Page 83 of My Best Bet

Her lips rolled together. “I’m afraid I'm overstaying my welcome.”

“Never.” I shook my head. I had to tread carefully not to come off as overbearing or pressuring, but I never wanted her to leave again. We already lost so much time. She was the same Mer, just with extra barriers up now to protect herself, and I’d wait as long as it took for her to let me into her world again.

“Iwant you to stay. Pretty sure Lu wants you to stay,” I said with a chuckle. That was an understatement. I’d never seen herso excited to go to one of my games. She wanted to show Mer everything. “Doyouwant to stay?”

“Yeah, I think I do,” she whispered, like she was afraid to say it too loudly, like she was afraid to want it. I couldn’t wait to kiss away her hesitation later.

I pulled her closer, hugging her against my chest and resting my chin on her hair. “Then I think you should.”

She swallowed hard and gave a little nod.

“Just keep moving forward, alright? I think we’ve still got a lot of good ahead of us.”

She took in a shaky breath. “I want to believe that so badly,” she whispered. Her sky eyes met mine and the longing in them cracked my heart.

My forehead went to hers and her eyes fluttered closed. “You can bet on it,” I whispered. “Bet on me, Mer. Please.”

“We gotta go!” JP’s voice boomed again, startling Mer. My hands found her hips, steadying her.

“But I gotta poop,” Kappy complained from the hall.

“Well, we don’t have an hour,” JP snapped back. “Let's go.”

“I hate pooping at the rink,” Kappy whined.

I chuckled to myself and Mer rolled her lips together, struggling to contain her own laughter.

“Yeah, well, none of us are a fan of it either, you stink it up. You should really see someone about that,” JP said.

“You get mean when you’re nervous, I get the shits, sue me,” Kappy argued back.

“I don’t get mean,” JP snapped. “Colt!” He bellowed. “We gotta go!”

“He does get a little mean,” I whispered to Mer, then turned to yell, “Coming, jeez!”

I pressed one more kiss to her hair before heading out.

24.Mer - Game Time

When we were young, I always used to think Colt looked the hottest after games, with his damp hair starting to curl and his dress shirt all ruffled and the sleeves rolled up.

I wasn’t so sure about that anymore, because seeing Colt strut toward me with a neatly trimmed beard and all his muscles encased in a designer suit made my lower stomach go a little haywire. It was almost like my body suddenly remembered what attraction was again.

And his rumbly voice telling me we still had good ahead of us… It just all felt too good to be true. I wanted to cling to the possibility of a happy ending for us, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried and waiting for the metaphorical shoe to drop.

Only focus on what you can control, I repeated to myself. I had to stay in the moment, which meant not reacting to things based on the past, and not wondering about the future.

About a half hour later, Lucy and I were getting ready to head to Target for some game day gear when the front doorbell rang.

Lucy and I looked at each other in confusion.

I opened the door to reveal a girl who had to be in her early twenties with short auburn hair holding a coffee in one hand and a bunch of clothes draped over her other arm.

“Hello! I’m Brandi,” she said in a bubbly voice, “and I’m your personal stylist for the day! Yay!”

I hurriedly took the coffee from her because she looked like she was about to fall over, then blinked at her in confusion. “Are you sure you're at the right house?”

“Yeah!” She pointed at us. “Meredith Bennett and Lucy Conover, right?”

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