Chapter 3
Cedar continuedto rub the little boy’s back as she made her way around the room. She passed the water station and heard Darrin snigger. Really, who above the age of nine sniggered? The man was a tool. Their breakup kept her up at night; mostly because Darrin filled her evenings with fun, and going to bed at 9:30—while great for her skin tone and energy level—wasn’t exactlythrilling.
Akoni sighed against her, and her maternal instincts did a little happydance.
Forget Darrin. He could be trampled by the Titans’ entire defensive line for all she cared. Lifting her nose in the air, she continued past the drink station, intent on checking in with the press gathered off to the side. She waved at Cassidy Stone. They’d exchanged emails and even met for lunch a couple weeks ago in preparation for Cassidy’s interviews with the players today. Hopefully the extra time would pay off in a great article about the camp. All the reporters would have a chance to interview a few select players later in the day. She’d hoped to see cameras flashing away, but the group lounged against the wall or in seats, waiting for the opportunity to get an exclusive quote. Cedar would be more than happy to provide sound bites and tidbits to fill their stories. She also wanted to rush over because it looked like Cassidy and Anthony Kincaid were in some sort of stand-off. That just wouldn’tdo.
As she lengthened her stride, the clipboard slipped out from her arm and she spun to try and catch it, only to see Darrin leafing through her carefully compiled lists. She snatched it away from him. “What do you think you’redoing?”
His eyes widened, feigning innocence. “You’re the one who wanted to be tied to a kid. I thought I’d take over the real job and let you singlullabies.”
Cedar turned slightly to mitigate Akoni’s exposure to all things Darrin. “Is this who you really are? I thought so much better of you before we broke up, Darrin. I thought you were one of the good guys.” Cedar bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from spilling herguts.
Darrin paused as if her words had hit something soft inside of him. “Youdid?”
“Yeah,” she barelywhispered.
He tipped his head to the side, considering her. “Let me be that man for you today.” He reached for the clipboard. “We’ve worked too hard on this camp to let a baby ruinit.”
Cedar twisted out of his reach, just like her heart twisted at his words. “Let’s get two things straight. Number one,Iorganized, planned, and created this camp—you did nothing but drool when the cheerleaderspracticed.”
His innocence faltered. “How didyou—”
Cedar tossed her head, cutting him off. “Number two, babies don’t ruin anything. I can run this camp better than you ever could, and I can do it with a baby on myhip.”
Without waiting for his reply, Cedar stomped off. After two stomps she realized shelookedlike Darrin had gotten to her and she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction, so she slowed down and softened her steps. Akoni’s fingers gripped her shirt so tight he was going to leave behind permanent wrinkles. “Don’t worry, sweetie,” she cooed as she set the diaper bag on a chair. There was no sense carrying the thing around. “I’ve got you and I’m not letting yougo.”
Whatever had happened between Cassidy and Anthony had run its course by the time Cedar made it to the press area. She made quick work of orienting the press before circling the room again to check on the workers over each station. Somewhere along the way, Akoni sighed and went limp in her arms. His breathing evened out, and Cedar wished she had a blankie and a rocker and ten minutes to enjoy his baby shampoo smell. It wasn’t his fault his daddy was a jerk. Sure, a nanny gone missing was an unfortunate situation, but Teo needed to take some responsibility for his son instead of dropping Akoni into the first pair of arms he could find. For all he knew, Cedar would lock Akoni in a closet or hand him off to the homeless man who lived in the alley behind thefacility.
Throughout the course of the morning, Cedar had little downtime, but the time she did have was spent arguing with herself over who she was more upset with: Darrin for thinking babies were problems or Teo for thinking all women were at his beck and call. Like she didn’t have a day full of potential fires to monitor. She’d already put Darrin in his place. After the camp was over, she’d give Teo Parata a piece of hermind.
Cedar cursed her wedged sandals as she hurried to the cafeteria to check on lunch. Her feet were sore, and carrying around an extra fifty pounds of toddler wasn’thelping.
The lunch staff was behind, so she ended up adding applesauce cups to brown paper sacks while rocking Akoni back and forth. He was warm against her, and oddly enough, he calmed her indignation enough that she could focus on herjob.
