20. Sawyer
SAWYER
“There’s my girl!” Duke boomed, opening his arms as his daughter, Harper, came bounding toward us.
Her cheeks were only a few shades lighter than her sweat-slicked auburn hair as she collided with her father. He smiled, wrapping his arms around her middle and picking her up. She was getting so big, almost too big to be picked up and carried around, but Duke didn’t care. He did it anyway.
“Did you see the last goal I scored?” She asked. Her smile was nothing short of triumphant. “Jess tried to block me, but I was too fast.”
“I never liked that girl, anyway,” Charlie, Liv and Grady’s daughter, muttered as she came up next to me. “She’s so mean. Always taunts Harper at school.”
“Then she got what she deserved,” Duke said. He set Harper down, watching as his daughter gave her sister a huge, sweaty hug that had them both shrieking and laughing as Charlie tried to get away.
Their family wasn’t traditional by any means, but it worked. Those girls were surrounded by people who loved them, and it was a nice reminder that the so-called traditional way wasn’t always the right way.
Beckett stood beside me, silently watching the girls play around as everyone around them packed up to go home.
He’d been acting strange since our conversation about the passport, keeping quiet and not even murmuring any corny one-liners that would make me roll my eyes as much as they secretly made me swoon.
“Who’re you?” Charlie asked, staring up at Beckett.
He offered a tentative smile and cleared his throat. “I’m Beckett. And you are?”
“Name’s Charlie,” she replied, sticking out her hand like the little businesswoman she thought she was.
He stared at it, amusement written all over his features, as he took it and gave it a good shake. “It’s nice to meet you, Charlie.”
Her eyes swung between the two of us before she asked, “Are you Auntie Sawyer’s boyfriend?”
All gazes landed on me as I fought not to turn a bright red.
Judging from how hot my cheeks felt, I’d say I failed.
My only saving grace was having just finished the last of the Cherry 7UP.
If I hadn’t, I probably would’ve ended up spewing it all over everyone to cover up the fact that I didn’t know how to answer her.
I mean, he wasn’t my boyfriend, and we weren’t dating, but it wasn’t like she knew what a baby daddy was. I also didn’t want to give either girl the wrong impression by pretending otherwise.
“We’re… friends,” I finally said. Olivia’s cough sounded a whole lot like a curse, but I let it slide. She wouldn’t listen or believe me if I told her otherwise.
“I know what that means,” Harper said, giggling. She stepped up beside her sister. “Our teacher says she’s friends with the vice principal at school, but we’ve seen them making out in her car after school.”
“Not us.” Beckett swooped in before I could answer. “There’s no kissing here.” To anyone else, his expression would’ve appeared polite, but I could tell something was wrong. There was tension in his tone I couldn’t place.
I should’ve been over the moon at his eagerness to play along with the whole “friends" shtick. Maybe he’d finally realized that was all we could ever be. It didn’t matter how good it felt when his hand brushed mine, or the way those goddamn bugs fluttered in my belly every time he looked my way.
Friends had to be enough.
Except… Now I wasn’t so sure. I tried to blame it on the hormones, but ever since Beckett had shown up, I found myself clenching my thighs together every time he was around.
He looked too good. Smelled too good. And don’t even get me started on his cooking.
The man was every girl’s dream, and I had him in the palm of my hand. Why shouldn’t I use it to my advantage?
When I asked him to bring me all the goodies, it wasn’t to see how well he could listen or to test whether he’d show up, but he had gone above and beyond anyway. The fact that he was so desperate to prove himself only fueled the flames of my libido. So much for me thinking it was gone completely.
I was in serious trouble.
“Who’s hungry?” Liv asked, clapping her hands together. “We could go to Lucy’s!”
“Can’t today,” Lukas said, tucking his phone away. “Duty calls.”
“Work or a woman?” Duke asked, his face a perfect mask of knowing curiosity.
Lukas was the biggest flirt in Pinecrest, and he never tried to hide it.
I was pretty sure he’d slept with most of the eligible women in this town and maybe one or two who weren’t.
But he was also a very successful business owner, so it was anyone’s guess what had him slipping out.
He shot his best friend a wink. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Then he turned to Charlie and Harper. “Drink an extra milkshake for me. Make sure it has extra whipped cream, too.”
The girls cheered as their parents glowered in his direction. Lukas sauntered off with a wave and a laugh, heading toward the parking lot. He definitely liked to start shit he had no intention of finishing.
