by Debra Kayn
Gary wished he could explain better to put Drew at ease. But he understood Drew’s frustration, and that’s why he’d kept his hands off Angie for years.
“I’d expect you to. I’m not trying to hurt her, but if she and I keep going at it during the season, she could end up losing her job. She’s under contract. So am I. We can’t have a personal relationship beyond working together,” he said. “I’ve told her we have to wait, but she wants to keep it secret, and I’m finding it harder than anything I’ve ever done to stay away from her.”
The door swung open. Gary turned and hated that he’d broken his word and told Drew first. Maybe now Angie would realize how serious he was.
“Drew.” Angie dropped her bag and ran across the room, throwing herself into Drew’s arms. “You’re early.”
“Yeah.” Drew kissed her cheek. “Been catching up with Gary. So, you’re sleeping with my best friend.”
Angled bugged her eyes out at Gary. “Um, surprise.”
Gary stood. “Angie, listen to—”
A knock came at the door. Gary cussed. “I’ll get it.”
The last thing he needed was company coming during what he knew would be a heated discussion. Drew was only staying through the evening, and then heading back to Deadhorse. That gave them all little time to straighten out two lives.
He opened the door and clenched his teeth.
An older version of Drew stood in front of him. Except, Angie and Drew’s father had less hair on his head, wore glasses, and his middle protruded more since the last time Gary had seen him.
“Gary.” Teak held out his hand, ushering two small kids into the room.
He shook Teak’s hand and sidestepped the little girl. He hadn’t seen Angie’s half siblings before, or the leggy red-haired woman who trailed in smiling at him.
“This is my wife, Jojo.” Teak walked past him. “Hell, I didn’t know we were having a family reunion.”
Teak threw his arms around Drew, moved to Angie and spoke low, kissing her cheek, and then stepped over to hang his arm around his wife. Gary approached the group, thinking he’d stepped into hell.
Never a fan of Teak Swanson, he wondered how the man knew where to find his family and why he was here. From what he’d collected from Angie, Teak only showed up if he needed something.
The last thing they needed were more problems to solve.
Chapter Seventeen
Angie held her sister, Tabby, on her lap, while her brother, Tyler, sat beside her playing with her phone. She mouthed sorry across the room to Gary. It was true she had told her dad she’d watch the kids if he figured out where she could take them during the day while she was working. It was only for two nights, and she’d promised him she’d babysit before she’d decided not to move out of Gary’s condo.
With all the chaos with their relationship, practice, and worrying about Drew’s reaction, she’d forgotten to tell Gary about her agreeing to keep the kids if her dad couldn’t find an ulterior plan.
Like usual, her dad half worked out a new plan. Somehow he’d found a woman who lived two condos down from Gary to babysit while Angie worked, but she still had to take care of the kids when she was home at Gary’s.
“Can we go swimming?” Tyler brushed his long bangs out of his eyes.
At six years old, he took his duty as advisor and older brother seriously—often times being rude and bossy, and not taking no for an answer. Angie patted his thin leg. “We’ll see.”
“I don’t wanna swim,” whined Tabby. At four years old, she rarely wanted to do anything that might hurt, scare, or excite her.
“Let’s finish talking to your parents and then we’ll decide,” Angie said.
Drew shook his head at Angie and frowned at Gary. “It’s my sister’s career,” he said, picking up their conversation where they’d left off. “I’ll stay in town and help her find an apartment.”
For the next ten minutes, her relationship with Gary led to a debate with all her family members on how to run her life. She ignored the lot of them, because at the end of the day, it didn’t matter what they thought was best for her. She wanted to stay here, and keep her relationship with Gary secret. It was a gamble she was willing to take to stay close to Gary.
“You’re not helping me find a place to live.” Angie smiled at Tabby and ticked her belly. “Grownups are so funny, aren’t they?”
“She can stay at our house.” Teak rocked back on his heels. “We’ll put the kids together and she can have Tyler’s room.”