Trudy rushed in just after she’d finished the lunches. “I need emergency contact information for a parent. We had a boy injure hisknee.”
Cedar shifted Akoni. “There’s a file box under the table by Hailey’s station.” Hailey Knight was a team trainer and had agreed to come in and be the medical personnel for the camp. Cedar had paused to listen in as Hailey talked about post-game recovery with a group of twelve-year-olds. She was so beautiful, even in her Titans T-shirt and workout pants, that the little boys stared at her as if she were aprincess.
Cedar looked down at Akoni, debating handing him over to Trudy so she could take care of the situation. Her feet ached, her lower back hurt, and she was sure that hauling this chunk of adorableness around was tweaking her spine out of alignment. He’d hardly made a peep all day, except when he needed a diaper change, and even then it was more of a squirm and a grunt. He hadn’t even cried when Teo left. He would probably be fine with Trudy … except Cedar was growing attached to the kid. He was seriously calm. His big brown eyes took in the world and accepted it and he was just chill. Sheneededchill today. Between making sure Darrin didn’t take credit for her work and putting out fires, she would be a mountain of nerves if his chubby fist wasn’t clutching hershirt.
So, instead of handing Akoni off to someone else, she cursed her wedges and headed off to the first aid station to find the paperwork with him tucked into her side. When the day was over, she planned to soak her feet and tell Teo to get his life inorder.
Chapter 4
Teo thunderedthrough the upstairs hallways. He shouldn’t be up here, players rarely traveled upstairs unless they were called into the owner’s office. He didn’t care. His son was more important than corporate rules and maintainingappearances.
His pulse roared in his ears as he frantically searched for his Akoni. Camp had ended thirty minutes ago, and he hadn’t seen the intern in over an hour. He poked his head into open executives’ doors, and checked the shut ones to see if they opened. Most of them were locked on a late Saturday afternoon. A locked door was just as frustrating as an empty room, because neither of them revealed Akoni’swhereabouts.
He thought back to the last time he’d seen Akoni. Miss Bell was patiently feeding him applesauce from the provided lunches as she talked on the phone. She made funny faces that had Akoni smiling wide enough to slip a spoon between his lips. Miss Bell was simply stunning in that moment as she balanced Akoni’s needs and the many demands pulling at her attention. Her eyes were bright and reflected caring and even silliness. Light danced off her tresses as she bobbed back and forth between the applesauce cup and Akoni. Teo had stopped in his tracks, causing several boys in his group to run into his backside. Even as they laughed off the collision, Teo marveled at Miss Bell’s ability to multitask. When he was in dad mode, everything else fell away. He couldn’t even get the dirty clothes in the hamper. All the cleaning he did was after Akoni went tosleep.
What stood out, particularly, was the way Miss Bell’s blue eyes lit with an inner happiness—a happiness he’d never seen in his deceased wife’s eyes. He hadn’t learned until it was much too late that Amy didn’t know how to create her own joy, that she spent all her time looking for it outside of herself and outside of him. Akoni was the one bright spot in her life because he was alwayscontent.
Teo could use some of that contentment right about now and wanted his son in his arms. He clapped a doorway with his palm as he barreled on. He didn’t want to think about what might happen if Miss Bell had taken Akoni. He didn’t even know her first name. What would he tell the police officer, that he’d passed off his son to a stranger, but she was supposed to bring himback?
He headed toward the elevator, ready to try the parking lot. If he could catch a glimpse of her car before she hightailed it out of there, then he could give a license plate to the officers. Anxious and needing to move, Teo took the stairs just to the right of the elevator. The sound of his big feet devouring the concrete steps echoed all the way to the top floor. He was running past the practice field when he heard a delighted giggle. Reversing direction, he stopped in the open door of the trainingroom.
Miss Bell was standing in the middle of the room with Akoni on her hip. Hailey Knight tickled his tummy, and Akoni soaked up the attention like he’d never seen a beautiful woman before, let alone two. All the worry and fear trickled out of Teo forcing him to lean against the door for support. During practice and games, he could go at that pace for hours, his determination stronger than his body. That’s why he never played scared. Feardrained.
