Chapter 43
Chapter Forty-Three
Leighton
We ordered and ate pizza, and now I’ve made a popcorn and candy buffet table for us to enjoy. Since Hayes had an afternoon game today and he’s off tomorrow, we decided to make it a movie night.
All the kids are in the family room, getting under blankets, already dressed in their pajamas. I’m hoping for some early bedtimes so I can steal some alone time with Hayes.
I love that Hayes has Foster back on his team, and he’s Hayes’s new roommate, but it’s put a dent in our time together.
I keep having to push away my fears about Foster being a bad influence on Hayes because I don’t honestly believe that.
My mom used to say the same thing about Callie, and I always did what I wanted, not what Callie wanted me to.
Dinner was filled with figuring out all the details for Lake’s upcoming birthday celebration.
“Decker and Easton want to know if they’re invited?” Hayes asks Lake when she comes back into the kitchen.
I look at Lake, since it’s her birthday party.
She shrugs. “Sure.”
“You just made their day.” Hayes tosses some popcorn in his mouth then takes out his phone. “Do you want to give them the happy news?”
“No, you can,” she says.
Hayes jumps off the counter and hugs her, although she keeps her arms at her sides. “Smile. You’re going to be twelve, and everyone will be here to celebrate you.”
She pretends she’s annoyed, trying to get him off her, and he only tightens his hold. I join them and put my face in hers and my arms around Hayes’s neck and her body.
Hayes slides out and hooks his phone up to the Bluetooth speaker in the kitchen. “Happy” by Pharrell comes on, and Hayes dances over to us. He holds out his hands, and I take one, but Lake shakes her head.
Lincoln and Monroe rush into the room, both dancing, which is mostly jumping around.
Hayes spins me and dances us over to Lake. We hold our hands out to her, and she shakes her head, but Hayes grabs her hand, dancing in front of her as their arms swing back and forth.
I leave them and make a little circle with Monroe and Lincoln.
“Come on,” Hayes begs, and Lake finally moves her upper body back and forth.
I watch from the corner of my eye as her hips move. Hayes learned his dance moves somewhere because it doesn’t take long before he’s got her in full dance mode. The other two kids and I dance over to them, and we make one big circle. Hayes is clapping to the beat, Monroe joining in.
I grab Lake’s hand and dance with her. Finally, she’s smiling and laughing at Hayes as he falls to his knees and pretends he’s singing into a microphone to Monroe.
As the song ends, Lake’s laughing and dancing with her brother and sister, and I’m in Hayes’s arms. I lean my head on Hayes’s chest. Seeing them happy and smiling makes me feel as if we might be turning a corner.
“Movie time!” Lincoln runs into the family room, to the spot he made up himself, and tucks himself under the blanket.
Lake and Monroe follow, but I linger in the kitchen with Hayes.
We look at one another, and he places his finger and thumb on my chin, tilting my head.
Then he bends down and kisses me. It’s short but sweet, and I already know what to name this feeling developing between us.
It might have always been there and just had to bloom, but I love him, and that thought scares me more than it should.
“They’re kissing again,” Monroe groans.
“Come on,” Lincoln calls.
Hayes’s hand finds mine, and he leads me to our spot on the couch. I look at Lake after I snuggle into Hayes’s chest, and she smiles at me. Smiles like she’s happy for me, and like maybe she loves Hayes too.
Lincoln and Monroe are asleep within an hour, and Lake asks to go upstairs so she can chat with her friends. We say okay, and that leaves Hayes and me essentially alone.
“So how are things over at The Stables, The Barn… Paddock? Have they settled on a name yet?”
Hayes shakes his head. He’s rarely there, and he tells me Ruby keeps giving him shit for not bringing the kids by. She said she serves chocolate milk. It’s just hard to find the time.
“Jagger wanted us to become a little family, but when we have two twin brothers who don’t even talk to one another, that makes it difficult.”
I sit up straighter and tuck my legs under my body to be face-to-face with him. “I’m sorry, that sucks.”