“We’re out, too,” Grady said, grabbing his wife’s hand. “Cleo and I are heading to Nashville today. My former bandmate is moving to the area, and I told him we’d pick him and his son up from the airport.”
Charlie’s features dropped as she regarded her dad. “Why do you get to see Maverick and I don’t?”
He kissed the top of his daughter’s head. “I’ll tell him you said hi, sunshine. And we’ll have dinner with them next weekend after they get settled.”
She crossed her arms, casting her eyes to her feet. “Fine…”
For all of Harper’s general good natured attitude, Charlie was a little spitfire.
She never held her punches, and didn’t shy away from telling everyone in the vicinity exactly what she felt.
On more than one occasion, I actually found myself wishing I was more like the ten year old.
Maybe then, things wouldn’t be so complicated.
“Come on, let’s go,” Duke said, ushering the girls forward. He grabbed the chairs Beckett had brought and swung them over his shoulder. “I’ll put these in my truck, and we can switch them out at the restaurant.”
Beckett blinked. “Oh, I didn’t think I was invited.”
“It’d be rude not to invite Sawyer’s friend,” Liv said, suppressing her grin. “Besides, Lucy’s is one of the best diners in Tennessee. You have to experience it at least once.”
He looked at me, and I shrugged. “It’s true. Her burgers are better than anything you can fly in from out of state.”
For the first time since he arrived, I saw a hint of humor sparkle in his eyes. “Well, I can’t argue with that logic.”
“Do it for the bucket list, if nothing,” I said, falling into step beside him. “We did include it, remember?”
“I do,” he murmured. “We should probably write this stuff down eventually. Wouldn’t want to forget it.”
It was silent between us, save for the distant hum of Charlie and Harper’s animated dissection of every goal she’d scored.
Not uncomfortable, per se, but definitely not what I was used to.
Beckett kept his hands in his pockets, walking in perfect time alongside me.
His subdued attitude had me on the verge of panicking.
Maybe he realized this was more than he bargained for, or that he didn’t even want to be a father.
Maybe my leaving the other night was too much for him to get over, and now he wanted nothing to do with me. I wasn’t sure I blamed him either way.
“Do you need a ride?” Beckett finally asked, breaking the silence. He reached into his pocket, pulling out his keys to remotely start the vehicle. “I didn’t see your car earlier.”
“Oh, um… Duke and Olivia picked me up, so yes. That’d be great.”
Lucy’s Diner wasn’t far, but it wasn’t walking distance either. Especially not in this weather. The early February air was brisk and cutting, leaving me more than a little chilled to the bone despite my oversized hoodie.
Accepting a ride meant I didn’t have to tell him that my Gram’s car broke down.
Again. Or that the mechanic told us whatever he could do would just be a temporary fix.
Again. The car was so old, it was a miracle the thing had lasted as long as it had.
But now I was faced with yet another problem I had no idea how to solve.
Duke and Liv had offered me a loan for a new car, but I couldn’t accept.
After everything they’d already done for me, that felt like crossing a line.
Saying yes felt like I was taking advantage of their generosity.
It was a lot different than saying yes to a few new pairs of pants or hand-me-down baby items.
Unlike before, there was no hand on the small of my back or brush of his fingers against mine. We walked with a foot of space between us all the way to his car. At least he opened the door for me. But instead of leaving me swooning like it had before, I was left feeling a little dejected.
How had we gone from flirty and fun to this unexplained distance in a matter of hours? And how could I get back there?
Beckett walked around and got in on the driver’s side.
I slid inside, feeling the warm leather through the fabric of my leggings.
The seat warmers must’ve turned on when he started the car.
He placed his hand on the headrest, turning to look out the back window as he carefully maneuvered the vehicle out of the spot.
Duke and Olivia waited just ahead so that he could follow them.
My fingers drummed against my thighs as we drove in silence. The tension was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Beckett kept his eyes glued to the road, his hands on ten and two.
“Okay, something’s wrong,” I said, turning to face him. It wasn’t a comfortable angle given my growing belly, but I didn’t care. “You’ve been acting weird since the game started.”
He glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “What? No I haven’t.”
“You haven’t tried to hit on me once,” I said, crossing my arms tightly over my chest.
“I told you I wouldn’t.”
“When has that ever stopped you before?” I asked. “You just can’t seem to help yourself.”