Page 80 of Going All In

“Google?” Amanda asked.

Darcy laughed. “Um, yeah. But we talked about it too.”

“Great. So, let’s talk about you two…” Amanda trailed off, but Darcy didn’t give an inch, afraid she might give something away. Like the fact that their relationship wasn’t real, but she wanted it to be.

Yep. She was finally going to admit it to herself. She wanted it to be real, and that was the scariest thing of all.

Because as far as she knew, he didn’t.

“All right, I’ll let it go for now.” Amanda got back to placing flowers into the small holes that Darcy had dug up.

Darcy glanced around the playground. It was coming together so nicely and quickly. She spotted Jake next to one of the swing sets. He had a few tools out and was instructing one of the volunteer kids on something. He was crouched down at the kid’s level and talking.

He looked so at ease as he guided the kid to find the right tool to use.

Then Jake glanced up and spotted her. He lifted his hand in a quick wave before focusing back on the kid.

“He’s so great with kids, you know. Always going to the hospital visits or community events with kids.”

“Yeah. He’s pretty great,” Darcy whispered. She internally shook her head, then picked up her shovel again.

“You’ve got it bad, girl. So bad.” Amanda shrugged and then nodded toward where Ben stood with one of the community organizers. “I’m right there with you. But the good ones are always worth it.”

She could only nod. Jake was one of the good ones. At least she hoped so.

A few hourslater, they were almost finished. Jake was ready to round up his girlfriend and get out of here. They were both sweaty and exhausted and he needed her in the shower. He’d managed to keep the rest of his kisses in the G or PG category, but they’d still been plentiful. He couldn’t stop himself around her and he was tired of trying.

“You ready to get out of here?” Jake asked.

She grinned. “Your place or mine?”

“Don’t you have studying to do?”

Please say no. Please say no.

“Always, but I thought I’d take the rest of the day off. I don’t have to go to work and I’m caught up on all my grading, so…”

He leaned close, his mouth almost touching hers. “My shower is bigger than yours and so is my bed.”

“Yes, it is.”

“PG, guys. PG,” Penny said. “The rest of the kids are here.”

“Can I get everyone’s attention?” Denise, the woman from the community center, said.

“I wanted to say thank you to everyone who showed up and used a little elbow grease to make this playground and garden amazing. To the kids that helped design this space, you all did a beautiful job. Now, shall we break this equipment in?” she asked as the kids gathered around with their parents and friends.

There were lots of shouts of excitement, including someone yelling about going down the slide first. Of course it was Baz. The man would always be a child at heart, no matter how formidable he was on the ice.

Jake leaned into Darcy. “About that shower?”

“Anyone up for Lanzi’s?” Finn called out.

“We’re all dirty, sweaty messes,” his girlfriend, Sophia, said.

“And? Your dad won’t care,” Finn said.

Sophia’s family owned Lanzi’s, and when the team wasn’t at C&B, they were scarfing down amazing Italian food there.

---