He turned, squinting at me. “So?”
“So,” I said, giddy, “if we can find out where he plays golf, we can drive there and steal it back.”
Scott blinked at me, his smile lingering, thoughtful now. “That’s honestly not a bad idea. But how do we know he’d be there?”
“You said he plays in golf tournaments, right?”
“That’s what he said, but maybe the whole golf thing was a lie to get me to trust him.”
“No one’s going to lie about golf.”
“True. What do you suggest we do?”
“Okay, so, we make a list of the courses and when their next tournaments are. And then I’ll call up and ask if”—I slipped into my sweetest drawl—“my favorite uncle Tom is playing.”
Scott went quiet, turning it over.
I shrugged. “It’s worth a try.”
A slow smile spread across his face before he grabbed my cheeks and kissed me.
“You’re brilliant,” he said against my lips. “What would I ever do without you?”
I smiled back. “Hopefully, you’ll never have to find out.”
Bronzed and smiling,April and Tony strolled up the porch to collect Mitchell, unaware they were walking straight into a minefield. Inside, Scott was a live wire, barely contained. The anger pulsated off him. I’d waited until Mitchell was asleep to tell him what had been said on the beach—and thank god for that. Scott did not take it well.
Now all that fury was coiled, waiting for the knock.
Mitchell bolted out of the house the moment he saw his mom arrive.
“There he is. My favorite boy in the whole world,” April said, sweeping him into her arms and peppering his cheeks with kisses. “I missed you like crazy. Did you have fun?”
“Yes! I beat my time in Super Mario,” Mitch said, glowing with pride. You’d never guess he’d been sobbing in my arms yesterday. “And I learned to play roller hockey with the kids on the street. And Sunny taught me how to makescalpedpotatoes.”
“Scalloped,” I corrected, laughing softly.
“You’ll have to teach me,” she said, smoothing his hair. “You ready to go?”
Scott leaned against the hallway wall, arms crossed, his expression carved from stone. Even from across the room, I could feel the temperature drop.
“I’m just gonna say bye to my new friends,” Mitch called before sprinting toward the crowd of kids.
April turned back, catching the storm brewing in Scott’s eyes. “Is something wrong?”
He pushed off the wall and started for the front door. “When were you going to tell me about Arizona?”
Her smile faltered, her gaze flicking to Tony, then narrowed on the spot where her son had just been standing. “He must have overheard something he shouldn’t have.”
Scott’s voice went low and lethal. “You made me feel like the world’s worst father for even thinking about moving an hour away, and all this time, you were planning to drag him halfway across the damn country?”
“It’s the next state over, Scott,” she said, her tone already defensive. “Tony got an offer. A really good one. This is a huge opportunity for us.”
“Foryou,” Scott shot back. “Not for him. He doesn’t want to go, April. He begged us to let him stay.”
She sighed, waving toward the group of laughing kids outside. “Of course he doesn’t want to leave. He’s eight. He’s sad about his friends, his baseball team, Grandma Meg… you. But he’s a kid. He’ll adjust.”
I bit my tongue hard enough to taste blood. This wasn’tadjusting. It was ripping a child out of his life. But this wasn’t my fight, and any input I gave as the stepmother would only fan the flames.
