I shrugged. “That wasn’t my fault. You were naked, sweetheart. How in the hell do you expect me to concentrate in those conditions?”
A gorgeous flush of pink came to her cheeks and I grinned. I had always liked making her blush.
“So, what do you say?” I asked her, reaching across the table to pry her hand from the mug handle so I could take it in my own. Gracie intertwined our fingers without any hesitation. “Dinner this week?”
“Aren’t you on the road this week?” she asked.
“One away game,” I told her. “And two games at home.” That would wrap up our pre-season schedule and, frankly, I was more than ready for it to be finished. We still hadn’t won a game, and I could feel the team getting anxious about it. We needed a fresh start.
“That sounds like a pretty busy week.”
I shrugged. “I’d make time for you.”
There was that blush again. Fuck, I loved it.
And I loved it even more when she proved that she wasn’t so embarrassed that she couldn’t tease me. “I might be able to squeeze you into my very busy schedule. If you’re lucky.”
I grinned. “I’ve been feeling pretty lucky for the last sixteen hours or so.”
As soon as the words came out of my mouth, my stomach dipped. Because now I was thinking about just how lucky Ihadn’tbeen feeling when I first saw Gracie in the parking lot. How my kid was so angry with me that she had pretended to be sick just to get out of spending time with me.
I had been eager to push all those worries aside last night, to take a vacation from the stressful situation with my daughter. But in the cold light of day, it was a lot harder to pretend that I wasn’t worried sick.
“Hey.” Gracie’s voice was soft as she squeezed my hand. “Josie is going to come around.”
I didn’t respond, because I wasn’t all that sure she was right and I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud.
“Give her some time,” Gracie urged. “It’s a lot of changes in a short amount of time—new city, new house, new school.”
No mom, I added in my head, feeling tired.
“Let her get settled and see how she feels.” Gracie squeezed my hand again and I looked up at her face. Her expression was so warm and understanding that my breath caught. “If you’re still worried after she’s settled in, you can talk to someone about it.”
“Like a shrink?” The idea immediately soured my stomach. Every professional team I had ever worked for had employed a sports psychologist and all the athletes had to talk to them regularly. Apparently, the league’s owners wanted to make sure the pressure wasn’t getting to us.
I hated those sessions. It always felt like they were prying, like they were just hoping I would admit some underlying anxiety or juicy childhood trauma.
Gracie just smiled at my scowl. “There are counselors for kids, yes. The school can recommend a good one.”
I grimaced, but didn’t reply. I would do whatever Josie needed me to do. But I hated the idea of my kid talking to some stranger when she wouldn’t talk to me.
“You don’t have to decide on anything right now,” Gracie said, as if reading my mind. “I just want you to remember that there are resources out there.”
I nodded, grabbing my coffee cup for something to do with my hands. “So, what are you up to today?”
I was going to have to get back to the house for Josie before too much longer, but I had a few hours. Time enough for breakfast, at least. Maybe we could eat really fast and spend the rest of our time in bed.
Those pleasant images were disrupted when I realized that Gracie’s eyes had widened in horror. “Oh my God,” she whispered, craning her neck to look at something over my shoulder—apparently a clock because her next words were, “it’s already after eight!”
“Is that a problem?” Her reaction seemed a bit over the top. I knew Gracie usually got up early to teach, but eight in the morning wasn’t exactly late for a weekend.
She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “It’sSaturday.”
I was clearly missing something. I was about to ask what, when Gracie’s phone rang from somewhere in the house, the sound muffled. She jumped up, eyes scanning the kitchen. “Where the hell is my phone?”
“Did you bring it upstairs?” I was a little concerned by how panicky she still looked.
She moved as if to run her hands through her hair before remembering she had it pulled back. She settled for rubbing her forehead instead. “I don’t think so. I think…” she screwed up her face. “I must have left it in my purse.”
