Kneeling in front of her, unlacing her skates, he peers up at me. “Can you?”
I shrug. “Only if I eat all my vegetables first. I need extra protein and veggies after kicking everybody’s butts at practice today.”
Avery’s eyes go wide. “Did you kick my dad’s butt too?”
“Nope, but she was definitely staring at it,” JJ mutters, his neck craned so he’s facing me and not his daughter.
I knee him in the back, making him tip forward.
He steadies himself with one hand on the bench beside Avery. “What?”
I shake my head at him and his cocky smirk.
“You shouldn’t use your hands or your legs when you get mad, Addie. Right, Dad?”
JJ gives me a ridiculously fake serious face, nodding. “Absolutely right, Avey. We never use our hands or legs to express our anger. We use our words. Adeline, do you want to tell us how youfeelabout seeing my butt today?”
I snort. “I hate you.”
Avery tuts. “We use our words, but we don’t say that. Right, Daddy?”
JJ glances back at his daughter, a real affectionate smile on his face again. “You’re right, Aves. We don’t tell people we love that we hate them.”
“And you love my daddy, right, Addie?”
Oh, he got me good with that one.
JJ drops to his ass on the floor and hangs his head, hiding a smile.
I inhale deeply and nod. “Yup, I love you guyssomuch.”
She smiles. “I love you too. Now let’s go get ice cream.”
“Nice try, tiny skater,” JJ says with a laugh. “Afterdinner.”
I sit next to Avery and get to work removing my skates while JJ does the same thing from the floor.
“Can I see my video?” Avery asks.
JJ digs his phone out of his pocket and pulls up the video, then hands the device to her.
Her eyes are wide, as she watches, and I swear to god she’s studying her every movement carefully. It’s the way I watch game tape. I can practically see her wheels turning, like she’s working out what she should do differently next time.
For a moment, I forget that she isn’t mine. Suddenly, I understand how Beckett must have felt all those years. This kinship. This pride. This feeling that maybe she could be a little like me. It doesn’t matter that we aren’t related by blood. I’m here for this moment. And I want to be here for as many moments as JJ will allow me to be.
Because Avery deserves people in her life who show up.
And the more of us, the better.
SEVENTEEN
JJ
Eighteen Years Old
“I’ve gotorange soda for you, Twizzlers for me, three kinds of chips,and, don’t get too excited, but they had Ding Dongs too.”
Adeline snorts as she pulls her hotel room door open wider.
