Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Leighton
Guess I worried for nothing. Hayes hasn’t searched me out once since he arrived, and he has no idea I’m watching him from the kitchen like a stalker, eating a stale store-bought cookie that doesn’t come close to fulfilling my sugar craving.
There was no candy drawer to be found. Though I’m sure there’s a drawer Skylar used to organize all her charging cords that I can turn into a candy drawer. One point for me and zero for Callie.
You’d think Hayes was running for mayor, shaking everyone’s hands with that damn charming smile of his in place.
Lincoln excitedly weaves between him and everyone approaching, rambling questions about the other players on the team and if Hayes is happy to be a Colt now.
Hayes ruffles Lincoln’s hair and nods, entertaining every question.
It’s nice to see something other than confusion and sadness on the little guy’s face.
Julianna breezes in, interrupting my tunnel vision. “This dip is going to go bad. We don’t want people associating the funeral with food poisoning.”
Sky would hate that I gave Julianna so much control over today.
I grit my teeth, swallowing down my comebacks.
I’m not her biggest fan. She was always offering Sky unsolicited advice on everything from how to introduce new foods to the kids when they were babies to the importance of a Montessori education.
Hell, I’m not even sure Arthur likes his wife very much.
She clearly runs the roost in their household.
“I think we should talk.” She scoops the dip out of the bowl, and it plops into the trash in one big solid mass.
“After.” For someone who apparently has it all together, she sure can’t take a hint. I’ve already told her ten times today.
She sets the bowl in the sink and grabs a new one.
Did she already memorize what’s in every cabinet?
Other than some holidays and birthdays, they never really saw one another.
Patrick and Arthur would go on their brotherly fishing trips every year.
Selfishly, I was happy not to have to share Skylar and Patrick with them very often, so I never really asked questions.
“I have to go water the plants.” I step toward the back door, seeking solitude once again, unable to handle these people and their sad looks at me as if I was dumped into that grave with Skylar and Patrick.
My life isn’t over because I have three kids to take care of.
Although in just the week that I’ve been responsible for them, it’s been obvious where my single life needs adjusting.
“Didn’t it just rain?” Julianna asks.
“Yeah, you know how much Patrick loved his landscaping. We wouldn’t want it to suffer.” I don’t wait for her to argue with me, opening the back door to their deck and hoping like hell she doesn’t follow me.
Once I’m out there, I pull out a patio chair, and my legs relax in relief the minute I sit.
The sun warms my skin. How cruel of Mother Nature to give us the perfect Chicago spring day on a day like today.
The sun shouldn’t shine so brightly. The birds should still be south and not chirping with life in the nearby trees.
Flowers shouldn’t be budding, and green leaves shouldn’t be yawning open on the tree branches.
I run my finger under my eyes to dry the tears bubbling up, wishing it were the middle of winter, when everything would be cold, dead, and empty.
Skylar didn’t deserve to leave this world so young. She had an entire life to live, children to watch grow up into good humans because of her exceptional mothering skills.
The back door opens, and I straighten, my feet hitting the deck floor, and I run my palms over my cheeks to dry the tears.
A king-size Twix bar lands with a thud on the patio table in front of me, then the chair next to me slides out, a body falling into it. The scent of men’s cologne reaches my nostrils, giving me an idea of who it is before I even turn my head to look.
Peeking, I catch his long, thick fingers wrapped around the arm of a patio chair. The button-down sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, showing off forearms corded with muscles.
I swallow back my rush of desire. This isn’t the time to be crushing on Hayes Carlisle.
“I’ll take half as payment,” his deep voice says.
I face him, and damn, he looks as good as he did when I saw him six months ago. He’s always been built, but more so since the last time I saw him. He was clearly hitting the gym in the offseason.
“And here I thought this was your condolence gift.”
He leans forward, swiping the candy bar off the table and tearing open the top of the packaging. “It was until I had to entertain all your guests. You’re welcome.” He pushes the top of the first two bars out of the packaging, holding it out to me.
