Dating: For the Assist

by Stephanie Street

  This kiss was so different from the one on the basketball court. Where that had been frenzied and passionate, the kiss of two people who’d been apart for too long, this one was sweet. Tender. And completely bone melting.

  With a laugh against my lips, Drew caught me in his arms before I slithered to the ground at his feet.

  “I never stopped loving you,” he whispered against my lips.

  My mouth quivered. “Why?”

  Holding me with one arm, Drew lifted his hand to cup my cheek. “I couldn’t. My heart wouldn’t let me. I wanted to be mad at you. And I was. But I think deep down, I understood, too. I just-” he had to stop to clear his throat. “It hurt knowing you were hurting and I wasn’t there with you.”

  “I thought I could be whole without you.” That was it. That was the whole thing. “I wanted to be whole for you. I didn’t want you to have to hold me together all the time.”

  Drew dropped his forehead until it touched mine. “Piper, that’s not how love works. I wasn’t just holding you, you were keeping me whole, too. Neither of us are perfect. I need you, too.”

  And I left him. If that was true, then I left him when he needed me. How could he still love me? How could he ever forgive me?

  “I’m sorry.” Tears choked me. “I never meant to hurt you. To hurt us. I love you so much, Drew. I love you so much!”

  When our lips met this time, our kiss was full of healing. He was sorry. I was sorry. We both forgave.

  “I’m done with the past, Piper,” he said once we parted. “I’m done being angry and alone and missing you. Please tell me you’re done with that, too.”

  “So done,” I replied as my lips touched his again.

  27

  Dannika

  Dancing in my husband’s arms, I couldn’t help but let my eyes stray to his sister. Piper and Drew hadn’t let go of each other since before the ceremony and from the looks of it, they’d worked things out. I wasn’t surprised. They were meant to be together. When Drew told me what he was going to do last night after the rehearsal, I’d been so excited. His idea wasn’t just appropriate for him and Piper but for our other friends as well. Even Jared and Kara who Luke had told me were close to getting engaged. Jared had the ring. He just had to ask the girl and get her to accept him. I had a feeling he had a good shot of getting everything he ever wanted.

  “What are you thinking, Mrs. Hines?” Luke’s whispered words stirred my hair.

  “This has been the best day of my life, Mr. Hines.”

  Luke’s gaze drifted to his sister. “She looks happy. I haven’t seen stars in her eyes like that in years.”

  “They ended on the day we began.” I could never forget that one of my happiest moments was one of Piper’s worst, even though it was her own silly fault.

  Luke lifted my chin until our eyes met. “Today is a new beginning. For everyone.”

  “Grayson!”

  Every head in the conference room at the hotel where the reception was being held turned at the sound of Mia’s shout for her husband. Luke grabbed my arm and we raced toward our friend.

  “Mia! What’s wrong?” Grayson’s eyes were wild as they scanned over her. “Is it the baby?”

  Mia groaned holding her belly. “I think my water broke! We have to go to the hospital.”

  Grayson froze, his eyes wide with disbelief. Michelle, Grayson’s mom, and Coach Tillman, Mia’s dad were at the wedding and had already left the reception.

  “Grayson!” Mia shouted.

  “Okay!” Grayson sprung into action. “Your bag for the hospital is already in the car.” Reaching into his pocket, Grayson pulled out a hotel key card and tossed it to Noah. “Can you guys get our stuff out of our room and bring it to the hospital?”

  Noah clapped his hand on Grayson’s shoulder. “You got it, man. We’ll be over there soon.”

  “And call our parents!” Grayson called out.

  As one, we all moved to follow Grayson as he led Mia from the room and out into the parking lot. He was parked close, so we didn’t have to go far. As soon as he had Mia in her seat and buckled, he moved to get in the driver’s seat. Before he got in the car, he turned to face us.

  “I’m gonna be a dad,” he said, his voice filled with wonder and after a moment of stunned silence, we all began to cheer.

  Grinning like a fool, Grayson got into the car and pulled out of the parking lot while everyone hollered.

  “Well, now what?” Piper asked, once they were out of sight.

