“I can’t tell you what you mean to me,” he whispers hoarsely. “Because I can’t even process it at this point. But I will never be able to thank you enough.”
“Go,” I say simply and give him one more quick, soft kiss, because I am drowning in my own feelings for him. “Get her home.”
He nods but it’s reluctant. Even with everything going on he still wants to take care of me. “I’ll be fine. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
He nods, kisses me one last time, and drives away.
26
Griffin
The Thunder lost both games on the road, and now we’re no longer in a playoff position. We have two more weeks to clinch a spot, which means we’re fighting for our life next game and every game until the end of the season. By default that means I didn’t get to go straight home when the plane landed. Coach was pissed and called an immediately practice. Not one player was happy about it, but no one dared complain. I was no different, even though for the first time in a long time I have more than Charlie as a reason to want to rush home.
Sadie and I have called and texted throughout the trip. Our bond after the incident in the ER is stronger than ever. She’s explained everything to me, and I realize she basically risked her job because she thought my daughter’s well-being was in jeopardy. I will never be able to thank her for that. But I will never stop trying.
Practice goes well. Eli looks solid, as always, and the losses weren’t on him. Eli let in a total of eight goals over three games, but the defense was a disaster. One of the goals was even tipped in off our own player. I meet with the head coach after practice and reiterate my feelings to him. He’s grumpy, but he agrees with me. He just hates losing, because the Thunder aren’t used to it, and neither is he. I don’t want anyone to get used to it.
Two and half hours after landing, I can finally head home, just in time to hit rush-hour traffic. We have two days before the next game, but there will still be practice. I text Sadie before I get in my car and tell her I’m heading over to get Charlie and that I can’t wait to see her tomorrow, since she’s working tonight. I make a point to ask her how her dad is and how she’s holding up. I know she won’t give me the most honest answer, but she’s more honest with me than anyone else.
I hop in the SUV and drive straight to Hunter’s. They live in the back half of an old Victorian, so you have to walk through the backyard to get to their front door. As I knock I can see into their tiny living room through the half-moon window in the door. Mia is home with Charlie, and Lauren is there too. At first I feel like I must have fallen into a black hole and gone back a decade because Mia and Lauren are sitting on the couch, smiling at each other over cups of tea. They haven’t done that since a few years before the divorce. Charlie is plopped down in the middle of the overstuffed bean bag chair, her eyes glued to Brave, which is playing on the TV.
Mia waves at me to come in. I use the key they gave me to open the door, and I step inside. Lauren looks completely different from that night in the ER parking lot. She’s in brown suede leggings and a white sweater. Her makeup is perfect, and her hair is too. But most important, she’s calm and even smiles at me, without contempt. I nod at her and walk over to Charlie. “Hey, honey! I’m back!”
“Hi, Daddy! Missed you,” she says, but her eyes don’t leave the TV. Oh, God, I’ve created a monster. I look over at Mia, who stands up and hits the off button on the TV. Charlie looks like someone just murdered her class hamster.
“We have to go pack you up,” Mia explains. “Sorry, but I think you know how it ends.”
“But I wanted to see the part where she—”
“Charlie, no sass-talking your aunt. Do what she’s asking,” Lauren says in a quiet but firm voice.
Charlie groans in protest but gets up and follows Mia out of the room. Mia squeezes my arm as she passes. I wait until I know they’re out of earshot, and then I face Lauren. “Thank you for canceling the hearing.”
She nods and puts her half-empty teacup on the coffee table. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“No. You didn’t.”
She stands up. “I’m not moving to New York. Cale and I are done.”
I feel a hundred pounds lighter at that declaration. Lauren looks pretty upset by it but also resolved. The one thing I still admire about my ex-wife is that when she makes a decision she follows through on it. She’s not the least bit wishy-washy. She looks me square in the eye. “Just to be clear, Cale wasn’t at my home when it happened. His roommate called and woke me up to tell me after he called 911, and so I raced to the hospital. I had to bring Charlie with me because I couldn’t leave her home alone.”
