Page 81 of Singled Out
“She didn’t get a cookie,” I said from a distance, grinning.
“Hell, I forgot. There’s a Sugar bag between the front seats.”
“You stopped and got her a cookie?” I asked as I ducked across the driver’s seat.
“Ben stocks up for exactly this reason. I need you to open the side door, hold the cookie up so she sees it, then put it in that tray.”
I did as he said, and before I could get to the tray behind the passenger seat, the llama hopped inside and came after me, or maybe the cookie. For a second, I thought I was a goner, but she only wanted the rainbow-sprinkled sugar cookie, not my fingers. With a squeal, I dropped the cookie on the tray and ducked out of the way, my heart hammering, exhilarated laughter pouring from me, my shoulders shaking with it.
Once I was safely on the pavement, I remembered to close the door at the same time Max shut the back one, and we had ourselves one captured llama.
Max came around the van, a handsome smile on his face as he shook his head. “That wasn’t how I saw my Monday starting, but thank you.”
With a quiet laugh, I said, “Thank you for showing up when you did.”
He glanced in at Danny, who was oblivious to the llama just inches behind him, a mesh metal divider ensuring he was perfectly safe.
After a head shake of disbelief at his son, Max turned his attention back to me. “Mission accomplished. We make a good team.”
“We do,” I said. “A super-secret superhero llama-catching team.”
“I’d offer you a ride home but…”
“Your van is full, plus the secret part.” I smiled to show him I’d be fine.
After saying goodbye though, as I walked away from the van and made my way toward the square, his words replayed in my head.
We make a good team.
I wanted to be a team with Max. I’d tried to shove that desire aside ever since moving day when I’d first had the thought. But the more we were together, the more I couldn’t deny it.
I swallowed hard.
I was either going to have to work up the courage to tell him I wanted more or I was going to have to stop seeing him altogether.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Max
Being in sports for my whole life, I’d never had a shortage of guy friends, at least on the surface. But nothing had the power to forge deep ties the way single fatherhood did.
Our group of single dads met nearly every Saturday. We made a collective effort to ensure we all had childcare for those few hours each week, the others often sharing a sitter. My family made themselves available to watch Danny.
Some nights we played cards or darts. Sometimes we took my boat out. Every once in a while, we hit a bar, usually for a birthday or another occasion. We frequently had sports on the TV wherever we were.
Tonight I was hosting at my house for the first time. We’d be breaking in the lakeside terrace and taking my new grill, which was admittedly big enough for a guy my size to sleep on, for a test run. If the air temperature cooled enough after sunset, we might try out the fire pit as well. I’d had the terrace built in early summer but had been waiting on the back-ordered grill before having the dads over.
Danny was staying overnight at Levi’s. My brother had picked him up midafternoon so I could get ready. I was serving ribeye steaks, grilled potatoes, and corn on the cob.
I’d told everyone to come to the backyard when they arrived. The grill was heating, and the drink cooler was full of Rusty Anchor when Chance Cordova and Luke Durham appeared at the side of the house.
“Welcome,” I called as they came down the incline toward the terrace.
“We finally get an invite to the coach’s fancy house, and we’re relegated to the backyard. Feels like my childhood,” Chance said with a big grin. He was a pretty boy who generated female attention wherever he went.
“You can go inside to use the restroom, but only if you take your shoes off first,” I joked. “Hey, Luke. What’s up?”
“How’s it going?” Luke owned a farm outside of town where he worked his ass off growing strawberries, apples, and Christmas trees.