Suki snort-laughs as she looks inside the box of the gift she just opened. “Oh my gosh. This is amazing.”
The baby shower Mara is hosting for her is so big it’s being held at Harry’s restaurant. Harry closed it for the day and transformed it into a dreamy space with a “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” theme. I helped Dex figure out how to attach our fake clouds to the ceiling without ruining it. Alcohol was involved, but I stopped myself at one drink.
When Suki pulls out a giant gray T-shirt and shows us all what it says, the whole room bursts into laughter. It says “Big Brother,” and it’s for Darling.
The team’s gift to Suki and Carter is thirty thousand dollars in stocks for their baby, a designer stroller, a sweater for the baby with Carter’s name and number, and matching shirts they had made for the girls and Darling. It won’t be easy to get a good photo of everyone since the girls’ shirts say “Big Sister” on the front and Darling’s wording is on his back, but I have a feeling Suki will figure something out. She’s the creative maven who hosts parties and chooses milestone gifts for everyone else, so she deserves a lavish shower for her family.
“Need another one?” Lucien asks from next to me, taking my empty glass.
“Sure.”
“Dr Pepper?”
I nod. Lainey has really turned me on to drinking Dr Pepper. Since I started my new job with the team, I’ve been bringing cans of it with me on the team plane, and the attendants told me to stop because it’s their job to make sure we have everything we could want or need when traveling.
That’s a hard thing to adjust to. Being an official staff member of the team means details are taken care of, so I can focus on my job.
It’s been a whirlwind. I’ve had several video meetings with Hunter Beck, the billionaire team captain who’s funding the new program. He’s letting me take the lead, and so far has been willing to fund it at a level that’s a dream come true.
Between my work with the team and creating the new program, I’m spread thin, so I’m staying at Lucien’s instead of my dad’s. I went from thinking I might have to move several states away to being his live-in girlfriend pretty much overnight.
It’s good, though. Really good. We have a routine when we’re home: he makes the coffee and does all the dishes, I order the groceries and do all the laundry. Both of us stay in motion until seven p.m. when we’re home. That’s the cutoff time for any kind of work.
We spend a lot of our evenings alone together, still in that blissful new-relationship cocoon. But we also spend time with our friends, who feel more like family.
Suki opens the next gift, which is a card. She reads it, her eyes widening as she looks up, scanning the faces in the room.
“This is ... wow, I don’t even know what to say,” she says, tears shining in her eyes.
Her eyes lock with Carter’s and he walks over to read the card. His lips part with surprise and he starts scanning the room, too.
“Coach? Are you here?”
“I’m here.”
My dad calls out from the back of the room, and I do a double take when I see the woman at the table next to his. They’re both sitting at tables with one side chairs and the other side a booth, and she’s scooted over so far she’s practically in his lap.
When everyone turns to look, she scoots a few inches away. I exchange a look with Lucien because she looks my fucking age, and she was clearly cozying up to my dad.
Lucien purses his lips and looks away, wanting nothing to do with my questioning look. He’s going to hear about her later, though. Bet.
“Coach is giving us a trip,” Suki says. “An incredibly generous one. Thank you, Noel.”
She sets the card down and gets up, her belly making her a little slower. Making her way through the tables filled with people, she reaches my father, who is standing up by then. Carter follows her.
When she hugs my dad, she’s clearly emotional, and Carter is, too. My heart swells. I would’ve missed things like this if I’d moved. Though I would’ve missed Lucien most of all, being part of my dad’s Crush family is very important to me now.
Here, I’m not the woman whose sister stole her fiancé. I’m not the depressed woman who could hardly get off her couch for months. I’m not the drunken girl from the viral video.
I’m a team trainer. Lucien’s girlfriend. Suki, Mara and Lainey’s friend. The head coach’s daughter. But none of the other things are because I’m his daughter. I have my own place here, and I’m happier than I’ve ever been.
Lucien returns to his seat, hands me my drink, and then leans over and whispers in my ear. I turn to whisper back.
“A week at an Italian villa with a yacht. But don’t repeat that. If they tell people, it’s fine, but we’re not going to.”
He nods, looking impressed, and mutters, “Damn, Coach.”
Angie got a lot of my dad’s money in the divorce, but he still has more than enough. He invested a lot when he was a player, and those investments have paid off many times over. He invited me and Lucien on a two-week summer trip to the South of France, and my younger siblings, Chance and Chloe, are also going.