“You could have called me. I would have gone over there and stayed until you got back, and Charlie could have slept through the night,” I tell her flatly.
“You were working,” she counters. “I still know the Thunder’s schedule, Griffin.”
After a brief silence of us just staring at each other, she sighs. “I never would have let her near him if I knew what he was into,” Lauren tells me, and I can feel the guilt that’s radiating off of her. “She is the most important thing in my life.”
“I know,” I say. “So now what?”
“I’m willing to go back to the original joint custody agreement if you will,” Lauren says, and her hazel eyes are filled with fear. She thinks I’m going to make a play for full custody now, and she knows I have reason to. “I made a mistake with Cale, but I’ve learned from it and I will never do that again.”
“We have to do better—with each other,” I reply, and I’m including myself in that statement. “Which is why I’m telling you I’m going to officially introduce Charlie to Sadie, because she’s my girlfriend and it’s serious.”
“The girl from the parking lot?” Lauren looks like she is going to start spitting nails any minute.
I stand my ground. “Yes. And she is an amazing person, and you’ll have to meet her officially one day too, because she’s going to be around for a while.”
This takes a few seconds for Lauren to absorb. I use that time to repeat what I said earlier because I meant it. “We need to do better. Be kinder to each other and work as a team, because we owe that to Charlie. That means complete disclosure and we talk things out and come to agreements.”
“I don’t like her.”
“You don’t have to. You just have to respect her,” I explain. “Because she respects your daughter and me, and she’ll respect you too.”
“So we can go back to our original agreement?” Lauren’s only real focus right now is keeping ties to Charlie. That’s okay. In fact, it makes me feel better.
“Yes. If Cale is really, truly gone for good.”
“He is. I swear on our daughter’s life,” Lauren says, and I can see the pure honesty in her expression. “So I can take her home today?”
I nod. “Yes. But on Wednesday when I get her for my schedule overnight, I’m going to take her to dinner. With Sadie.”
“Sure,” she says, but it looks like she’s sucking on lemons. I can only hope she’ll develop a poker face. Lauren nods as Mia and Charlie come back from the guest bedroom. Lauren’s face relaxes, and she grins at our daughter. “Ready to come home, sweet pea?”
Charlie nods enthusiastically. “Can I finish watching Brave at home?”
“I don’t see why not,” Lauren says. Charlie walks over and lifts her arms to me for a hug.
I pick her off the ground and into a bear hug, which she wiggles against. “Dad! I’m too old to be picked up!”
“You are never too old!” I argue, and she hugs me anyway, but she’s rolling her eyes.
She wiggles more, so I put her down. She smooths her clothes and hair like she’s the queen of England who’s just had to endure accolades from the minions. I am in so much trouble with this one. “See you Wednesday.”
“Frodo and dog park?” she asks, hope shining in her eyes.
“Okay. After dinner with my friend Sadie,” I say and wa
it for the disappointment. But I don’t get any. She hesitates a moment but then nods.
“She was really nice the other night,” Charlie remarks. “Does she like dogs?”
“I think she does. And horses.”
“She’s been on a horse? Cool!”
“Okay, let’s get going,” Lauren prods lightly, but her shoulders are tense.
I promise myself I will make sure she doesn’t feel it’s a competition.
I walk out with them and watch them get into the car and wave as they drive off. I’m feeling so much better now. I wasn’t sure how things would go down with Lauren. I honestly believe she knows the depths of the mistake she made with the idiot named after a leafy vegetable. I think we are back on track as co-parents.
The next morning I walk into the ER a few minutes before seven a.m. with a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a box in the other. Sadie is behind the desk but already has a sweater on over her scrubs and her purse on her shoulder, so I know she’s about to leave. Her face lights up at the sight of me. I will never get sick of that, and I swear I will find a way to make her look like that every day. Her gaze lands on the gifts I’m double-fisting. “Griffin Sullivan, what have you done?” She pauses. “Or more accurately, what have I done to deserve this?”
