“A thing!” Emma interrupted. “For the wedding.”
“What wedding thing?” Haddie asked, turning her attention to her friend. “Didn’t we just have a wedding thing at the dress shop? And shouldn’t the maid of honor be helping with all wedding things?”
“It’s…a surprise!” Emma blurted out. “My surprise gift to Matteo.”
“What surprise, sweetheart?” Lynette Woods asked as she set the three-tiered stack of finger sandwiches and what Levi could see were also tiny pastries in the center of the table.
“You know, Mom…” Emma replied through gritted teeth. When the other woman opened her mouth to once again express her confusion, her daughter quickly filled it with a tiny sandwich. “I’ll remind you about it after I surprise my husband-to-be.”
Matteo reached for what looked like a tiny cream puff and popped it into his mouth before leaning back with a conspiratorial grin. “I am very much looking forward to this surprise.”
Emma looked at her watch and gasped dramatically.
“What is it?” Haddie asked, stopping midway as she attempted to sit down to likely enjoy her own plate of different tiny foods.
Why was everything so small? Also, why was it called tea if it was more than tea? These were the hard-hitting questions taking up space in Levi’s brain because they made about as little sense as soccer or almost having sex with Haddie in a bridal shop fitting room. He had so many questions, and no one would give him a straight answer.
“I just got a calendar reminder for the thing…the surprise. Youknow what, Hads? We’re burning daylight here. How about I make you and Levi an afternoon tea to-go package, and you can head on out to the soccer field for a little one-on-one before nightfall.”
Matteo coughed.
Haddie stood all the way up again.
And Levi pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes and wondered how the hell Haddie didn’t see what they were doing.
Wait… Haddie didn’t see what Emma and Matteo were doing. They were gifting him time alone with her to either finish what they started or put an end to it all together. And if he could also wrap his head aroundoffsideoroffsidesor whatever it was that kept resulting in the opposing team earning free kicks against the Muskies, then even better. This thing either started or endednow.
“You know what?” Levi stood abruptly. “I just realized that I don’t even like tea. But I’d be happy to take some tiny treats to go.”
“Wait right there!” Emma cried, and she disappeared back the way she’d come, pushing through saloon doors Levi knew led to the Woods Family Inn kitchen. Thirty seconds later, she was back with what looked like a gallon-sized zip-top plastic bag into which she dumped one of the three tiered plates. She sealed it and offered it to Haddie. “Here you go! Tiny treats for you two to enjoy whenever the mood strikes. Maybe you can have a little picnic on the soccer field!” When Haddie didn’t immediately accept her offering, Emma shook the bag until she did.
“Okay…you areweirdwhen you’re trying to surprise someone,” Haddie told her friend. Then she turned her gaze to Matteo.“I’m kind of a little scared for you.”
Matteo laughed, then wrapped his arms around Emma’s waist and pulled her into his lap. She yelped and burst into a fit of giggles herself. “I think it’s safe to assume we shouldallbe a little scared of Emma when she’s trying to keep a secret. Sometimes she iswaytoo obvious.”
“I just wish I remembered what the surprise was…” Emma’s mom mused, staring with concentration at the ceiling and mouthing something inaudible to herself as if she was trying to do calculus in her head.
“You two should go.” Emma shooed Levi and Haddie with her hands, then laughed when Matteo reached for another cream puff and tried to feed it to her nose.
Haddie’s brows furrowed and Levi shrugged. “Guess it can’t hurt to work some stuff out in full scale, right? Not like anyone else is scheduled to practice on a Sunday afternoon.”
“Right,” she agreed, then dangled the bag of small treats between them. “And I guess afternoon tea in the goalie box or something.” She pivoted back toward Emma’s mom. “Thanks to you and Mr. Woods for making all the goodies. I guess we’re going.”
Levi nodded toward his brother and fiancée. “Teo…Emma.”
“Um…thank you, Lynette,” Haddie said to Emma’s mother, and less than a minute later, Levi and Haddie found themselves on the sidewalk in front of the Woods Family Inn.
Chapter 21
“Well,” Haddie said to the bag of small sandwiches and pastries thatwere now close to a pile of unidentifiable anything. “That was…subtle.”
Levi coughed. “Wait…you knew she was full of shit?”
Haddie scoffed. “Emma Woods? Uh…yeah. That woman doesn’t have a subtle bone in her body, and the lying gene totally skipped out on her DNA.”
Levi crossed his arms and stared at her. “Then why didn’t you call her on it if you knew she was throwing us back together to deal with whatever happened at the bridal shop?”
Haddie raised her brows and then started walking in the direction of the Summertown school campus. “Because we’re not,” she told him with a shrug. “You have a game on Tuesday that you’re going to win, but the only way that’s going to happen is if we focus. On thegame.”