“Were flowers too cliché?” I slide out one of the bars.
He takes the other and puts the candy bar back on the table. Then he holds out his bar toward me as if it’s a glass of champagne and there’s something to cheers to. I knock my bar with his and get rewarded with one of his swoon-worthy smiles.
“I never understood flowers at a funeral.” He props his feet up on the empty chair in front of him, crossing his ankles. “Why would I give someone who’s grieving something that’s inevitably going to die a week later?”
His teeth sink into the chocolate and caramel, and my gaze snags on the vision. I attempt to deny the memory of those lips on mine. In my top five worst decisions ever, that night battles for the top spot.
“I think flowers are supposed to make something beautiful out of a sad day.”
He scoffs, biting off another piece. “I hope when I die, people aren’t commenting on how beautiful the roses strewn over my casket are as I’m being lowered into the ground.”
I laugh and instantly place my hand over my mouth.
“Don’t do that.” He pops the last piece into his mouth.
My forehead wrinkles. “Do what?”
“Act like it’s shameful to laugh.”
“It is a funeral.”
“So, all our other emotions besides grief aren’t supposed to exist anymore?” He arches a brown eyebrow.
“I’m pretty sure you were brought up with manners.”
“Are the funeral police going to come and get you because I made you laugh?” He gives me a cocky grin.
I tilt my head. “Still conceited, huh?”
“When it comes to making people laugh when they’re having a shit day, yeah.”
I don’t say anything because I’m unsure what to say. I’ll still feel guilty for laughing, knowing Sky never will again.
“Besides, if I were the funeral police, I probably wouldn’t have shown up.” There’s an edge to his voice.
“What do you mean?”
He shrugs and cracks his neck, moving it right and left. “I’m here because I can be a distraction, which is why Callie called me, but I almost didn’t come because I’m pissed at her right now.”
Embarrassment makes my cheeks heat. I’m sure he had ten better things to do than show up here today. “She shouldn’t have called you. I’m sorry for ruining your day.”
He stops mid-neck crack, turning to look at me.
It’s been half a lifetime since I’ve spent any real time with him, so I can’t read his expression as well as I used to.
“Ruin my day? Fuck, Leighton, I’m pissed that she waited until now to tell me what happened.
I would’ve been at the actual funeral had I known. ”
My cheeks heat even hotter from wishing he had been there. “Oh.”
“I knew Sky in high school.”
The flush dies. Of course… how stupid to think he would show up for any other reason than to mourn a classmate’s tragic death.
“I gotta say, this isn’t where I thought she’d end up.” He scans the backyard, taking in the perfect landscaping, the swing set in the corner of their small yard, and painted rocks lining the deck’s ledge.
“What do you mean?”
“I thought she’d be some band’s groupie or something. I remember her being pretty wild. The parties she used to throw.” He shakes his head and chuckles, then faces me again. His smile fades, and I hate that he’s giving me the same look as everyone else in that house. “Tough gig, huh?”
“Gig?” I repeat, still not wanting to address my new reality.
His gaze falls to the uneaten candy bar in my hand. “I had to endure five minutes with the clerk telling me what’s wrong with the Colts to buy that for you.”
“Maybe it’s not my favorite candy anymore.”
He nods and shrugs his shoulders. “Then I suppose it’s another five minutes of my life wasted, but score, I get the whole candy bar.” He holds out his hand, but I shake my head. “Yeah, didn’t think so.”
I finally take a bite. Whoever says sweets can’t make your day a little better is a liar.
“So… want to tell me why you vanished at the hospital six months ago?” he asks, interrupting my momentary reprieve from the reality of today.
Hayes can never let things be. Of course he’s going to bring up when his friends were having a baby, and by some weird twist of fate, I was their nurse.
“Well, I am a nurse. I had to go do important nurse things.”
He chuckles. “Important nurse things?”
I take another bite of the candy bar, and a smug smile tips his lips because I’m enjoying the candy he bought me. Still a cocky bastard.
“I thought maybe you were still dodging me years later,” he says.