“You let me in. You gave me a new view of life. You looked out for my daughter,” I tell her and lean over the counter to kiss her cheek. “And you know, great sex.”
I whisper that last part so no one else hears, but it makes her grin grow devious again, which I fucking love. “But actually only one of these things is for you. The other gifts I have for you can’t be experienced in a crowded ER.”
The door to the back swings open, and Shelda walks through it. I hand Sadie the box in my left hand and turn to present Shelda with the bouquet in my right. She gapes and smiles. “For me?”
“For looking out for my daughter the other night,” I explain. “And for giving Sadie a way to do it too.”
“Oh, honey, if you don’t lock this man up and throw away the key, I will!” Shelda announces. She sniffs the bouquet. “Thank you. I do believe you’ve just bumped Idris Elba off the top of my backup husbands list.”
I laugh.
“That is serious business, Griffin, and an extreme honor,” Sadie tells me in mock seriousness.
Shelda sighs happily and then gets suddenly stern and points at Sadie. “Don’t mess this up.”
She skips out of the ER. Sadie comes around the desk, and as we walk out together she opens the box I handed her, stops dead, and bursts out laughing. “Unicorn cookies?”
“Of course.” I wrap an arm around her shoulders. “And they’re delicious. I had to try one, of course.”
“You’re hysterical.” She laughs and bites into one, eating the horn first. “Crap. They are delicious.”
“So…I know you’re exhausted, so I can just drive you right home,” I say as I unlock the SUV with the fob. “Or you can come back to my place and nap there. I promise I won’t bug you. You’ll have the whole boat to yourself. I’ll be at practice from ten until noon anyway.”
“Your place,” she says as she swallows down the rest of the cookie. “And I am totally going to sleep. Like the dead.”
I nod, but a part of me is really disappointed. I start to close her door after she gets in, but she grabs the front of my shirt and pulls me in for a kiss. Then she tells me, “Right after I suck your perfect dick and beg you to fuck me.”
“The last thing you need to do is beg, love.”
And it takes everything in me not to speed on the way home. But I tell myself I don’t need to rush. This amazing wildflower is mine and I’m hers, and this is only the beginning.
27
Sadie
Oh, God…” I feel my clit start to tingle. “Griffin…”
He looks down at me, eyes hooded, the sweat on his brow telling me he’s struggling not to come. That makes me belly clench with desire and my clit tingle more. And then he pushes into me, harder than before. The friction of his pelvis against my clit turns tingles into quivers, and I am so close.
“I’m don’t want to come yet,” I pant, and he huffs out a breath by my ear.
“I’m going to make you,” he promises. He drops his hips lower still, swivels them up harder still. “Right…”
He slams into me.
“Fucking…”
He does it again.
“Now.” He does it again, once hard and then again, softer, slower, and hard again, and everything inside me melts.
“Oh, fuck,” he pants, and I feel him jerk almost violently, and his head snaps back and his hips snap forward and he comes as hard and as long as I do.
Moments later, when we’re back on this earth, he pulls out of me and leans back on his knees to remove the condom. I sit up and watch him drop it in the trash, and then I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him back down on top of me. We make out like teenagers for a few long moments, and then he pulls back and looks down on me with such affection it warms me. He balances on one forearm and runs the pad of his thumb over my lips and chin. “My beard is giving you a rash.”
“It also makes you sexy as hell and feels incredible against my thighs, so I don’t care,” I murmur back.
He kisses me again, but his eyes slip over to the digital clock on the nightstand. “I have to go get Charlie soon.”
I nod and kiss his shoulder blade as he rolls off me. He lies on his side, head propped up on his hand, and looks over at me. “You’re not nervous? At all?”
“Maybe a little,” I admit. “But I’ve already met her and she likes me. I can only assume that won’t change just because she’s going to find out we’re dating. I mean, why would it? I’m adorable!”
