“I don’t think we have to worry about that. They’re harmless.” She hooked her arm through mine and led us into the dining room. “In fact, I bet there won’t even be any panties in this bunch.”
That was easy for her to say. She’d never had a stalker show up outside her house or slip into her hotel room or tie themselves to the roof of her car—yes, literally. The league had paid me handsomely for many years. But even with the substantial nest egg I’d accumulated, I wasn’t sure it was enough to account for my lack of privacy.
I was just thankful as fuck for every day that went by when a stalker didn’t manage to track down my address. It was why I’d settled back in Starlight Cove. Most of the residents didn’t care that I’d been the league’s top tight end. Their main concern was how I was coaching the high schoolers and whether One Night Stan’s was going to bring back two-for-one drinks on Tuesdays.
Despite the fact that this place was too friendly for my liking, it was home. No one harassed me when I went about mybusiness in town or coached my team. At the end of the day, I could escape to my secluded house and not have to worry about a line of jersey chasers blocking my front door.
And that was exactly how I liked it.
CHAPTER EIGHT
SUTTON
Even plyingLaurel with brunch before we’d hit the road hadn’t been enough to get myself in her good graces. If there was anything worse than driving hours in a car with a sullen teenager, I hadn’t yet found it.
No, that wasn’t true.
Driving hours with a sullen teenager with the reminder of my night with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Grumpy anytime I so much as twitched in my seat was definitely worse. There was no denying I’d had fun, but my pussy was an unfortunate casualty of the whole affair.
At least Laurel had finally decided to give me the silent treatment, allowing me to reminisce in peace. It was slightly better than the ranting I’d been subjected to the first hour of the car ride.
I didn’t blame her for acting like a complete shit. I was pretty sure I’d acted a lot worse for a lot less when I was her age. Of course, I’d also been dealing with overbearing, ultracontrolling parents—something I’d sworn I’d never be to her.
I preferred to run our two-person household as a democracy. We both got a vote, neither more important than the other.Essentially growing up together had forged a bond between us most people didn’t understand.
A bond that this move was testing.
Especially because the move had been the result of my pulling the Mom Card and overriding her up-until-that-point equal vote.
I’d signed a six-month contract to work with Dr. Quinn McKenzie—though I’d known her as Quinn Cartwright in college—at the Starlight Cove Clinic. After that? Who knew what would happen or where Laurel and I would go. But I wasn’t about to invite trouble and tell my daughter that.
After almost three years in Atlanta, she’d just started to put down roots, and I’d yanked that away from her. Shoved her to a place that was completely unfamiliar. To both of us. Moving to a town that was basically the size of our old neighborhood? It was going to be an adjustment.
It didn’t matter that it was directly along the coast and also bordered a lush forest. Didn’t matter that the downtown looked like we’d somehow traveled to a Hallmark movie. Didn’t matter that I’d be able to work fewer hours because the cost of living was so much cheaper here.
Laurel hated it on principle. And I couldn’t even blame her.
I remembered all too well what it was like to be sixteen, to think your entire life was ruined because of one decision. To believe with absolute certainty that the friends you had were the only friends you’deverhave.
But she’d survive. I knew because I’d survived a hell of a lot steeper challenges—at least she wasn’t knocked up by a worthless idiot who’d leave her in the lurch.
I hadn’t been so sure at the time, but that worthless idiot was the best thing that had ever happened to me, whether he left or not, because he gave meher.
“Hey, Lolo, help me look for 1425 Meadowbrook Lane.”
She huffed and rolled her eyes so emphatically I was surprised they didn’t fall straight out of her head. “Old age taking your eyesight already?”
“Watch it,” I said, though my words lacked heat.
Despite her snark, she set her phone down and lifted her gaze for the first time in three hours. My hope that she’d suddenly spark an interest after taking in her surroundings was definitely nothing more than a pipe dream if the curl of her lip and disgust rolling off her in waves were anything to go by.
“Oh mygod, Mom. I can’t believe you moved us here.” She saidherelike I’d driven us straight down into the sewer, and we were bunking next to a family of rats. “There is literallynothingto do. No mall, no movie theater. And what the hell is that? Is that agoatcrossing the road?”
It was, indeed, a goat crossing the road. And a woman running after it, arms flailing.
“Oh, come on. It’s not that bad.” I glanced around, seeing the town not through the eyes of a teenager but through the eyes of a mom.
As much as Laurel liked living in a bigger city, I didn’t like the life I’d had to manufacture in order to make that possible. She was going to be a fully fledged adult in two years, and time was slipping away faster than I wanted to admit. I didn’t want to spend her last couple years at home working doubles just so I could pay rent.
