“What did she say to April’s dad?”
“It’s not what she said to him.” Chance pauses. “It’s what he said to her.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I,” he licks his lips and admits, “I plan on proposing to April. And I asked her dad for his blessing.”
“McLanely, that’s incredible! Congrats!”
McLanely’s been my hero for a while, so I eagerly followed the story between him and his girlfriend April. When it broke out, McLanely had recently fallen from grace and got kicked out of the league. Not long after, rumors that he was dating a female mechanic started circulating.
His popularity skyrocketed and there was even a petition to get him reinstated. In the end, he chose to stay with April over leaving Lucky Falls behind.
I always had a deep respect for McLanely’s choice. It’s the kind of selfless, all-consuming love that I want to have someday.
Riley’s face fills my mind, but McLanely speaks again and his serious expression makes me focus on the matter at hand.
“The problem is that April’s dad has dementia, but he’s been surprisingly clear about the fact that ‘his nurse’—that’s how he refers to April—and I are about to be engaged…”
The reason for his concern dawns on me. “He told Layla.”
“And I haven’t even proposed to April yet. I want it to be a surprise.” The captain meets my somber look with a worried frown of his own. “Ineedit to go as planned. I’ve been working on this proposal for months. I called in specialists, invested thousands.” McLanely blows out a breath. “April deserves to have a magical moment. She’s the love of my life and I don’t want her finding out about the proposal from some random stranger, Campbell. I can’t let that happen.”
From the way he’s watching me, McLanely is communicating thatIcan’t let that happen either.
“I understand,” I say grimly.
McLanely takes out a fidget spinner from his pocket and gives it a flick. “I’ll do the interview. I’ll call up some old friends of mine and get them to do interviews too. Whatever it takes. I just… I can’t have that Layla-person… not before I…”
“Yeah.”
“It’s important, Campbell.”
I nod. “I’ll talk to her. Make sure she doesn’t spill the beans.”
“Thanks.” McLanely offers a relieved smile.
Pointing to the fidget spinner, I beg, “Do you have any more of those? I think I’m going to need it.”
Chapter Twenty-One
RILEY
The powerful sound of a well-tuned engine rumbles through the night. I honk at Cordelia as she leaves her Harley in a parking spot. Since I’m not sitting on a triple digit horsepower bike, I creep in behind her at a more pedestrian speed.
Cordelia rips her helmet off and her hair falls silkily to her shoulders.
I feel a pinch of jealousy. “How does your hair look so good in a helmet? I’m in the garage for four hours and mine goes full marshmallow. I can’t imagine what the wind would do to it.”
“You know,” she says with a laugh, “a lot of people ask me that.”
“Which means you’ve thought a lot about the answer.”
She grins and shrugs. “Genetics?”
“That’s cheating.”
“I didn’t choose to be this fabulous. It just happened.” Cordelia flings her hair and her bob sassily flings back into place.
