Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
CARLIE
It’s my shift to watch the kids while the rest of my family gets packed for our red-eye flight tonight back to Houston. That’s what I get for only taking thirty minutes to gather up all my own stuff. Packing cubes—that’s my secret. Everything stayed organized.
As usual, it’s easy to keep an eye on the kids. Ruby and I play at the water’s edge, and the constant movement of the waves has kept her attention for a while. The boys dig in the sand, something it feels like they could do every day of their lives and never get bored. Every once in a while, they run down to the water and scoop up wet sand for whatever their project is.
My phone dings with a text, and I pull it out from the pocket of my shorts. I expect it to be from Gabriella, but then I remember that I decided not to send her the pictures I took the other night of Ford and his friend yet. Jenna told me last night that his wife is a good friend of Gabriella’s, so that’s who I’m going to send the pictures to so that Madelyn can hear the bad news from a friend. But not until Gabriella gets home from Hawaii. I don’t want to ruin her special vacation.
The text is from my grandma and in a group message with me and Jenna that we started when I first moved back to Houston.
G
I’m glad you’ll be coming home soon, but I’m sure you girls are sad your vacation is almost over. It looks like you’ve had a wonderful time.
I always love how Grandma’s texts sound like a letter she’s sent me.
Carlie
We had the best time. Thanks, G.
G is the nickname we gave Grandma when we were teens and insisting that she needed a cool grandma nickname, like one of Jenna’s friends who called her grandma Nana.
G
I can’t wait to hear all about that young man you met.
Grandma adds a winking emoji that makes me snort. How can a seventy-year-old woman use emojis so on point?
Ruby takes my hand and drags me to a new spot to dig in before plopping down, so I sit next to her while I type out the answer.
Carlie
Well, how the tables have turned. Jenna tattling on me.
Grandma sends a picture of Law she must have googled. It’s after a game, and he’s wearing his football pants, but he’s taken off his pads and shirt. Underneath is a tight black tank that exhibits his defined shoulders and arms. His hair is standing on end, but it’s still a jaw-dropping picture.
And G drops it into the chat without even a comment.
Heat dumps into my cheeks the same time Jenna sends several laughing emojis and then one with stars for eyes.
“Looks like you’re not the only one who could live on the beach.”
I recognize Law’s voice and look up, then fumble my phone and dump it into the sand. He reaches down to grab it, and I scramble to beat him to it. The last thing he needs to see is that my grandma is texting thirst-trap pictures of him to me.
But he has long arms and gets there first. I understand how the guy Law robbed of an interception in a game last year feels. You think the ball is just about to fall into your hands, and he slips in there and snags it right back.
He hands the phone back to me with a wide grin. “Who’s G?” he asks.
I think the day just got about twelve degrees hotter at least. As if last night’s embarrassment wasn’t enough. “My grandma,” I squeak.
Law snorts with laughter before he straightens his face. “She seems nice.”
The way his eyes dance with laughter is killing me. My face is on fire. “She’s very good at googling for a seventy-year-old.” My voice is tellingly two octaves higher than normal.
“I see that.”
“Oh my gosh,” I whisper. I shove my phone into my pocket, ignoring the way that Law chuckles in a low, sexy way. That sound is not doing anything to help the heat in my face—or the warmth in my chest, for that matter. “So, uh, what was it that you were asking me? You know, when you first came up?” I ask, hoping we can just change the subject.
My phone dings again in my pocket, and Law looks at it pointedly. There’s no way I’m looking to see what Grandma or Jenna has texted now. Not in front of Law. She and Jenna have probably both googled multiple thirst-trap pictures of Law in the last minute or so.
“Do you need to check that? It could be really important.” How he keeps a straight face while saying this, I have no idea.
“Nah, it’s fine.” I’m going for nonchalant, but I doubt Law buys that. Judging by the still-high temperature of my face, I don’t think I’m selling it very well.
Law smiles at me for a few moments longer, obviously enjoying my discomfort at being caught with that picture of him, before he says, “I said earlier that it looked like you weren’t the only one who could live on the beach. Every time I see your nephews and niece, they seem perfectly happy to stay all day in the sand.”
“Oh, yeah.” I chuckle, hoping that my blush will diminish soon. Definitely not, if my phone keeps dinging in my pocket like this. I hurriedly pull my phone out to silence it as I say, “Jenna always tells me that she loves taking the kids to the beach because they’re endlessly entertained. How was the tour today?” I haven’t seen him all day, and it’s no surprise to me that I’m disappointed about that.
“Gorgeous. I wish you could’ve come.” He steps closer, hands in the pockets of his plain black swimming trunks. He’s wearing a white swim shirt, which is probably fortunate, because if he was showing off any of the biceps I saw in that picture G sent plus abs, I’d probably be incoherent.
“That would’ve been fun. I’ve been with Jenna and Devin most of the day. We took the kids ziplining, so I don’t regret that either.” Their faces were priceless. Hudson declared it the coolest thing he’s ever done.
Law’s eyes widen. “Kids? Ziplining?”
