Kellie laughed, buoyed by Autumn’s quip. “I was having lunch with Quinton, a guy you don’t know about, and we followed you. He’s in the truck.”
“Oh, Quinton?” Autumn leaned around her and waved at the idling truck. “Is he cute?”
“Yeah, he’s hot.” Kellie chuckled and glanced over her shoulder. “He’s got to get back to work, and I have an appointment I’m going to be late for. Call me later and fill me in. We can work out the details. Maybe you can come in and work on some of your backlogged clients or something.”
“Mom’s waiting on food.” Autumn gestured at the brown bags sitting in the passenger seat. “Thanks for running me down.”
“Please don’t make me do it again.”
Autumn tossed her head back and laughed, a spark of herself coming back into place. “I think we should. It would be fun.”
“No, oh no. I’ll catch you later.”
“Bye, Kellie. Thanks for kicking my ass.”
“Anytime.”
Kellie jogged back to the truck and jumped in, free of one weight. Quin’s hand reached for hers, threading their fingers together.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I think it’s going to be fine.”
* * * * *
Quin steeled his nerve and knocked on the front door. He didn’t wait for an answer but pushed it open. “Hello?”
“In here,” Penny called.
Well, at least she was talking to him.
He shut the door and stepped through the archway on his right. The dining room table was covered with crayons and coloring books. He spared a smile for the Mortal Kombat one. Josie had presented him with several pages, artistically colored and labeled as Daddy.
The galley kitchen connected to the dining room through another archway. He leaned his shoulder against the wall and watched Penny pour cereal into a plastic container then place it inside a pink-and-red ladybug lunch bag.
“You know, standing there and staring is a little creepy.” She glanced over her shoulder but didn’t smile.
“Didn’t want to interrupt.” He held up his hands.
Penny gasped. “What happened to your face?”
He winced and lifted a hand to his brow. “Oh this? Got in a little scuffle training a few guys last night. Caught a knee to my forehead. It’s only three stitches.”
She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at him, but a high-pitched squealing sound that can only be achieved by a pair of three-year-old female lungs arrested both of their attention.
“Daddy!” Josie barreled down the length of the kitchen and launched herself at his legs, chanting, “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!”
He looked down at the waif of a person. These interactions always stumped him. What did one do with a child? “Come up here, you.” Quin hooked his hands under Josie’s arms and lifted her to perch on his side. She clung to his neck, grinning and giggling.
Penny folded her arms over her chest and rested her hip against the counter, watching.
“I missed you, Daddy.”
“I missed you too, Lady Bug.” He smoothed her wild curls from her forehead and dropped a kiss on her brow.
“Josie, did you finish your breakfast yet?” Penny asked.
Josie buried her face against his neck and giggled. It was difficult not to laugh at her antics, but he swallowed down the desire to smile. He wanted to give her everything, refuse her nothing. This tiny person was part of him, someone he’d helped create, and she was perfect. At least until she took Sharpie markers to the mirrors at the gym again.
“Lady Bug, if you don’t eat your breakfast, you aren’t going to be able to play today. Didn’t you say you wanted to go to the park?”
She nodded dramatically, almost cracking her head against his jaw.
“How about you go and finish your breakfast while I talk to Mommy?”
Josie put a finger to her chin, a cheeky grin slowly pulling the corner of her lips up.
Quin laughed, succumbing to her charming nature and put her down. “Go eat.”
“Okay.” She pivoted and ran out into the living room.
He peered over the bar to where Josie had settled on the floor at a small folding table with what looked like a bowl of cereal. He could feel Penny reading him. He didn’t know if getting pregnant had given her Mom Sense or if it was something that she’d been born with. Penny had a way about her that made him feel as if she could see beneath his skin, peel back the layers and examine the parts he’d rather not think about.
“You need to take her today.” Penny’s tone of voice allowed no argument.
“What? Pen, she can’t come to the gym, it’s not safe and I’m not a babysitter.”
“No, you’re her father and you never spend time with her.”
“I do too. I’m here now.”
“For how long?”
He didn’t reply immediately.
Penny folded her arms over her chest. “How long, Quin?”
“I came by to talk to you so you wouldn’t keep being pissed at me.”
“When was the last time you spent a whole day with Josie?”
His father had rarely spent a full day with him, and he’d preferred it that way. Why would Josie want to be with him when she could be playing? He didn’t know the first thing about kids.
“Penny, she does not want to hang out with me all day. She’ll be bored.”
Penny turned toward the refrigerator and snatched a piece of paper off, scattering magnets and shoved it into his hands. He glanced down at a pair of stick figures labeled Daddy and Josie. Red blobs surrounded them, which he could only assume were punching bags.
“She asks to go see you all the time. Do you know how hard it is to tell her that I can’t because Daddy is busy? You’re making me the bad guy here, and it’s not fair. You aren’t a horrible father, you’re a hell of a lot better than most, but you need to spend more time with her.”
He stared at the crayon drawing. How could he argue with this?
