by Beth Ehemann
All the pent-up emotion from the messages, my car, my dog, having to leave my house, ignoring Sadie, pulling back from Ellie . . . all of it poured out my eyes and all over Ellie’s cute dress, and I sobbed and sobbed.
“It’s okay.” Ellie rubbed my back. “I get it. You’re a strong woman, Dani, and you feel like you have to carry this whole thing alone, but you don’t have to. I’m here, Andy’s here.”
“I know. You two have been amazing.” I pulled back and sniffled as I reached for a tissue off of my desk. We both stood there, a couple of red-rimmed, teary-eyed idiots wiping our noses as we clutched on to each other for dear life. “I feel horrible, El. You don’t deserve this. You’ve been nothing but supportive of me.”
“It’s okay.” She shook her head with a little giggle. “I can handle it, just make sure that it’s temporary, okay?”
“It’s not even temporary. It’s over. I promise. Lunch today?”
The corners of her pink lips curled up into a smile as she started crying again. “Yes! Absolutely!” she squealed, pulling me into another tight hug. “You can tell me all about how your first night at Andy’s went.”
“I’m afraid there’s not much to tell. I slept in the guest room, that’s it. I told you, Ellie. We’re coworkers, that’s it.”
Ellie rolled her eyes. “If you really think that, Dani, you’re an idiot. He’s been out of his office three times today just to ask me if you’d come out of yours yet.”
“He did?”
“He has fifteen extra boxes of tissues in his closet that he grabbed just so he’d have an excuse to walk by your door and strike up small talk. Haven’t you noticed all the Kleenex we’ve been going through?”
“Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously. Now would you stop being a stubborn asshole and admit that you’re just as crazy about him?”
“Ellie—”
“No. Don’t Ellie me. I’m serious.” She looked me straight in the eye, her brows low and angry. “If you’ve learned anything from these past few months, Dani, it should be that life is too short for you to not take this chance with him. What if you’d been in that house when he got there yesterday?”
Her question was a sneak attack right in my gut. “Wh—what?” I stammered, feeling light-headed.
“I said . . . what if you’d been home yesterday when he broke into your house? What if you weren’t here today? What if instead of me standing here talking to you right now, I was at home crying on my couch, wondering what I’m going to wear to your funeral in a couple days?”
I swallowed hard as my stomach swirled round and round. “Ouch. Ellie, that’s harsh.”
“That’s life.” She shrugged. “And you’re so worried about what other agents or athletes or the losers of the Internet are going to say about you that you’re missing out on an amazing man.”
She gave me another hug, followed by a kiss on the cheek, and opened my office door. “Think about it.”
CHAPTER 29
Andy
Dani spent most of Friday night alone in her bedroom, so I didn’t have any clue what her weekend plans were, but it was the last weekend of the summer for Logan and Becca, and they wanted to have some fun.
“Okay, what are we doing again?” I yawned, hovering over my coffee cup at the kitchen table.
“Remember, Daddy? I want to go to breakfast, then The Bouncy Bandit, then lunch, then the park,” Becca said happily. “And my tummy is growling, so we need to go soon.”
“It’s growling, huh?”
“Yeah.” She lowered her voice, mimicking a monster. “It’s saying ‘I want pancakes!’”
“Oooh, pancakes sound good!”
Becca and I both looked up, pleasantly surprised to see Dani coming toward us with a smile on her face . . . wearing that pink robe.
“Dani!” Becca jumped off her chair and ran over, practically knocking Dani over with her hug.
Dani let out a soft giggle. “Good morning. I heard the word ‘pancake,’ and my Spidey senses went off.”
“We’re gonna go out for breakfast. Wanna come?” Becca asked excitedly.
Dani looked over at me. “Uh . . . do I have time to shower?”
I nodded. “I haven’t showered, either, and Logan isn’t even awake yet. We have some time.”
Becca whipped around and frowned at me. “Not too much time, though. Right, Dad? I’m starving, remember?”
“You’re starving, are ya?” I reached out and snatched her up in the air, tickling her armpits as she squirmed wildly to get away.
