Page 2 of The Trouble with Players

“I said, ‘Where’s Mom?’”

“She decided to spend some time with Grandma.”

“How long has she been gone?” I asked since she hadn’t mentioned it in any of her check-in texts while I was away.

He shrugged.

“Well, when will she be back?” I pressed, not wanting to be alone with him for the remainder of the summer.

“You’ll have to ask her,” he said offhandedly, but I could tell he had no idea and it probably drove him nuts.

“I take it she didn’t want to come back here either,” I said.

“You seem a little jet lagged,” he said.

“I’m not jet lagged,” I snapped. “I’m pissed that you gave my room away.”

“I didn’t give your room away,” he explained. “The bathroom in the guest room was being remodeled. I told him to take your room since you were supposed to be gone all summer. Why are you home early?”

“I needed the beach,” I clipped, not bothering to mention Mel meeting a guy and abandoning me in Amsterdam. “Just so you know, your baseball player’s a pig. Did you know he had a girl in my room with him?”

“Crew’s twenty-one,” my father said, as if that was explanation enough.

“Crew?” I scoffed. “What kind of name is that?”

“He’s the star on the Sharks. We’re his host family. If that’s what he wants to do on his day off, that’s not for us to say.”

“You’d know.”

He ignored my comment and moved to the refrigerator, grabbing a beer.

“Well, you need to tell him he can’t stay in my room.”

“No can do,” he said before taking a long pull of his beer. “You’re the one who showed up here unannounced. Your paths were never meant to cross.”

“Well, now they have.”

“Listen, I’m doing sports analysis for the Sox,” he explained. “I’m gone for days at a time. I need to know you’re not gonna cause a problem.”

“You caused the problem.”

“Hey, Mr. Richmond,” a deep voice said.

I spun around. Crew entered alone in a bathing suit and sleeveless shirt.

“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Marty,” my father said to him.

I rolled my eyes.

“This must be your daughter,” Crew said.

“This is Peyton,” my father explained. “She surprised us by coming back early from Europe.”

Crew smirked. “Nice to meet you, Peyton.”

“You can drop the act. He’s well aware that we’ve already met,” I said. “Did you contaminate my beach too?”

Crew choked, surprised by my candor, but he recovered like players always did. “Kept it to a minimum.”

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