Didn’t he love Josie as much as Kellie loved her grandmother? Kellie sacrificed everything for her grandmother.
“Yeah, okay. We’ll try it today.”
Penny visibly relaxed and studied him. “Who is she?”
His spine straightened. “What are you talking about?”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh please, do not try to hide things from me. I see your daughter do those same things you do, so there is no fooling me. Out with it.”
How the hell did Penny do that? She had the mom routine down with her psychic knowing of shit he hadn’t even mentioned. He shoved the drawing back at her. “God, can I at least get a cup of coffee?”
“Fine. Sit.” She pointed at the breakfast nook, with its quaint parson’s style table and padded chairs. Placemats marked where the family of three sat at mealtime.
Quin took one of the seats without a placemat. Despite having a good relationship with Penny’s husband, he did everything possible not to cause waves. Even avoiding his chair at the table. He wanted them to make it. Penny deserved someone who loved her. He hadn’t been able to.
He watched her pull down the mugs, standing on tiptoe to reach them, and fill both with steaming black coffee. If Kellie were in the same room, he wouldn’t be able to look away from her.
“Spill it.” She plunked the mug down in front of him and sank into her customary seat. One leg crossed over the other and she hooked an arm over the back of the chair.
“Is this necessary?”
“You’ve been so focused on the gym and fights that you haven’t done anything else. If there’s a woman in your life it’s a good thing. Tell me about her.”
“How do you even know there is a her? How do you do that?”
“I just know you.”
“But how do you do that?”
Penny snorted and sipped her coffee. “Like I’m going to tell you. Stop stalling. Josie’s going to be done with her cartoons soon and I want to know everything. What’s her name?”
“What did you do? Did you already screw up this relationship? How long have you been seeing her?”
“It’s not really a relationship, and I’ve known her for almost two weeks. More like a week and a half. It’s not a big deal.”
“You’re scowling. It is a big deal. So why are you being a commitment-phobe?”
“Why do you think I’m the one with issues?”
“Because you’re hiding something, mister.”
He stared down into his mug. If he was going to admit to anyone that he’d screwed up, it should be Penny. Sure, they fought and got under each other’s skin, but they were friends. Family even. He sipped his too hot coffee and slouched down in his chair.
“She’s the granddaughter of the guy who started the gym I bought. I told you about all the vandalism. Well, I thought she might have done it. The local Asian community hasn’t really liked me coming in and buying what they considered theirs. I went to see her and got her to start this tattoo. We fooled around a little a few times, and that’s the extent of our relationship.”
“Okay, so what aren’t you telling me?”
“Gosh, Mom.”
She chuckled and sipped her coffee.
“She doesn’t know I own the gym. I don’t know how she’ll handle that news.”
“But you care what her reaction will be.”
He nodded. It was a niggling fact that had bothered him since this charade began. He wanted to be honest with her, and yet he’d begun with a lie.
“So what about her? Is she into you?”
“I guess.”
“You guess? You don’t know?” Penny’s eyebrows raised, disbelief written plainly on her face, from the wide eyes to the mouth hanging slightly agape.
“It’s complicated, Pen. She’s really busy. Owns her own business. Takes care of her grandmother. I’ve only known her two weeks and already I can understand her point that she doesn’t have time for me. And really, I shouldn’t let anything distract me from the upcoming fight. I don’t have time for a relationship.”
“But you have to live a little too. You can’t be all work all the time. Are you booty-calling her or are you more friends with benefits?”
“Honestly? I don’t know.”
“So be friends with benefits. If you both like each other, it’ll work itself out.”
“Yeah, maybe.” He didn’t like where he sat with Kellie, but he’d made the mess. He’d have to figure out how to fix it, or else he could add her to the list of people who wanted to see him fail.
“All done with my cereal, Mommy.” Josie carried her bowl to the table and set it down in front of Penny.
“And look, you drank all the milk too.”
“Yup.”
Penny pulled Josie up into her lap. “You want to spend the day with Daddy today?”
“Yes!” Josie grinned at him, a strip of white lining her upper lip.
“Let’s go get your stuff, Lady Bug.” Quin stood, his focus on his daughter. There was time to figure out Kellie later. “You’ll come pick her up at the gym tonight, right?”
“I’ll be there,” Penny replied.
* * * * *
Kellie wiped her station down, tuning out the hushed argument happening in Pandora’s corner. The sound of Mary’s machine humming along helped drown it out for the most part.
“So what are you doing tonight?” Mary asked without looking up from the stylized text she was tattooing on a Hispanic man’s shoulders. He was the big, silent type, who hadn’t flinched or even acknowledged the kiss of the needle since she’d begun.
“I figured I would stick around and help you guys out. Maybe do payroll.” She was supposed to have Tuesdays off, but with the shop reopening and Autumn’s absence, she’d been working every day of the week.
“It’s Tuesday. It’ll be slow. Vete.”
Kellie folded her arms across her chest. “You say that now, but when a whole group walks in the door you’ll wish I was here.”