“Stop! Stop!” Becca squealed in between giggles. “Dani said she’s hungry, too. Get her!”
My eyes flashed to Dani’s half a second before she realized what Becca had said. “Wait? What? No.” She held her hands up in front of her defensively as I set Becca on the ground and playfully stalked toward her. “No. Seriously. Stop. I’m not even tick—”
I didn’t even let her finish her sentence before I jabbed my fingers into the sides of her robe and started tickling her furiously. She threw her head back, laughing loudly as she twisted and writhed, trying desperately to get away from me. “You’re not even what?” I teased, continuing my assault on her ribs. “You’re not even ticklish? You sure seem ticklish.”
Becca covered her mouth with her hands, laughing almost as hard as Dani.
“You!” Dani called out playfully, pointing at Becca. “This is all your fault. Get over here!” She swiped her arms toward Becca, who squealed and ran away toward the living room.
I stopped tickling Dani but didn’t let go. Instead I wrapped my arms around her waist and held on for dear life. “Want me to let go?” I said, leaning in so close my face was practically buried in her neck.
She turned her head slightly toward me, speaking softly. “I’m not sure yet.”
Adrenaline shot through me as I lifted my head in surprise. “Wait. You’re not sure of what?”
“If I want you to let me go.”
“Seriously?! I figured you were gonna say yes.”
“Do you want me to say yes?”
“No!”
The way we were standing left me in a bit of trouble. On one hand, I didn’t want to let go, ever, but on the other, if she kept talking in that low, sexy voice, she was going to know exactly how much I liked her when I impaled her hip bone.
“Daddy, I’m hungry!” Becca whined dramatically, stomping into the kitchen.
“Looks like you better let go now, huh?” Dani let her head fall back against my chest.
I leaned my chin against the side of her head. “Not until you agree to spend the day with us.”
“Please, Dani?” pleaded Becca, clasping her hands together as she tucked them under her chin. “Please, please, please.”
“As long as you promise to sit by me at breakfast?” Dani said to Becca. Becca reacted as I imagine she would if Dani told her she had bought her a bright pink unicorn that would follow her around, leaving a trail of Skittles and glitter wherever she went. Her eyes widened as big as I’d ever seen, and her mouth dropped open. “You want me to sit by you?”
“Of course! You’re my buddy,” Dani said warmly, earning herself another huge hug. I let go just as Becca threw her arms around Dani, and I walked over to the table to grab my coffee cup. Taking one last swig, I put it in the sink.
“Okay, let’s all go get ready and meet by the front door in thirty?”
“Sounds good to me,” Dani answered with a sexy smile, squeezing my hand as she walked past.
“Loser buys breakfast,” I called out, reluctantly letting go of her fingers.
She whipped around, staring at me wide-eyed. “Deal!” A wicked grin danced across her lips before she turned back and ran down the hall toward her room.
Making a mental note to talk to her about this sudden change later, I grabbed Becca, threw her over my shoulder, and sprinted up the steps, refusing to lose the front-door challenge.
I showered in record time and tossed shavin
g out the window, something I hardly ever did. After I threw on khaki shorts and my favorite Dave Matthews Band T-shirt from my college days, I sprinted into Logan’s room.
“Logan! Get up! We have to win!” I pushed his mattress down, shaking the hell out of it before hustling over to his dresser. I grabbed the first T-shirt and pair of shorts I could find and dropped them on his face as I ran from the room. “Put those on, hurry!”
I had to hold on to the door frame to keep from sprinting clear past Becca’s doorway.
“Becca? Where are you, baby?” My eyes scanned the room quickly.
“I’m over here, Daddy.”
Craning my neck toward the sound of her voice, I saw a few of her wild blonde curls sticking up from the floor at the end of her bed.
“What are you doing, honey? We gotta go.”
“I can’t,” she said sadly, shaking her head.
“What? Why?” I walked over and sat down next to her. She was sitting cross-legged, facing her doll cradle.