  I glanced at Luke, a question in my eyes. He nodded and I smiled. Of course.

  “Now we have a baby to welcome into this world!” I cried.

  “Awesome!” Jared shouted, giving Mateo a high five.

  “I say we pack this party up and head to the hospital!” Grasping Luke’s hand, I started back inside.

  It was Tierney who put a hand on my shoulder and pulled everyone to a halt.

  “Not quite yet,” she said, her eyes glittering with mischief. “We have one more tradition to uphold.”

  Piper

  Mia was about to have a baby and Tierney wanted Dannika to throw the bouquet? Oh, well. It wasn’t my wedding.

  And then I realized why when they both pushed me front and center of the group of unmarried women.

  “You both are ridiculous!” Cheeks burning, I cast a glance at Drew, but he was grinning, so I put my head down and got ready to catch a handful of roses. It was a good thing I had about eight inches on everyone else.

  Dannika moved forward and a hundred cell phones and cameras focused on her as she lifted the flower bouquet over her head and tossed it into the air.

  It was destiny apparently, because the flowers practically dropped right into my hands. Everyone cheered and my cheeks flushed hotter until I was in Drew’s arms again, his mouth on mine.

  It was a short kiss, too short, but the look he gave me when he lifted his head helped alleviate some of my disappointment.

  “I love you, Piper. And you look pretty amazing holding those flowers.” His eyes burned with intensity and a promise.

  But I wouldn’t get ahead of myself. We’d just barely reconnected. There were still so many things to work out. We’d been living separate lives. We hadn’t even had a chance to figure out how a relationship between us would work at this point.

  “I can see your brain working, Pipe.” Drew grinned, pulling me close. “Don’t worry about anything. We’ll make this work. I promise.”

  It was a couple of hours before we made it to the hospital. Grayson had been keeping us informed on Mia’s progress via messages in a group text. We sent Luke and Dannika upstairs to their room in a cloud of bubbles, then worked to take apart the decorations we’d put up. The hotel staff would take care of the rest.

  Drew and I rode the elevator together up to the tenth floor and with the magic of the wedding and reception gone, doubt began to seep in.

  Drew must have sensed my withdrawal because he yanked me to him. “Don’t do that, Pipe. Just don’t.” His intense gaze held me captive. “This thing between you and me. It’s not over. It will never be over.” And then his lips crashed into mine.

  The elevator door opened. Drew continued to kiss me for another moment before taking my hand and leading me out into the hall.

  “Hurry and get ready. We’ll go together with Noah and Tierney.”

  I nodded. That made sense since neither of us had cars here. Because we both lived far away. Panic clawed at my throat.

  My season was about to start.

  He lived in Boston.

  I didn’t.

  He was gorgeous.

  And famous.

  And I was just me!

  Beside me, Drew sighed. “Okay. I’ll come with you to your room and help you pack. Then you come to mine. I can see I’m not going to be able to leave you alone with your own brain until you figure out you can trust this.”

  I was being ridiculous. I knew I was, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t still stressed or that
I didn’t love hearing Drew’s words. We’d both grown a lot in our time apart, but in some ways we were exactly the same.

  Stopping in the middle of the hall between our two rooms, I threw my arms around his neck.

  “I promise I’ll try. I love you and I don’t want to wreck this second chance.”

  Drew put his arms around my back. “I’m not going anywhere, Piper.”

  The hospital waiting room was filled to capacity. We were all there. Noah and Tierney. Jared and Kara. Luke and Dannika. Mateo and his wife, Shara. AJ. Zeke, his wife had gone home with their two kids. She’d just been there for the ceremony and reception. Will and his girlfriend, Tiffany, who was surprisingly really sweet. Will was an idiot if he let her get away. My mom and Gloria had shown up a couple of hours after the rest of us. Coach Tillman and Michelle had beat us all there. They told us Mia’s mom wouldn’t be able to fly in from Alaska until the next day. They were in and out of the delivery room since they were family and it was after ten at night when they delivered the last report that Mia was close. She’d opted not to get the epidural and was squeezing the life out of Grayson’s hands, but it was too late for her to change her mind.

