Page 40 of Follow My Heart

When he saw me approach, he grabbed the cooler. “We’ll take this, but you can go on home.”

I laughed, used to his ribbing. “I come with the ice cream.”

“I think it comes with Violet. She can stay. You can go.” Teddy tipped his head toward my truck.

“Whatever.” I almost called him an asshole but remembered to stop myself in front of Violet and George. They didn’t need to know we were cavemen yet. They’d figure it out soon enough.

Inside, Faith ran over to Izzy, who was playing with dolls. Everyone else had congregated in the kitchen where appetizers were laid out on the table. Daphne and Dad were busy cooking.

I greeted everyone, introducing them to Violet and George. Then Wes suggested a football game, and we filtered onto the porch.

It was a tradition for us to play on the holidays, and we’d slowly integrated the girls into our game too. The effect was that it was less violent than it used to be. Also a lot more fun.

We split into two teams. Faith and Izzy were on Cole’s team because they insisted. Teddy, Violet, Sutton, and Wes on mine; Claire, Owen, and Jameson on Cole’s.

Someone played, “I Believe that We Will Win,” on their phone, and the trash talking started.

“You’re going down,” Jameson grumbled when he lined up across from me.

I gestured toward Faith and Izzy. “They your secret weapons?”

“And Owen.” Owen was Claire’s son who was the starting quarterback for his middle-school team this year.

I nodded because he was talented. “You’re the weak link in this group.”

Jameson growled, which was funny to me. He’d always been the fun-loving brother, but he was taking the game seriously this year. Probably because he was playing with his stepson.

Izzy hiked the ball to Owen. He took several steps back and threw it in Claire’s direction. She dove but landed on the ground, the ball bouncing away from her.

I reached a hand out to her. “Ouch. That looked like it hurt.”

Claire brushed off her jeans. “You’d think I’ve played enough with these two that I could catch a ball.”

Jameson enveloped her in a bear hug. “You’ve got this, baby.”

She smiled at him, and he kissed her.

I waved a hand in their direction. “Get a room you two. We’re playing football here.”

“You’re just jealous.” Jameson shifted his arm so that it rested over Claire’s shoulders as they walked to their team’s side of the field.

Was that the weird sensation in my chest? My gaze drifted to Violet who was watching me. Was it wrong to want to date so soon after a divorce?

We played until Izzy and Faith got bored. Then Owen declared he was starving.

We grabbed drinks on the porch. Dad brought out a cooler of water and beer. I leaned on the column of the porch, watching Violet chat with Claire, Daphne, and Fiona. She was already friends with Daphne and Claire, and she was quickly endearing the rest of my family to her.

“Axel’s going to be back for good soon,” Teddy said, drawing my attention away from the ladies.

“We’ll need to get together and discuss what we want to do about the farm,” Wes said.

“What do you mean? You aren’t thinking of selling, are you?”

Wes grimaced. “We need to make some changes, or we’ll be in the red this year.”

We’d broke even the last few years which was good for tax reasons, but bad for sustaining the business long-term. We needed to turn things around.

“Let’s not talk business on the holiday,” Teddy said.

---