,” Dane tells her.
She skips off, her spirits seemingly better than they were when we got here. I watch her ponytail disappear into the bathroom before I turn my attention back to her father.
“What do you think was wrong with her?” I ask.
“I don’t know.”
“It came out of nowhere. She was hugging me and happy as a lark, and then she wasn’t.” I take another drink. “She’s too young for hormones. Or is she? What age do girls start their periods these days?”
Dane goes pale. “I have no idea. Surely not at her age.”
“I wouldn’t think so. It seems so young.”
The waitress comes up to the table and clears away our empty plates and the giant bowl of ranch dressing we shared for our fries. Dane requests the check and a box for the rest of Mia’s burger.
He leans to the side to retrieve his wallet from his back pocket, and I catch him grinning at me.
“What?” I ask.
“Just thinking you smell better than the last time I saw you.”
“You should’ve seen my mom.” I groan. “She picked out a piece of hay right away and was like, ‘This looks like a good sign.’”
Dane laughs, handing his credit card to the waitress as she reappears.
“I’ll be right back,” she says.
My jaw drops. “You didn’t even look at the bill.”
“So?”
“So? She could charge you for ten burgers, Dane,” I say, flabbergasted. “You always check the bill before you pay.”
“I’ll get to see it again before I sign the receipt. And come on, Neely. It’s Mucker’s. If they overcharged me, I’d get free food for life.”
I twirl my straw around my glass. “I forget things like that are different here. You don’t check in New York and your bill goes up one hundred percent.”
The corner of his lip curls. I hold my breath as he moves his hand. He lays it on the inner corner of my thigh, his fingers pressing roughly against my skin. “I can tell you something else that goes up one hundred percent,” he says. “At least it does when you’re around.”
I slip my hand on top of his and bring it higher until our entwined fingers sit between my legs. “Are you talking about the temperature around here?” I tease.
“Well, it is awfully hot.” He nudges his hand against me. “But I was talking more about how erect certain things get.”
“What’s ‘erect’ mean?” Mia hops into her seat and grabs her milkshake. She looks from me to Dane. “Is ‘erect’ like a barrette? For my hair?”
“Yup.” Dane swallows. He jerks his hand from me like it is on fire. “Just like that.”
“That’s not true.” I roll my eyes. “‘Erect’ means something is stiff or straight. Like when you’re in a pyramid. Your legs should be erect because it’s easier for your bases to hold you. Get it?”
“Erect. I like that word.” She slurps the final drink from her glass.
“Really?” Dane mutters under his breath.
“Do you want her to have a bad vocabulary?” I ask just as softly.
He leans toward me, his lips glancing my ear. “I’d like her to have a censored vocabulary, if you don’t mind.”
“Let me clue you in on something, big boy,” I whisper. Glancing at Mia, I ensure she’s preoccupied with the television hanging near the bathroom door. “When a guy comes on to her one day, and he will whether you like it or not, you don’t want her shocked at words he throws around. Understanding things like the word ‘erect’ will give her confidence. Trust me.”
He throws his hands up in the air and settles back in his seat.
“Look at me, sitting erect,” Mia says with a hint of pride.
“That’s it.” Dane scoots his chair back and stands. “I’ll pay and then be in the truck.”
I can’t help but giggle as he walks to the cash register and asks for the receipt to sign. He doesn’t check the price, just scribbles his name, takes the card, and walks out.
“What’s wrong with him?” Mia asks.
“Oh, he’s just being a baby today. You ready to go?”
“Yes.” She hops off her chair and follows me to the door.
We mosey through the parking lot side by side, neither of us saying a word. Once we get to the truck, I hold the door open while Mia climbs into the back, and then I get settled in the front beside Dane.
“Everyone ready?” he asks. “Buckle up back there, rascal.”
The sound of the buckle clicking into the clasp rings through the air. “Don’t worry. I’m buckled in and sitting erect.”
I snort so hard I almost choke.
“You owe me for this one, Kimber,” Dane says.
I glance over my shoulder to see a wickedly sexy smile gracing his lips. My legs pull together.
“I look forward to it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
NEELY
The couch in Dane’s living room is perfectly worn. Each cushion is broken down to the point where you sink in like you’re in a soft cloud as soon as your behind touches it.
Curled up in the corner, I listen to Dane and Mia laugh upstairs. Every now and then, he makes a weird voice, and she bursts out laughing.
The inside of their house isn’t at all what I expected. Everything has a place, and everyone has a job. It’s a mishmash of styles and decorations that seem to work together somehow. There’s even a cookie jar on the center of the island in the kitchen filled with peanut butter cookies.
You can feel the joy when you walk in, sense the loyalty in the walls as you stroll down the hallway decorated with pictures of Mia at different stages of her life. I’ve never felt so comfortable in someone else’s house before.
My phone vibrates on my lap. A text from Grace pops up on the screen. I look at it like it might bite me—not because of the text, but because of the email that needs responding to.
I’ve reread Mr. Snow’s offer a few times. It isn’t groundbreaking, but it isn’t bad. It’s certainly better than nothing. I should take it. I know I should. But every time I have my finger on the “Reply” button, I chicken out.
I tell myself it’s because I know I’m worth more. I made almost double that at my old job and had half again more leave time. But something wrestles inside my chest, and I know it isn’t all about leave time. It’s about leaving them.
Dane’s footsteps echo down the hall, and it isn’t long before he comes around the corner. He’s changed into a white T-shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants, and all I want to do is bury my face in the soft cloth and have him hold me.
“You’re being beckoned,” he says. A hand on his hip, he sighs. “Apparently she needs to talk to you now. I wouldn’t let her get out of bed because if she does that, we’ll never get her back in there.”
Unfolding my legs, I stand. “What’s she want?”
He shrugs. “I already read her bedtime story, which is ridiculous at her age, but I can’t tell her no.”
“I think it’s adorable.” I start by him, but he pulls me toward him.
“I think you’re adorable.”
“You do, huh?”
“I do.” He plants a loud, wet kiss on my lips. “Now go figure out what she wants so we can move on with our night.”
I take the stairs two at a time. “I like the sound of that.”