“Then they can wait their turn.” Mary glanced up from the tattoo. “You need to go. You’ve been working too hard to cover our asses.”
She could argue and stay, but she didn’t want to. She’d been trapped inside the shop for too many days, her only trips into the outside world to go home for a few hours or fuck like bunnies with Quin.
“Fine, I’m going to do a few things in the office then I’m gone.”
“See you ladies later,” Brian called from the front of the shop, one hand on the door.
“Bye, Brian.” Kellie waved, but her attention was already on Pandora, who was bent over the table, a smile on her lips. Whatever they’d been arguing about, either Pandora won or they figured it out.
Kellie gathered her things and went back to the office. Sam sat at Mary’s desk doing his summer school work.
“Hey, Sam.”
The teen grunted at her and continued scribbling away with a pencil.
She stood next to her desk, feeling listless. Payroll didn’t have to be done for another few days. The books were balanced, the latest order waiting for delivery. There was nothing she needed to do. Which left what she wanted to do.
Digging her phone out of her bag, she ignored the text messages and flipped to her contacts. She hadn’t called Jacob in a while, but they were practically neighbors. His grandmother was one of the triad of women who had helped care for Grandma. The phone rang several times before going over to voicemail.
“Hey, Jacob, it’s Kellie. I was going to take you up on your offer to show me the gym. Give me a call back. I have tonight off if you’re free.”
Her phone beeped with an incoming call. She glanced at the screen and chuckled as she switched lines.
“I was leaving a message for you,” she said as she gathered her things into her work bag with one hand.
“Noticed. What’s up, Cho Hee?”
Kellie rolled her eyes and slung her bag over her shoulder. “Bye, Sam.” She switched to Korean as she exited the building into the blistering afternoon heat. “I was going to go by the gym today, wondered if you were going to be around.”
He didn’t reply for a moment. “I’m finishing my afternoon training. I could hang around and work out with you.”
“I’m not going to do a lot, just wanted to, you know, see the place.” She unlocked the Cube and shoved her bag over to the passenger-side seat.
“Is Shin still pressuring you about talking to the owner?”
“I don’t want to even hear his name. Anyway, I’m going to go grab a change of clothes and I’ll come by.”
“I’ll be here.”
* * * * *
Quin eyed another van passing the perimeter of the park.
“Daddy! Daddy! Look at me!”
He whipped his head around as Josie slid down the short slide. He hadn’t liked the look of the bigger one and had forbid her going down it alone, so she’d made several trips down the smaller one. She stopped at the end, her little legs dangling off and grinned up at him.
All of the other parents sat on benches lining the play area. He’d tried that, but Josie kept running out of his line of sight, and what if one of the other kids hurt her?
She stared up at him as if expecting him to say or do something. Pink tulle stuck out on all sides from the tutu Penny hadn’t made her take off before leaving. He had no idea how to handle this.
“Good job, Lady Bug.” He held up his hand for a high five and she bounced to her feet and slapped her palm against his.
Her skin was growing pink and it felt as though the heat was baking him from the inside out. He’d stopped at the park after leaving Penny’s out of desperation. He could
n’t take Josie to the gym, so he’d left the morning practices to Oscar, grabbed some snow cones and here they were, two hours later.
“You about ready for lunch?” Kids had to eat, didn’t they?
“I want chocolate.”
“That sounds good, but I think you have to eat something before cake. How about some chicken strips?”
Josie latched on to his hand with both of hers and nodded, her whole body weaving back and forth with the motion.
“Chicken it is.” He started to walk toward the truck, but Josie tugged on his hand. Quin peered down at her. “Something wrong?”
She lifted her hands and wiggled her fingers at him. He could feel the gazes of the other parents lining the play area judging him. No, he didn’t look like father of the year, but he always made sure Josie had what she needed.
“Want something, squirt?”
Josie lifted up on tiptoes and leaned against his leg. Her lip was pinched between her teeth and her eyes danced with an inner light that fascinated him.
“If you use your big girl words maybe I’ll understand you.”
“Daddy.” She dragged the word out over several seconds. “Pick me up.”
“Is that what you want? Well okay.”
He swung her up to his hip and trekked across the park to his truck. He’d never had a car seat in it before. He got Josie securely buckled in, checked and double-checked the belts before circling around to the driver’s seat. Josie was already listing to the side, her eyes drifting closed.
Quin managed to order food and get to the gym without incident. Josie even perked up a little after her catnap. He was juggling the food and Josie, who once again demanded to be carried, when Mouse emerged from the front of the gym—with the puppy.
“Hey, Coach.” Mouse held the leash away from his body.
“Mouse, what is that dog doing in the gym?”
“Puppy! Puppy, puppy, puppy.” Josie began wiggling furiously. “I wanna pet the puppy.”
“No, Lady Bug.” He didn’t know if the dog was up-to-date on shots, if it was friendly or anything except that he wasn’t crazy about Mouse being responsible for something that needed food and water at regular intervals.
The Harder He Falls: 2 (So Inked) Page 13