Page 71 of Crash into me

“It does.” When we walk back to our friends, I go to hand Foster the money, but he shakes his head.

“That’s for you. I don’t need it.”

I push it against his chest. “But it will help.”

“You’ll earn more next time. Since you won, you’ll be watched. You’ll be in my circuit now, running with the big dogs.”

“I’ve already ran with the big dogs,” I tease.

“Yeah, difference now is you’re a winner so bets will be higher on who will win between second and third.”

I squint my brows. “Why not first?”

“You know why.” He laughs. “That’s my seat.”

“Oh, tacos!” Callum cheers, and everyone digs in. It feels so good to win.

The cops are at bay, nowhere nearby. Ryder stays beside the radio to listen in, so we celebrate. Music plays, and drinks are passed around.

“Hello?” Foster answers his phone, walking us away from the crowd and leaning against a tree. He places the phone on speaker. “Bubba!” Sophie chimes.

“Hey, runt. You good?”

She laughs at the nickname. “Yeah, I just wanted you to know to that tomorrow if you and Skyler aren’t busy, I’ll have a voucher and I wanted you two to take me.”

He smiles into the phone. “Ah, the Tooth Fairy is on the way.”

“Yup!” She laughs. “I was eating some of my cake and my tooth fell out! Grandma put it in a little bag.”

Whenever I hear that Adeline is home, it makes me happy. She works so hard at the hospital and deserves more breaks. I don’t know how nurses do it; they’re literal angels walking underneath fluorescent lighting.

“Have you decided on where?” Foster wonders.

“Nope! But I have all night to think about it.”

He looks at his phone, checking the time. “It’s way past your bedtime. If you don’t go to sleep soon, the Tooth Fairy won’t have time to stop by, and then you won’t have a voucher at all.”

He hangs up, looking a little embarrassed.

“Underneath the leather jacket and all the tattoos, you’re just a big softie,” I tease, wrapping my hands around his muscled arm.

He bumps shoulders with me. “Yeah, yeah.”

Curiosity gets the best of me. “So, how did you know she lost a tooth? What’s a voucher?”

“The Tooth Fairy leavers her a voucher for any experience she wants.” He smiles, remembering something. “Growing up we never had much money, so instead of just shoving cash under our pillow, I would get a voucher for anything I wanted to do.”

He looks up to the starry sky.

“I thought it was so magical that the moment I handed the voucher to my parents, it didn’t matter what was going on. There would be no school, and they wouldn’t go to work. We would have a family day. Sophie was too little to remember any of that, so I want to keep the tradition alive.”

“That’s really sweet.” What I would have given for a childhood like that, with parents that would rather create a memory than stuffing cash under my pillow.

“We’ll have to swing by there on our way home, okay?”

* * *

We walk backover to our friends, who have already devoured the tray of food.