Page 4 of Kind of a Bad Idea

“Thank you,” I tell Wendy Ann, turning to run after him.

“I’ll come help!” she calls from behind me, but I don’t slow my pace.

Wendy Ann has spent the past six years hitting the books, not the gym. There’s no way she’ll be able to keep up with Seven. I’m having a hard time myself, and I added extra sprints to my cardio regime last month in advance of an obstacle course race I want to do in the spring.

But that’s what terror does to a person—it delivers one hell of an adrenaline rush—and Seven is clearly terrified. I’ve never seen him this worried. He’s usually the coolest cucumber in the room, the kind of man who can stop a bar fight in its tracks with one hard look and a raised brow.

But this is his baby, his world.

His devotion to his daughter is one of the many things I love about him.

Realizing I dropped the “L” word again in my mind, I run faster, determined to be by his side when he finds Sprout.

Chapter 2

Seven Trevino

A man about to yell at his daughter.

Then hug his daughter.

Then yell at his daughter again.

Then hug his daughter again.

Then tell his daughter that she’s grounded for the

next ten years, and that if she keeps

trying to Parent Trap him into

dating Binx McGuire, she can consider that

grounding effective until she’s thirty-five,

or a nuclear physicist, whichever comes first.

She’s here. She’s probably on the dance floor.

Or by the dessert station, sneaking cake.

Or watching the band play and drumming along on whatever hard surface she’s found nearby.

Binx’s sister said that she saw her.

Thought that she saw her… She could have been wrong. Sprout could be walking down a highway in the dark right now, about to be kidnapped, and it’s all your fault, the terrified voice in my head pipes up, making me run faster. My lungs burn as I crest the hill and aim myself for the large tent beside the tasting room.

She has to be here.

She just has to be.

And when I find her, she’s so grounded, so fucking grounded. She thought our lives were boring before? She has no idea how boring I can make things for her.

Hell, I’ll move us out to my land outside of town and homeschool her in the wilderness if that’s what it takes to keep her safe. Her only friends will be the squirrels, the rabbits, and Tater Tot the groundhog, who lives in a burrow under the old shed.

I should move out there. The main lodge and new outbuildings are ready to go, but I could use the extra time to work on renovating the cabin we’ll use as our home when I’m running the retreat next summer. And without a soul around to set me up with, Sprout will have to give up on this crazy fantasy of hers, the one where I’m in love with Binx McGuire, and all I need is a push from my sweetly meddling kid to live happily ever after with the woman of my dreams. (And the stepmother of hers.)

But I’m not in love with Binx.

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