“I’m not moving in with you, Dad.” Angie rolled her eyes. “What none of you are doing is listening to me. I hate when you do that.”
“I think she’s doing the right thing.” Jojo wrapped her arms around Teak, and smiled at Angie.
“Thanks.” Angie grinned back.
“I’ll go to a hotel, while Angie stays here. We’ve got two weeks until the first game. After that we’ll be on the road and our schedule will change again.” Gary stood.
Angie set Tabby beside her and stood, blocking Gary’s retreat. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“Ang, it’s for the best.” Gary looked at the others before turning his attention back to her and lowering his voice. “What kind of man would I be if I let you take the fall for me? There’s nothing I can do, short of walking away from the team, which I can’t do, so I’ll stay at the Hyatt. A couple of the other guys stay there during the season. It’s no big deal. If anyone asks me why I’m not living at home, I’ll tell them I’m remodeling and it interrupts my sleep.”
“No big deal? You’d be lying again.” She shook her head in disbelief. “This is messed up.”
Gary looked at the kids. “You need to stay here. It’s better for them.”
“Don’t. Do. It,” she whispered. “Don’t.”
He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I need to.”
Gary walked out of the room. She turned on everyone else. “Thanks a lot.”
“Sis…” Drew approached her. “It’s only until the contract is over. What Gary is saying makes sense. Your career is too important to throw it away for something so new. You’ll have time afterward, when you’ve got two years of working with the Seahawks on your résumé and can move to a different job.”
“Bullshit,” she hissed, so the kids wouldn’t overhear. “You’re not thinking about me or Gary. You just want to solve our problem. This won’t help anything.”
Furious, she fought the tears that threatened to come. Not one of them understood how she was feeling. No one asked her what she wanted. No one cared. Not even Gary.
Maybe Jojo understood, but when it came to her and Drew, she stayed out of their business.
Gary was taking the easy way out, just like her father always did. She clamped her lips together. He’d told her in many ways that he wasn’t cut out to be her boyfriend. Well, he proved it by caving to everyone else.
Let him run away. She wasn’t going to go crawling back to him, because the man she loved was never going to leave her. Period.
“Hey, kids.” Angie kneeled down in front of them. “Why don’t we go swimming?”
Tyler jumped up and punched the air. “Yes!”
“No!” Tabby moved toward her and threw her arms around her neck.
Angie picked up her sister, groaning under the weight. Geez, when did these kids grow so big?
“How about you and me sit at the side of the pool and watch your brother swim?” she asked.
Tabby nodded against her neck. Angie turned to her dad. “Can you bring their bags in?”
Angie had Tyler dressed in his shorts and out the door in less than five minutes with strict orders that everyone needed to leave the house while she was gone. Fed up with everyone, and unable to figure out what to do about Gary, she wanted alone time to think. Alone time with two young kids in need of attention.
From the outside pool area, she kept one eye on Tyler in the shallow part of the pool and the other eye on the road that swept beside the chain-link fence
. Drew left first, then her dad and his wife, and last, Gary drove off in his car.
“Angie, why you sad?” Tabby patted her cheeks, trying to pull the corners of Angie’s mouth upward.
She forced a smile. “Because you've grown so big, since I saw you a few weeks ago. You're practically all grown up. Soon you're going to be a pretty young lady who is going to steal my boyfriends in a few years.”
Inside, she wished Tabby were twenty years older, a sister closer to her age who would understand how much she wanted to pick up one of the lawn chairs sitting around the pool and throw it at someone. Especially if that person was named Gary and big as a house.
Instead, she was stuck stealing comfort from a four-year-old.
“You’re squeezin’ too tight,” Tabby said.
“Sorry, sweetie.” She relaxed her hold and nodded toward the pool. “Our brother is half fish, isn’t he?”
Tabby giggled. “That’s what Daddy says.”