  Drew and I were sitting on a sofa with Noah and Tierney across from us. Tierney was looking a little green and Noah kept shooting concerned looks her way. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Tierney, are you okay? Is something wrong?” Come to think of it, she’d been a little pale all weekend. I hadn’t thought much of it considering all the other drama going on, but now, it was in my face and I couldn’t stop thinking something was up.

  Tierney looked to Noah, a question in her eyes. My worry deepened as some kind of silent communication went between my two friends. I squeezed Drew’s hand and he squeezed mine back.

  Finally, Tierney faced us. She took a deep breath before speaking. “Well, we were going to wait to tell everyone, but under the circumstances.” She shrugged a little and I knew real fear for my friend until she opened her mouth again and said, “I’m pregnant. Only about six or seven weeks, but I haven’t been feeling very good. Morning sickness.”

  My mouth dropped open. My gaze shifted from Tierney to Noah and back again. They both wore identical smiles, happy mixed with a little uncertainty.

  “Oh. My. Goodness!” Jumping from my seat beside Drew, I bent to wrap them both in a hug. “I’m so happy for you! Wow. That’s amazing news!”

  “What’s amazing news?” Jared asked from a few seats away. That started a whole round of congratulations and hugs and laughter. Suddenly, the somewhat somber mood in the waiting room as we waited with excited anticipation to hear word about Mia and her baby lifted as we shared in Noah and Tierney’s good news.

  Once things calmed down again and everyone was back in their seats, Luke and Dannika stood up. Uneasily, I watched as they kind of moved to the front of the room where everyone could see them.

  “Um, actually, since everyone seems to have some good news to share. Danni and I have something we’d like to tell you, too.”

  “Please tell me Danni’s not pregnant,” Gloria said with enough desperation in her voice that we all laughed. At least until we noticed the nervous expressions on both of their faces.

  “Don’t keep us in suspense, honey,” my mom said, her brows furrowed with concern.

  Luke glanced her way and then mine and I was really worried. “It’s nothing bad. No one’s sick. Danni is not pregnant,” he shot a glance at Gloria. “Although, we would be very excited about that. It just would be kind of bad timing because-” He paused again, his gaze landed back on Dannika. “Well, you see I’ve been picked up for a tour. In Europe.”

  No one knew what to say. And then the room erupted into questions. Laughing, Luke put up his hands to quiet us all back down.

  “I’ll be with an orchestra from London as a guest for six months starting in August. We’ll do two nights in twenty locations.”

  “What about school? What about Dannika?” Gloria’s face was a mixture of distress and pride.

  “I’m going with Luke. I’ll be finishing my degree via correspondence. It’s already worked out with the school. This is an amazing opportunity for both of us. We couldn’t pass it up. But that’s why we wanted to get married this summer rather than wait another year.” Dannika bit her lip as she waited for everyone to react.

  Pulling Drew with me, I went to hug my brother and my new sister. “I’m just so excited for you guys! This is so incredible!” Everything was happening at once. Mia having a baby. Tierney was pregnant. Luke and Dannika just got married and now this!

  I turned to Drew. His smile told me he knew exactly what I was thinking. Lifting myself up onto my toes, I buried my face in his neck. His arms automatically came up around my waist. I wasn’t sure this moment could get any more perfect.

  “Hello?” a voice called from near the nurses desk. “I’m Dr. Hines.” We all glanced over to see a very tall middle-aged man wearing scrubs standing there waiting to get all of our attention. Frowning, I thought he seemed very familiar. And how weird was it that his last name was Hines? “I have some news for all of you from Grayson and Mia. I’m happy to announce- wait, Bella?”

  28

  Piper

  Bella?

  Confused, I followed the doctor’s gaze where it had landed right on- my mother?

  Mom lifted her hands to her cheeks. “Oh, Robert!”

  Dr. Hines-

  Seriously? Dr. Hines!

  - walked straight to my mother and gripped her by her upper arms. “Bella, what are you doing here?”

  “Robert, I-” she began to say, but Luke cut her off.