I laugh. “It was a pretty tame course, perfect for them. They had a blast. I’ll show you some of the pictures later.”
His smirk returns. “Why don’t you show me now?” he asks teasingly.
My cheeks burn, even if my lips are twitching. “Sorry,” I say, trying to sound light-hearted but mostly just coming off as breathless. “I’m watching the kids.” I shrug in a what-can-you-do way, and Law laughs again.
He leans in closer to me, and my fingers tingle with the effort it takes not to put a hand on his chest and at least feel the muscles I can’t see. “When are you guys leaving?” he asks.
“The flight leaves at eleven. We’re hoping the kids sleep for most of it.” It will definitely make the flight easier. Although with five adults in our group and only three kids, our ratio is good. Plus Jett got us all first class. The flight over was uneventful. If we’re lucky, the flight home will be too. I’m preparing for a few hiccups. The kids have been on the go so much that they’re bound to be short tempered. Even that’s relative for Jenna’s kids.
“They’ll be great,” Law says, echoing my thoughts.
“I sometimes worry that her children being so great means that I’m the one who’ll get monsters,” I confess.
Law grins. “Luckily, you’re perfectly equipped to handle them. And speaking of …” He grimaces.
“What?” I ask. Ruby lifts her hands toward me, and I move to pick her up, but Law gets to her first. She grins and claps his cheeks softly, the move she reserves for people she likes the most.
“Traitor,” I mutter, but I smile. But daaang, this man is hot—and a baby in his arms? I can’t even right now. “What’s the look for?” I ask, distracting myself.
“Chad, ever the overachiever, got your name from me and called your old preschool for references. He’s over-the-moon impressed with whatever your boss told him. He tried to get me to schedule a FaceTime interview with you tonight, but I reminded him that he might want you to meet the girls before he makes a big decision like this.” He chuckles. “I’m sorry if he overstepped and if it was too soon for that move.”
I shake my head, waving Law off as we begin to walk slowly down the water line. We don’t go far before turning back around, since I need to keep the boys in sight. “It’s fine. It sounds like he’s in a tough spot, and I don’t blame him for getting ahead of himself. Hopefully it means he cares about his girls. And it’s good to know that Naomi still has good things to say about me.” Also, it feels good to have a lead for a job. I’m happy to help Jenna for right now, but I need new employment sooner rather than later.
An amused expression crosses Law’s face, and I can tell he’s thinking about the story I told when we all went to the food truck the other night. “Hopefully she didn’t warn Chad that you might hit on him.”
I burst into laughter. “Naomi wasn’t the one that insinuated that I’d better not cross the line with a parent again or I’d get fired. She was assistant principal then, and when she heard my side, she laughed a lot—and sided with me. But she wasn’t happy when I told her I was quitting. Especially since it wasn’t to take another job, but just to leave.”
“From what Chad said, that’s because you were, hands down, the best teacher she had.” Law leans into me.
“That was nice of her to say.” I put my arm through his and lean in close. He smells perfect, as usual, that sporty scent that’s probably a requirement for athletes, and there’s a definite hint of the ocean on him.
“Can we go out when we get back to Houston?” he asks.
“I’d love that.” The time I’ve had with him this week has been perfect, but we’ve never really had alone time. I’m looking forward to finding moments for us to share the things I know we’ve both been holding back. “When do you start training camp?” Hopefully we’ll have a few weeks to get to know each other before his life gets crazy with football.
“Full camp is in July, but I’ll be doing some mini-camps and some training this month and next.” He shrugs. I’ll have to ask Ava how busy Jett is in the off season. “You on duty with the kids tonight?”
“Yeah.” I look up at him apologetically. “The couples want to try this ice cream place nearby. Alec told Jett it was the best ice cream he’s ever eaten.”
“He told us about it. Ivy and I went when we got back from our tour. I agree.” His turn to look apologetic, which makes me laugh.
“Jenna promised to bring me back some,” I assure him. I hope he asked if I had the kids tonight because he wanted to spend a little bit more time together here in paradise, so I throw him a bone. “They’ll be sleeping. You want to come hang out?”
He beams. “Yeah. That sounds great.” He nudges me with his elbow. “Maybe we can see if you know how to google as well as your grandma.”
I slap him softly on the arm and shake my head. His laughter is contagious, though, and even if I can’t help the embarrassment that makes me blush again, the warmth of his laughter takes it over.
I decide I might as well just own this. “Actually, I’m a lot better.” I smirk.
By the time I’m settled in my seat next to Ian on the plane, I still have a smile on my face. Nothing big happened with Law, but our couple hours together before I left were great. I turned the tables on him and googled all the cool plays Jenna, Devin, and I had been watching a few nights before. Though he was flattered, he was also clearly embarrassed to have the spotlight on him. I ended up showing mercy, and we played a card game that brought us both to tears of laughter multiple times. I’m looking forward to spending time together in Houston, getting to know him better, and finding the trust I’ve been looking for since Xavier was arrested. Just before Law left the suite, I thanked him for giving me time to know him, to work toward the trust. He smiled and gathered me up in a hug.
I can’t wait to see him again.