For the next three hours, she sat watching Tyler flip, float, and splash in the pool. Tabby fell asleep on her lap after a half hour, giving her a lot of time to think. One thing that was apparent in all her back and forth reasonings on what went wrong today was Gary had a sense of chivalry that crushed normal men.
He wanted to protect her. Fine.
He wanted to save her from having her heart broken. Fine.
He wanted to take control of their relationship. Fine.
He wanted to walk away without listening to what she wanted. Hell no.
Chapter Eighteen
Tyler ran past the coffee table, whooshing the papers Angie had spread out on the surface onto the floor. She grabbed the back of his T-shirt and hauled him back onto her lap.
“Ten minutes of remaining in one spot. That’s all I ask.” She kissed the side of his face, making him squirm. “Why don’t you find all the pillows in the house and line them up in the hallway. Take your sister and pretend you’re walking on clouds. Can you do that for me, buddy?”
He nodded and scooted away from her. “Come on, Tab. Let’s go play.”
Angie stuck her lower lip out and blew the stray hairs out of her vision. After spending all evening entertaining the kids, and staying up half the night with Tabby who decided she didn’t like sleeping in the spare bedroom and wanted to sleep with her, she was behind on getting her reports filled out on the treatment of the players under her care. They were due tomorrow.
She crawled around the coffee table, picking up papers, trying to put them in order, when the door opened. Her heart raced.
Gary stood inside, looking more delicious than yesterday. Not that she was going to tell him that. She was still mad.
“What are you doing here?” She put the papers down and pulled herself onto the couch to find the pen she’d had in her hand a moment ago and was now missing.
“It’s my home,” he said.
“I know that.” She shoved her fingers between the cushions and dug out the pen. “I mean, I figured you’d stay away in your hurry to get away from me. Did you forget to take everything with you to the hotel?”
Tabby shrieked, breaking the tension. Angie hurried down the hallway and came to an erupt halt. Not only had Tyler put all the pillows in the hallway, but also the towels from the bathroom, and as many clothes as he could haul by himself in five short minutes. Tabby stood there covered from head to toe with dirty clothes.
“Geez, Ty. Please tell me you’re going to pick this mess up.” She pulled Gary’s jersey off Tabby’s head, so she could breathe.
“We’re trying to build a fort, and she’s propping the middle up.” Tyler kicked everything into a pile. “We need it bigger, but it keeps falling.”
“Listen, kids. No more clothes. Play with what is out here, and then I’ll give you ice cream if you build something really cool and safe. I don’t want anyone suffocating. Just give me a few moments to do my job, ’kay?” She waited, and finally Tyler nodded.
She turned to go back into the living room and ran into Gary. “Sorry.”
“I’ll keep them out of your hair. You go work,” he said.
“Are you sure?” She glanced over her shoulder. “They’re a handful.”
Gary studied her brother and sister. “I can do it.”
“Thanks.” She hurried into the other room before he could change his mind.
Her job required hands-on work, but every two weeks she filled out the progress charts for the physical therapists. For insurance reasons, they needed to keep a tight record of all treatments for the players to qualify to play and pass their physical. With the first game coming up in less than a week, it was necessary for her to do the work today.
An hour and a half later, she was finally done. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. A small headache grabbed hold, and she pushed herself off the floor and went in search of some aspirin in the kitchen.
After she downed the glass of water, she took out the ice cream to let it get soft enough to scoop. She owed Gary. When she’d started, she thought she’d get done faster but the coding threw her off. Most of the players were privately insured and she wasn’t familiar with lingo required for the company and needed to make sure she verified each one.
Making her way down the hallway, she cocked her head, wondering what they were doing so quietly. She stepped into Gary’s bedroom and peered at the multiple blankets hung around the room.
From the high bedpost to the dresser handle, and the closet door to the bathroom door. Gary had turned the bedroom into a makeshift circus tent with tunnels. She got down on her hands and knees, winding her way through the maze, over pillows, under a sheet, and squirming her way to the other side of the bed.
