“I hope he’s not doing that overseas,” I joked.
“No,” Stella said on a laugh. “When I visited the last time, he was a master with chopsticks. My nephew tried to show me the right way, but I kept fumbling.” She pursed her lips at Bennie. “So I just used a fork.”
“Grown-up boys aren’t so gross. Like Nate.”
Stella bit back a smile.
“I know all the players, but Nate is thebestone,” Bennie went on. “He found a whistle so I can help the team practice, and he gave me his jersey.”
Stella’s lips twitched as my daughter straightened in her seat.
“His jersey, huh? Sounds official,” Stella said, arching a brow.
“Well, not the jersey he wears at the game.” Bennie put down her pizza. “He told me he has copies, and since I was his girl, I could have one.”
I covered my eyes when Stella burst out laughing.
“Well, that’s very nice of Nate,” Stella said.
“Thatismore official than he usually is with women,” Isaid, standing to pick up the pizza box off the table. “But remember, you’remygirl first.” I bent to kiss the top of Bennie’s head.
“Of course, Daddy,” Bennie said, her tiny fingers grasping the hem of my T-shirt. “Don’t be sad. I have time for both of you.”
A laugh escaped me before I could help it.
“Thank you, I appreciate that.” I pointed to the pizza on her plate. “Eat.”
Bennie was a slow eater, but she’d been too busy chewing Stella’s ear off to chew on her dinner, working on the same slice for the past twenty minutes. I’d let her ramble, relieved that she’d taken to Stella so well.
Bennie knew her aunt and uncle were moving away and that her grandmother would be close but not live in our house anymore, but it hadn’t sunk in yet. I hoped the novelty of Stella moving in with us would distract her from missing them too much, at least at the beginning.
It was distracting me already.
All I could think about was that asshole shoving his fist into Stella’s face and what could have happened to her if her neighbors hadn’t called the police. I meant what I’d said; I would have flown out to Ohio without hesitation to help her so she wouldn’t have had to go through all that alone.
She’d be safe here. We had nosy neighbors too, but in a good way, and they’d watch over them both while I was on the road with the Bats. Stella moving in with us was an unexpected but perfect—at least for the moment—solution for both of us.
The only snag was that moment between us after she’d told me what her ex had done, when I was out of my seat and kneeling in front of her before I knew what I was doing. We had a lot of history that had bonded us together, but thiswas different. It was more than history that had drawn me to her, to the point that across the table hadn’t been close enough.
I couldn’t get the way she’d looked back at me out of my head. Her golden eyes, wide and glossy as they held mine, giving away all that shame and fear she’d tried to brush off with her words.
My gaze had landed on her mouth again, and pressing my lips to hers to make it all better had been an intrusive but potent thought.
One that had confused me ever since.
After Bennie finally finished one slice of pizza, she jumped out of her seat and yanked Stella’s hand until she stood.
“Want to see my room?” Bennie asked.
“Absolutely,” she said, almost stumbling as Bennie pulled her toward the staircase.
“Easy. Let’s not make Stella fall,” I called after her as she stomped up the stairs.
“Wow,” Stella said as she stepped inside. “I love it. I’m guessing you like pink,” she said as she looked over her shoulder at Bennie.
“Ilovepink. And purple since that’s the Bats’ color,” she said, pointing to Nate’s jersey hanging on the doorknob.
My family had painted every inch of Bennie’s room pink when we’d moved in to match her old room in our apartment, even finding matching molding and new pink lamps. When we’d had to switch her from a toddler bed to a twin, she’d insisted on a pink headboard. The entire room looked like it had been hosed down with Pepto-Bismol, but my daughter loved it and requested more pink every day.