“Because my baby is sad. She’s hungry, too, and I can’t leave her here if she’s hungry.” She turned her head toward me, staring up at me with the saddest baby blues eyes I’d ever seen.
Drama queen.
“Okay, how about we take her with us to the restaurant?” I patted her shoulder and jumped up, hurrying toward her closet, thinking I’d taken care of the problem.
“Daddy, she’s so hungry she can’t even move. She needs to eat now,” she said incredulously, slightly scolding me. As I grabbed her favorite pink sundress off the hanger and laid it on her bed, she picked up her pretend baby bottle and started feeding the doll.
“Becca, honey. Please.”
She completely ignored me, happily feeding her baby.
“Don’t you want to go to breakfast with Dani?” I said, hoping the gentle reminder would pique her interest and get her butt moving.
“I do, after my baby eats.”
Time to regroup. “Okay, how about this. I’ll feed your baby while you get dressed. That way we can still beat Dani to the front door.” Thankfully, my daughter had inherited my competitive bone.
“Yeah!” she hissed excitedly, thrusting her doll and bottle into my arms. She whipped her pajamas off and threw the dress on faster than I ever saw any female change . . . ever.
“Brush your hair super fast, too,” I added.
After she grabbed her brush off her dresser, she turned to check on my progress with her doll. “Uh . . . Dad?” she said, pointing down toward my lap. I looked down, realizing that I had the bottle upside down.
“Oops, sorry.” I switched it quickly. “Ready to go?”
“Yep!” She pumped her arms up and down excitedly. “You carry her; I have to get my purse.”
The words left her mouth and I paused, staring down at the peachish-colored doll in my arms. I thought about arguing with her for a brief second but decided that I’d rather win the front door race than an argument with my six-year-old.
“Okay, I’m heading downstairs. Hurry up!” I called out as I ran down the hall, stopping briefly at Logan’s door. He was sitting on his bed, still half asleep as he tied his shoes.
“Ready, dude?”
“Mm-hmm,” he mumbled, frowning when he looked up at me.
Knowing he was referring to the doll in my hands, I just shook my head. “Don’t ask.”
We all ran down the stairs, and I celebrating, tempted to spike Becca’s doll on the ground, when I saw that Dani wasn’t there yet.
“We did it. We won!” I high-fived both of them. “Here, scoot in for a selfie. I’ll text it to her.” Logan and Becca pressed their cheeks against mine, and I held my phone out in front of us.
“Wait!” Becca shouted, just before I clicked the button. She reached down and grabbed her doll from me, lifting her so that she was in the picture, too.
I laughed out loud. “Okay, everyone smile.”
I took the picture of the three, make that four, of us and attached it with a text . . .
HA! How does it feel to lose?
I waited a second, looking back and forth between my phone and the kitchen area, half expecting her to walk around the corner with an adorable scowl on her face. Instead, my phone beeped. I looked down at the incoming text from Dani, also with a picture of her sitting on a bench that looked oddly familiar.
D: I don’t know, you tell me. Open the front door!
“What?” I exclaimed out loud, staring down at the picture. Logan saw the picture, too, and before I had a chance, he turned and opened the front door.
His eyes lit up. “Dad, she’s out here!”
Becca darted out the door with her baby tucked under her arm, jumping up and down. Clearly I needed to teach that kid that celebrations only happen when you win, not when you lose. I followed her out to the porch, shaking my head.
“What took you guys so long? I’ve been out here for like fifteen minutes already,” Dani gloated with a huge grin as she winked at me.
I held my hands up, defending my loss. “The odds were stacked against me. I had to get myself and two kids ready.”
She tilted her head to the side, rolling her eyes skeptically at me.
“And.” I argued again, “I had to feed Becca’s doll, because apparently she was starving, so I get credit for all of that.”
“Speaking of starving.” She stood up and flung her purse over her shoulder. She had on denim jean shorts and hot pink T-shirt and black flip-flops. It never ceased to amaze me how sexy she was, whether she was all made up with her hair and makeup done and in work clothes or with her hair tossed in a ponytail, going casual with barely any makeup. I constantly was changing my mind about which I liked better. “Who else is hungry?”