There she stopped, lay down on her belly, and took in the sight.
Gary lay on his back asleep. An open playbook dropped on his chest. Tyler lay beside Gary with his head on Gary’s stomach, snoring softly. She swallowed hard, her attitude toward Gary softening at the sight of her man. Because any man who would let a little girl curl up under his arm and put her little cheek on his shoulder and read a football playbook to a young boy who craved male attention would always have a special place in her heart. Even when he made her mad.
Looking at the scene in front of her, she wondered why Gary believed he wasn’t a good example for kids or feared he’d fail in parenting like his mother or the numerous foster parents he’d unfortunately had. Kids were simple. They required love, attention, and guidance. He exceeded the requirements.
Not once had her dad built blanket forts with her that she could remember, and she still loved him. Sure, her dad was a little flighty and irresponsible, but she’d grown up okay. Tyler and Tabby were handling life fine too, and knew how much they were loved.
Despite Gary’s upbringing, he had the tools to be a terrific father. She shifted, preparing to turn around and leave them all to their nap when Gary whispered, “Hey.”
“Hey, you,” she whispered back. “Think you can get out of here without waking them?”
He slid his arm out from under Tabby, putting her head on a spare blanket. Then he rearranged Tyler. She turned around and crawled back through the maze, popping out at the door.
Gary followed her into the kitchen. She put away the ice cream, hoping the kids would stay asleep for a while.
“Thanks for watching them. I didn’t think it would take that long.” She shoved her hands in her back pockets. “That was quite the fort you built in the bedroom.”
He shrugged. “When you grow up sharing a bedroom with four others, you learn how to construct ways to find privacy. I excelled at fort building as long as I had blankets and cardboard boxes, and could tie a knot.”
She leaned against the counter. “You don’t talk about your life with your foster family. Was it so horrible?”
“It wasn’t hard or easy.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I was fed and had a place to sleep. My foster parents had anywhere from four to eight kids under their care while I stayed with them. They
enjoyed the money they received from the state. I survived.”
“No love,” she murmured.
He grunted. “No. Which gives me nothing to go on in my own life. I don’t know how to handle what is happening between us, and all I’m doing is hurting you. That’s the last thing I want to happen, Ang. I want us to go back to what we had. Friendship. I’d rather have that than be kicked out of your life because I made the stupid decision to sleep with you.”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t mean that the way it came out,” she said.
He shook his head. “I loved having you in my bed, but I’m scared of not having you in my life as much as you are afraid of losing me…don’t you see?”
She took two steps and stood in front of him. She placed her hands on his stomach. He tensed, but she refused to let him retreat. “What I see is a man who cares so much for me he’s willing to make his own life hell if it means I’ll be happier without him. What you’re not hearing is I’m not happy without you.”
“Ang…” he muttered.
“No. You’ve told me how you feel, and I get it. I do.” She moved her hands up to his chest and leaned against him. “But you’re not seeing and believing what I’m experiencing. You tell me you have no confidence in making a relationship work. I know differently, because I’ve had the man who stayed by my side when I needed him most. Baby, you’d sit in the hallway night after night, so I could sleep without panicking. I had no idea of your feelings back then, and you still led with your heart.”
“I couldn’t leave you alone,” he said, cupping her face.
“I know that now.” She softened. “You told me you weren’t father material, and I saw proof in your bedroom that you are. I don’t remember my father ever playing with me or taking the time to read a play book to me.”
“I wasn’t reading the plays. I made up some stupid story about bears—for Tyler—and glittery fairies for Tabby. I don’t even know what fairies are.” He sighed. “I just talked, that’s all. I had no idea what I was doing or saying.”
She nodded as he talked, blinking back the tears. “Because you led with your heart. That’s what I’m telling you. You can be scared and have second guesses about what you’re doing, but your heart doesn’t steer you wrong. You might not have children—”