“Yeah, but the plus side is that Ripley’s a great manager. He’s really been giving me props lately. I’ve been in the media room every game.”
“You are playing pretty amazing.”
He smiles, and I feel it in my chest. I’m so happy for him.
“Easton says it’s the power of Leighton.”
I chuckle. “Me? No.”
He holds out his arms, and I turn so I can still face him and rest my back over his body. “I think he’s right.”
I place my hand on his cheek. “No, Hayes, you’ve always been an amazing player. And if other people didn’t see that, then that’s their loss. Last year your mom was going through cancer treatments. You were lost.”
“That’s just it—you found me.”
I shake my head, but he shakes his back. I don’t want to be responsible for his success on the field because what happens if he has a bad game? Then am I the reason for his failure too?
“I think you found yourself.” I sit up, glancing at the sleeping kids, then straddle him. “Let’s take these kids up to bed.”
“You okay?” He grabs my hand, stopping me.
“Yeah, of course.”
He releases my hand, taking my word. I lift Monroe and he gets Lincoln, then we walk them upstairs and into their rooms, tucking them into bed.
I check on Lake, and she’s still FaceTiming with her friends, so I wave hello and close her door.
Hayes is waiting at the top of the stairs outside Sky and Patrick’s room. “I was thinking… want me to go in there with you?”
My eyes widen. “No.”
He tilts his head. “You shouldn’t be in that guest room. Look at all of us in the kitchen earlier—we’re all growing. It’s okay to sleep in their room so you can have your own bathroom.” He twists the doorknob.
“Hayes.”
What he hears in my voice, I don’t know, but he removes his hand. “No? Okay.”
I know he has a point, and I’d rather be brave with him here, so I reach around him, suck in a breath, and open the door. It’s exactly how I left it how many months ago, except maybe dustier. All I did was toss the suitcases and duffel bags the police returned to us in here after the funeral.
Hayes follows me in, and I shut the door, so the kids won’t find us in here. I know Lincoln doesn’t care, but I don’t know how the girls will feel about it.
“This is their stuff?” Hayes squats down to the backpack with a phone in the side pocket. “Did you think about looking through their phones?”
“No.” I put my arms around myself, feeling as though I’m invading someone’s personal space.
“There are probably pictures the kids would want when they’re older.
” He stands, and a relieved breath floats out of me that he didn’t pick up the phone.
He walks over to me and takes my hands. “I know this is hard, and I’ve never been in your position, but Leighton, after my mom got sick, all I could do was look at pictures of her.
And my first thought was that we didn’t take enough.
I worried that if cancer took her, the memories would fade, and I wouldn’t have enough to remember her by.
I know it’s hard, but you might want to do it for the kids. You can’t just forget them.”
Unshed tears burn in my eyes, but he’s right. I know he is. I just don’t want to see her smiling face knowing what happened after that last picture was taken.
“I’m happy to go through them if you don’t want to.” His voice is gentle.
I lean my forehead on his chest, and he runs his hands up and down my arms in a comforting motion.
“No, I should do it.” I leave his warm body and go over to the backpacks, squatting and staring at the phone in the outside pocket.
It was Sky’s. I don’t understand why she didn’t have it on her when she fell. It makes no sense to me. She was such a picture-taker. Maybe having her phone would’ve made all the difference.
But I’m never going to get the answer to that question, so I have to let it go.
“I’ll have to charge it.” I get back up on my feet and white-knuckle the phone.
“I’ll be right next to you. Do you want me to go through their bags for anything else?”
“I think one step at a time is all I can handle.” I walk to the door and give one last look at the room before I open the door.
Hayes follows me to my room, and I plug her phone into the charger. My libido is gone now, and Hayes must read my mood shift because he holds me, his hands running up and down my arms until we see the screen light up.
I swing my legs over the bed and pick up her phone, feeling more urgent about it now that I see messages coming in. They’re mostly from around the time they died, but there’s a number that has called and left numerous messages. It’s saved under the name Dr. Bonnie Welsh.
Sky never mentioned Dr. Bonnie Welsh. And why would she call so many times?