Page 48 of The Foul Out

“I was thinking maybe Cam and I would take you home today. What do you think?”

She zeroed in on the clock over the door, her hands fisting so tightly on the table her knuckles went white. “At five thirty?”

“Yes.”

Her shoulders and hands relaxed in unison, and with a nod, she went back to her project, clicking a pink brick into a larger piece that looked to be taking the shape of a tree.

I stood, pulled my phone out, shot Harper a text to confirm that Piper was okay with the change of plan, then headed to Sam. “Hey, dude. Ten-minute warning. We need to start getting packed up. Mom’s stuck in traffic, so I’m going to take you home.”

“Ooh, do we get M&M’s in the car again?”

Harper was strict about what the kids ate. It made sense for Piper, but it was harder for Sam. I was very aware of how difficult it was to live by rules that were created because they were what was best for someone else.

“How about I give you a few to have after dinner?”

His brows disappeared behind his shaggy red hair, and his eyes went wide. “Mom is going to let you stay for dinner?”

“I’m not sure.” The answer should have been no. We hadn’t talked about it. But now that Sam mentioned it, maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea.

“Let me help.”Trevor snagged one of the bags I was juggling as I headed into the apartment building.

“Thanks,” I said as he took a second plastic bag. Since I didn’t have to go across town to get the kids from Langfield Corp, I had time to stop at the grocery. It had gone by so quickly. So smoothly. Instead of being this awful chore, it had been a quick pit stop. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gone into a store alone. Without a kid begging or throwing a temper tantrum. I didn’t have to worry about them wandering off or getting in the way of other shoppers.

“Where are the kids?” Trevor asked.

“A friend is bringing them home for me.” We stepped onto the elevator, and with his free hand, he hit number four.

“Marissa called me today and asked if I’d trade weekends. She wants to have the kids Friday and Saturday.”

“Really?”

His ex-wife tended to be rigid about the custody schedule, so it was almost shocking that she’d called on Monday to switch for the coming weekend.

He smirked. “She’s going to a family wedding. And since I’m not the asshole that she is, I agreed without a fight, so we swapped.”

“Good for you, being the bigger person.” Last year his kids had missed his sister’s wedding because it had fallen on his ex’s weekend. While most people would be tempted to get payback, it spoke volumes that he wasn’t.

“You know what that means?”

“What?” I asked as we stepped out of the elevator.

“You and I are kid-free on the same weekend.”

I froze outside my door, my stomach sinking. That was…something that had never happened before. I wasn’t sure what to say, so I focused on digging through my purse for my keys while I considered a response. I took my time pretending I couldn’t find them in the pocket where my keys always lived and continued my fake search until I hoped enough time had passed that I could move on from the implication that we would both be kid-free this weekend.

When I’d played the game for as long as I thought I could get away with it, I unlocked the door and headed into the kitchen to set the bags down.

“I’m sure you can guess what I’m going to ask now.” He stepped up behind me and set the white plastic bags beside mine.

My chest tightened. Shit. I really hoped I couldn’t.

He smiled, the expression only filling me with dread. “Drinks Friday?”

Cringing, I searched for an excuse. A reason I wasn’t available. Then a lightbulb went off.Perfect. “Actually,” I said, “I can’t.” The urge to beam was strong, but I schooledmy expression into a sympathetic grin. “My friend’s having a birthday party on Friday night.”

“Really?” He arched a skeptical brow. I couldn’t blame him. I never went out, and we’d been neighbors long enough for him to know that.

“Yeah, it’s at the karaoke bar, by Lang Field. The big one. Do you know it?” What was the name? It was on the tip of my tongue. Zara had texted me about it this afternoon.

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