“Sorry,” I mumble.
“Are you going out with us?”he asks, and I shake my head.“Are you sure?I mean, is it the booze part that has you?—”
“No.I just… I’m in a shit mood.”Because your sister won’t message me back.“I wouldn’t be any fun.”
“Okay.Do you need to talk?”I shake my head again.
“So… your sister is watching Randie?”I ask, and he kind of looks confused by my abrupt change of topic.
“Lola?No.Not tonight.She’s with my Aunt Winnie and Uncle Holden,” Landon says.“Lola had plans.”
“Working?”I ask, and even I can hear how desperate I sound.
“At the bar?No.I think she might have a date,” Landon surmises, and my heart trips in my chest.“She’s been squirrelly about what she’s doing, and she only gets that way when there’s a dude involved.”
“Oh.Cool,” I say, and I sound like it’s anything but cool.And besides, why would I think it’s cool his sister is acting squirrelly?“I mean, not cool, but good for her if she’s got someone.I mean, if she’s dating.I guess.I don’t know.”
Landon’s blond eyebrows pinch, and he gives me a WTF smile.I shake my head.“Ignore me.I told you.Bad mood.I need to go.”
I turn, and Callan is standing farther down the hall, clearly waiting for Landon.Our eyes lock, and he gives me one sharp raised eyebrow.I ignore the pointed look and shove my phone in my pocket.“See you guys at the plane tomorrow.”
In my car, I look at my phone again.She has seen the message, I can tell.But she isn’t responding.She’s probably been on the app to find another guy to hook up with.A guy she’s out with right now, apparently.And this feeling in my gut, which seems to be a mix of nausea and anger, I don’t have the right to feel.She owes me nothing.She’s done nothing wrong.I’m an idiot.
I delete the app from my phone and go home.
Chapter19
Lola
December…
Ismile as Landon gets teary-eyed while lifting Randie into the air, and she squeals with delight.Grady is standing beside him, making goofy faces at her, too.“This is the best idea ever.I’m so glad you could swing the time away.”
“I’m happy too,” I say and force myself to stop talking even though I’m dying to tell someone that I didn’t get the time off and re-assigned my two current doula clients and turned down a new one, which is money and experience I could desperately use if I were staying in this profession.“Fourteen days is way too long to go without you seeing your daughter.”
“And she was fine on the flight?”he questions as he pulls her into his chest and kisses the top of her head.“My god, she’s got so much more hair than when we left.”
“And I think she grew.Look how long her legs seem,” Grady says, and she reaches out and grabs one of his fingers.
“She was great on the flight.And of course Mom is insisting we stay with her and not at the hotel,” I inform them and immediately add, “I told her she could have Randie, but I’m totally enjoying the perks of my solo five-star room.”
Hopefully, I willnotbe alone.Although I haven’t seen Theo or talked to him for a couple of days before this road trip.He did send me a message on the app, but when I went to respond, it was gone.He was gone.He deleted his profile—or blocked me.And stupid me doesn’t have his actual phone number.I could ask Callan for it, but after the way he reacted to the news that we hooked up, I don’t think it would go over well.Especially because I swore it wouldn’t happen again.
Maybe Theo doesn’t want it to happen again, and that’s why he deleted the app?I hope that’s not true.I really need some kind of distraction from my life.I haven’t been bothered by Pete again, but I’ve been relentlessly on edge, worried he’ll show up somewhere.My last shift at the bar went off without a hitch, and he wasn’t there, but I had Todd walk me to my car anyway.I’ve spent the last two weeks living at Landon and Grady’s because it’s easier for Randie to be in her own home.I went home once to grab my suitcase to pack for this trip, and there were fresh footprints in the snow outside our door.They gave me the creeps, but I had no proof who left them.We really need to get that Ring camera set up.
“Are you guys sure you’re good?”I ask my brother and Grady.
“Yeah.Go,” Landon says, never taking his eyes off his daughter.“We’re going to order room service and hang out here.”
“Mom said she would swing by tonight to pick her up,” I tell them, and slowly inch my way toward the door.“Are all the players on the same floor?”
“No.We’re spread out over nine and ten,” Grady says, and then he pauses, and our eyes connect.“Speaking of players, a bunch are going to dinner at a Mexican place that Redov loves.If you want to join.I think Cal is going, and I know Theo is.”
He holds my gaze for just a second too long.It’s telling, like he knows something.Did Callan tell him about Theo and me?He said he wouldn’t tell a soul, and I believed him because no one wants to admit their sister is banging their teammate.So I haven’t talked to Theo, Grady is giving me weird vibes, and now I’m second-guessing being here.But Landon couldn’t go the entire road trip without Randie, and when he asked me to fly her out here, I couldn’t argue.
“Okay.I’ll consider the dinner thing.What room is Cal in?”I ask, hoping I sound nonchalant.“I want to say hi.”
“919, I think,” Landon mutters.