  “Mom, who is this man? Why does he keep calling you ‘Bella’?” Luke’s jaw twitched as he stared at the doctor.

  “Um, I, Luke-” Mom stuttered. I’d never seen her more flustered in all my life.

  “Luke?” Dr. Hines glanced to my brother with astonished eyes before pinning my mom with such a direct look she shrunk away from it. “Did he just call you ‘mom’? Bella, is this your son?”

  Luke shoved Dr. Hines’s hands away from our mom. “Yes, I’m her son and you better get your hands off her right now!”

  I’d never seen my brother act like that except when he found me at Jack Fawcett’s house. He was giving this Dr. Hines character the same kind of look he’d given Jack. Like he wanted to kill him.

  “Luke, calm down.” I stepped forward and took my brother’s arm. “I’m sure there’s an explanation for everything.”

  Dr. Hines’s green eyes landed on me and widened. “Bella. Who is this?”

  “Robert,” my mother straightened to her full height, which was a five foot four inch nothing compared to Luke and I and this giant in front of us. “What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

  Luke and I both turned to face her. “Find you?” we both said at the same time.

  Mom glanced at us and put her hands on her cheeks again. “Oh, dear.”

  But it was Dr. Hines who spoke next. “I didn’t try to find you, at least, I wasn’t trying to tonight. I just started working here. I delivered a baby tonight and the parents asked me to come out here and tell you all the good news.” He stopped then, his eyes washing over everyone surrounding us. To a person, they were all watching with gaping mouths at the scene unfolding before their very eyes. “Mom and baby are both doing fine. Dad said he’d be out shortly to annouce the little guy’s name and give you more information.”

  We all breathed a collective sigh of relief at that news, but no one had forgotten what was going on with Mom and Dr. Hines.

  “Bella-” he began.

  “Robert, is there somewhere we can discuss this. Privately.”

  “No,” Luke stepped in front of Mom. “Are you crazy? Who is this guy? You aren’t going anywhere with him.”

  But Mom just rolled her eyes and brushed Luke aside. “Robert isn’t going to hurt me, Luke. And you’re coming, too. And Piper.”

  Dr. Hines gl
anced between Luke and me. “Luke and Piper?” He shot a glance at Mom. “Bella, are these his children?”

  What?

  Mom latched onto Dr. Hines’s arm. “Not yet, Robert. Come on. We need some space. No offense, children. Gloria.” Mom looked to my friends and to Gloria who’d become her best friend over the years we’d been neighbors, especially since Luke and Dannika began dating.

  “Sure, Lilly. Take all the time you need. We’ll just wait here until we hear from Grayson.” Gloria reached for Dannika’s hand, prepared to pull her away. Luke frowned, alarmed.

  Mom grabbed my hand and Luke’s and started walking toward the exit of the waiting room.

  “No,” Drew said, pulling back on me. Mom stopped and so did Dr. Hines, his attention directed at Drew for the first time.

  “Hey, you’re Drew Thompson.” I wasn’t surprised the doctor recognized Drew.

  Drew nodded. “Yes, sir, I am. And Piper isn’t going anywhere without me.” He turned to my mom. “I’ve been apart from her for five years and that’s long enough.”

  Mom’s eyes softened and after just a moment, she nodded.

  “Well, in that case, Dannika’s coming, too.” Luke reached for Dannika’s hand.

  Mom sighed, but she wasn’t upset. “Fine. Let’s go, then.”

  “Is this some kind of joke?” Luke exploded from his chair in a small conference room a few minutes later.

  Mom stood, her eyes pleading with Luke to understand. Mom glanced at me, but I was with Luke.

  “Why is your last name Hines, then?” I asked. “How is it the same as his? I thought that was your dad’s last name. Your biological father.” Mom had been raised by her step-dad, whose last name was Jessup. I’d never questioned our name being different from her parents until right in that moment.

  Mom swallowed, hard. “Well, you see, I was married.”

  I realized I couldn’t stay seated any longer, either. “What?”

  Dr. Hines looked from Mom to me to Luke, his gaze filled with compassion. “Bella, you better start from the beginning.”