Hungry for what?
“Me!” called Becca and Logan in unison, raising their hands in the air.
“All right, let’s go.” I turned back real quick to make sure the door was locked, and we were off.
We scarfed down breakfast in record time, barely even talking because we were so busy stuffing our faces. Of course, Becca was attached to Dani’s side, but thankfully, Dani didn’t seem to mind. Those two were quickly becoming two peas in a pod.
After breakfast we all plopped on the bench outside of the restaurant, trying to figure out what to do next.
“The Bouncy Bandit. Pleeeeeeeease,” Becca pleaded.
Dani took her sunglasses off the top of her head and slid them onto her nose as she turned toward me. “What’s The Bouncy Bandit?”
I took a deep breath and exhaled through my nose, not wanting Becca to hear me. “It’s one of those bouncy house places, but they also have extreme trampolining in a separate room.”
“Fun!” Dani exclaimed.
“Seriously?” I stared at her incredulously.
“See, Dad! Dani wants to go to,” added Becca.
“You don’t really, do you?” I mumbled to Dani quietly.
“Sure. Why not? You fuddy-duddy.”
I jerked my head back. “Did you just call me a fuddy-duddy? What are you, ninety-five years old?”
She arched one eyebrow at me as she rolled her tongue in between her top teeth and lip. “Call me what you want, I’m not the one who doesn’t want to go jump around for a couple of hours.”
“Is that so?” I asked playfully. “Bet I last longer than you do.”
“Oh boy!” She threw her head back and laughed loudly. “Now you’re on. What’s the wager? I mean, you already had to buy me breakfast, so I really don’t want to take any more of your money today.”
The feistier she was, the more I wanted her. “Tonight, after I put these two knuckleheads to bed, let’s watch a movie. Whoever bounces the longest without stopping gets to pick the movie.”
“Hmmm.” She tilted her head to the side and pressed her lips together tightly, thinking about my offer. “I like that. And I hope you like movies like Gone with the Wind, Steel Magnolias, and Beaches.”
“As a matter of fact, they’re my f
avorite,” I joked. “But when I win, you’re going to be spending the night with Jason Statham and Arnold Schwarzenegger.”
“I think I’m gonna beat both of you,” Logan teased with a wicked smile.
“Oh man, it’s on.” I laughed and shook my head.
While they all went to the car, I made a quick detour to let Gavin and his partner for the day, Samuel, know what our plans were.
We got to The Bouncy Bandit, and luckily for us, the place was pretty dead. Everyone else was outside enjoying one of the last few beautiful days of the summer, which we would have been smart to do, too, but we had a bet to settle, so no going back now.
None of us were wearing socks, so we just tossed our sandals into one of the lockers together.
Before I even had a chance to tell them to be careful, Becca and Logan were off, bouncing around the room like a couple of kangaroos.
“So.” Dani walked over with her arms crossed over her chest. “Do we have any ground rules, or are we just going?”
“Let’s just go . . . unless, of course, you’re chickening out?” I challenged, wiggling my eyebrows up and down.
“Not even close, my friend,” she scoffed. With a wicked flick of her eye, she stuck her hand out for me to shake. “May the best jumper last the longest.”
The first half an hour was pretty easy. Logan came over and bounced around with me. We made a giant hopscotch-type game with a detailed point system that helped pass the time for a little bit. Even during our game, I kept a close eye on Dani, who was jumping around with Becca. Not only did she not look as winded as I felt, she looked like she was going to be able to keep going for a long time. It was then that I realized I might have bitten off more than I could chew.
“How you doing?” Dani hopped over with a smile on her face, clearly gloating.
“I’m fine,” I answered, trying desperately to control my breathing.
She giggled. “Yeah? You don’t look fine.”
“How often do you work out?” I asked as nonchalantly as possible.
She laughed again, totally picking up what I was putting down. “I haven’t gone lately because of all the craziness, but I typically go to spin class five times a week.”