I glance at the door to the house, then tilt my head and give him my bored look. “Get over yourself.”
“Well, I, for one, thought our kiss was pretty great.”
“You’re probably getting it mixed up with all the other women you’ve kissed since.” I take another bite of the Twix bar.
“You’re the only one who ran away after I kissed them.” His grin grows wider, and I toss the last piece of the candy bar at him, which he catches and tosses in the air, catching it in his mouth. “Did you forget what position I play?”
I roll my eyes. “Like you’d let me forget.”
I pick up the rest of the Twix bar, take out a second bar, and hand him the last one.
“You always were a good sharer,” he says, accepting the bar. “This is about the last thing I should be eating. Gotta keep in shape.” He pats his stomach as if there’s a beer belly hidden under his crisp white shirt.
“I’m sure a few extra pounds aren’t going to detour all the women in waiting.”
A piece of candy bar lands on my chest. I pick it up and pop it in my mouth, giving him a smug grin as if to say thanks. “So, you can catch but not throw?”
His tongue slides along his bottom lip, and he gives me a crooked smile that makes me forget the reason we’ve been thrown together today. “I have a lot to prove this year.”
I wasn’t going to mention the rumor mill. It would be like adding gasoline to an already blazing fire. “How did it feel to get the call from the Colts?”
He huffs, licking chocolate off his fingers. Is he trying to distract me? “Honestly, I was relieved. I thought I had ruined my chances of playing. Last year was…” He moves his head to the right, his neck cracking again. “Intense.”
“And stupid.”
He chuckles again, looking at me. “Very stupid. I just got lost in my head, you know?”
I’d seen the emptiness in his eyes during the games I caught on television. His love of the game had been on the back burner, and his attention was far away from what was happening on the field.
“I can’t believe we’re all grown up,” he says, picking up the empty candy wrapper and folding it in his hands as if he’s about to do origami with it. “Seems like yesterday you and Callie were in my Corolla, and I had to drive you somewhere.”
“I miss Cruella.”
He rolls his eyes. “I’m still pissed that you guys renamed my car.”
“It was Callie’s by then. You were off at college.”
If that small rust bucket of a car could have talked, it could have blackmailed Callie and me enough to be completely restored.
A hand lands on my thigh, and I stiffen, looking down. He runs his palm up and down my thigh. “I’m really sorry about Sky and her husband. Her kids seem great. Callie told me that—”
“Yeah.” I’m not ready to hear anyone else say it out loud just yet.
“That’s what I meant earlier with the tough gig thing.”
I feel my lips tip and quickly press them back down. “I got that. Looks like we both have some uphill battles this year.”
His head falls back, and his hand drops from my thigh as he stares at the sky. “I’m not sure ours are evenly matched on importance.” He swivels his head, his dark eyes finding mine, and for a second, I forget how to breathe. “But if I had to bet on anyone, it would be you.”
I swallow to coat the dryness of my throat. The last thing I should feel in this moment is desire. “I should go. The kids…” My chair screeches along the deck, tipping over behind me.
He grabs my hand, his calloused palms warming mine. “Leighton—”
The back door opens, and my head turns as fast as my heart rate skyrockets. Callie’s eyes dart between us, then zero in on our joined hands.
I slip my hand out of his slowly as if I can convince her she was seeing things. “Hey, are the kids okay?”
She steps out onto the deck. “Hayes, you’re doing a piss-poor job.”
He stands and shoves his hands in his pockets. “I’m on a break.” He winks at me, and my treacherous stomach somersaults.
Remember, you make bad decisions when you’re around him.
“And you told me to help Leighton through today. I’m helping, aren’t I?” He raises his eyebrows.
It’s really unfair for someone to be so damn beautiful.
“He brought me a Twix,” I say, and Callie’s forehead wrinkles. My cheeks heat. I sound pathetic. “Excuse me.”
I slide past Callie, stepping back into the house, but I overhear her say, “Hold up, big brother. You have some explaining to do.”