Page 28 of The Foul Out

“No. Well…” Cortney glanced away and cleared his throat. “Bosco added two new kids to Little Fingers. They start on Monday. And Dylan doesn’t need extra work added to her plate.”

Beckett zeroed in on me, his face fixed in a glower. The guy could be fun, but no one fucked with his family without suffering his wrath. And after he married his wife, her four friends, one of whom was Cortney’s fiancée and also the co-owner of Little Fingers, fell under the umbrella of Beckett’s family. That meant I was on his shit list.

“It’s the foul ball family,” I rushed out, knowing Beckett wanted that situation fixed ASAP.

“The redhead? Huh. Wait…” Beckett rubbed his hands together, one brow lifted. “Back in the day, you made a pass at Dylan…”

Cortney growled.

“No I didn’t.” I did. But the last thing I wanted to do was remind my GM that before he and his fiancée were together, I had. Kinda.

“You have a thing for redheads.” Beckett’s green eyes sparkled under the can lights in the suite.

I opened my mouth to deny it, but before I could, Cam piped up.

“Don’t bother. I’ve seen you with way too many to let you claim otherwise.”

It was true, so I shrugged. No sense denying what was so obvious.

“Oh, oh, oh.” Beckett laughed. “This is going to be so good. The kids are absolutely welcome at Little Fingers. It’s the perfect way to get you and the redhead together.”

My stomach sank at his suggestion. “Don’t even start with the matchmaker shit. Harper isn’t my type. Her kids are cute and all, but she’s difficult.” I frowned. “And stubborn.” Peering out at the ice, I watched the play in progress. “And she’s doesn’t like Puff.”

Although the face she’d made while trying to stay calm and be brave for her kids was adorable. Damn, I’d really wanted to hug her at that moment. The way her nose had creased, drawing attention to the freckles there?—

What the fuck, Bosco?

Pushing away the thoughts of how pretty she was, I let out a groan. “The woman’s making me crazy.”

“That’swhat I’m talking about.” Beckett clapped.

Beside him, Cortney ran his hands through his shoulder-length blond hair. “Normally, I’m opposed to his crazy ideas. But the words that just came out of your mouth could have come from any man who’s finally met his match but doesn’t have her yet.”

Anxiety prickled across my skin. There was no way in hell I’d go there, even if I wanted to. I couldn’t think about Harper thatway. There were plenty of women out there I could think about naked. Available, single, adult women. Then there were women like Harper. Women I had to keep firmly in thedo not go therezone. Because I didn’t have a death wish, and I knew how JJ would react.

“But Bosco.” Cortney pointed at me. “I was serious when I said that Dylan needs more hands. So you’ll be there not only on Monday morning but every day for as long as Piper and Sam are at Little Fingers.”

All the air was sucked from my lungs. Hold up… What? Unable to breathe, I couldn’t formulate a response, and before I could force myself to inhale, Beckett nodded resolutely. Then the two men were gone.

Holy shit. What the hell had I gotten myself into? I couldn’t work at a daycare.

“I said no,”Piper screamed. She pushed away while simultaneously landing the perfect kick to my shin.

I’d just finished braiding her hair to keep it from knotting throughout the day. That was normally the worst part of the morning routine. Apparently not today.

She kicked again, landing a hit to the same spot.

I winced at the pain. Another day, another bruise. It was exhausting, this relationship I had with my daughter. We’d come far over the last two years, but the road that led to a happily functioning adult felt miles long some days. More often than not, I felt like I was failing at this mom life. Every time I saw a mother give her daughter a hug, I was reminded of exactly how different our relationship was. I tried not to compare. This was about her, not anyone else. I had to remember that. But with each step forward, every time I thought things were getting better, a change or an adjustment would set us back again.

Knowing today had the potential to be awful had kept me up, tossing and turning, last night. Regardless of how badly I wanted today to go smoothly, the possibility of disaster made the acid burn of stress rumble more fiercely in my stomach and claw up my throat.

“We have to get dressed. You’re going to Lang Field today. Remember? We talked about this.” I pulled my Tums out of the pocket of my dress pants and popped two into my mouth. Once I’d put the roll away, I crouched down, holding Piper’s shirt out. “Let’s get dressed really quick.”

“I want to be alone,” she screamed. She lashed out and grasped my arm, her nails, desperately in need of a trim, biting into my flesh.

On instinct, I pulled back. As I did, it caused her nails to drag along my skin, leaving red scratches along the inside of my forearm.

“Piper,” I scolded evenly as I stepped back and gave her space. “Stop.”

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