Griffin burst into a grin. “That’s definitely the truth.”
I sit up, not bothering to cover my exposed breasts with the covers, because he’s seen everything before and, quite frankly, I love the way he looks at me naked. “I’m a little more nervous about meeting your brother and his wife.”
“You’ve met Hunter before,” he reminds me.
“Yeah, and I was a mess,” I say sheepishly, my cheeks growing warm. “I hope he can forget about that and I can prove to him you’re not dating a basket case.”
“He doesn’t think that, love,” Griffin promises me as he untangles himself from the covers and gets out of bed.
Now it’s my turn to admire his naked form. He is so tall and so broad, and I swear he’s the only guy I know with zero ink. His skin is pure, unmarked…except for a little redness on his back from my nails when I came. His dick is still half hard, or maybe it’s hard again. Either way, it makes him even sexier. He reaches for my hand. “Come on, let’s get ready.”
I let him lead me into the bathroom. As he turns on the water and waits for it to warm up, he turns to me and pulls me into a hug. It’s strong and warm and so intimate because we’re naked but also because he’s the first man I think I have ever been emotionally bare with too. And now I am nervous. I need Charlie to like me. I need his brother and his wife to accept me. Because I want to belong in this man’s life forever.
“Come on.” He tugs me toward him and the awaiting shower.
Forty-seven minutes later I’m wedged into a booth at an Italian place in the Haight that Mia, Hunter’s wife, swears makes the best pizza in San Francisco. Griffin is on one side of me and Charlie is on the other. She insisted on sitting next to me. Across from us, Hunter is telling me a story about when they were kids and the pranks they used to play on each other. He’s laughing so hard trying to finish the story that he has tears in his eyes.
“But it turns out it was my dad’s toothbrush, not mine,” Hunter exclaims, and Griffin groans, covering his eyes with his hand at the memory.
I turn and look at him in disbelief. “You soaked your dad’s toothbrush in lemon juice?”
“Daddy, that’s not nice,” Charlie tells him, looking up from her coloring book and making a tsk
sound that is beyond adorable coming from her tiny mouth.
“It wasn’t nice,” Griffin agrees. “And you should never do that, because you’ll end up grounded for two weeks like your dad did.”
Hunter snickers. “It was kind of awesome. I got to watch whatever I wanted on TV and play all the video games without him demanding a turn.”
“So, Sadie, was your upbringing as crazy as these two?” Mia asks. “I was an only child so I was spared all this drama.”
“It was. Definitely sounds like this,” I admit, and I love that we both have great siblings and good families. “There is nothing quite like the joy of terrorizing your teenage brother. But unlike Griffin, I was actually good at it. Still am.”
They all burst out laughing.
“I want a brother!” Charlie says out of nowhere, bringing the laughter at the table to a screeching halt. Griffin’s staring over at her with shock on his face, completely speechless.
Charlie looks at him, blinking innocently. Hunter jumps in. “I thought you wanted a dog?”
She seems to think about that, her face scrunching up for a moment, and then she bounces in her seat. “Can’t I have both?”
Mia snorts.
Hunter looks from Griffin to me and then turns back to Charlie and smiles. “Not right now, kiddo, but maybe one day.”
I feel Griffin’s hand wrap around my shoulders. Charlie accepts that answer and runs with it. “So I can have a dog one day? What about a bow and arrow like Merida?”
A sibling seems to have fallen off the radar and an awkward moment has naturally evaporated. I sigh in relief, and Griffin notices, giving my shoulder a squeeze.
The rest of the night goes flawlessly. Mia was right. The pizza is fantastic. And I really hit it off with her and Hunter. Mia and I even make plans to go to the movies together. Charlie asks me questions and tells me stories and seems genuinely content. I don’t think she understands I’m her dad’s girlfriend, but it doesn’t matter. The fact that she seems to like me is all that matters right now. It’s the first step. We took it and we’re on solid ground so far.
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