Page 64 of Faking the Face Off

“Good morning,” Ollie says, sliding a pink bakery bag my way. “I stopped at Shelly’s Southern Sweets and got you an apple fritter.”

“Thank you,” I say, my eyes sliding over to my dad before I pull them back to Ollie. “Shouldn’t you be doing your lucky game-day routine?”

“We were just talking about that,” Ollie says, tilting his head toward my dad. “How sometimes we need to shake routines up so we don’t get stagnant.”

“He was also filling me in on last night’s shenanigans, young lady.” My dad hands me a cup of coffee. “I already added your cream.”

“Thanks,” I manage before taking a sip. I pull out a chair beside Ollie and settle into it. “What exactly was he telling you about?”

“All of it,” Ollie announces.

“Way to take the wind from my sails,” I tease. “I was going to come down here and tell him about the money myself.”

My dad perks up. “The money?”

Ollie laughs, looking my way. “I only told him about Jimmy trying to inflate the team’s value—not that we aren’t valuable, but you know,” he says with a wink. “I hadn’t gotten to the other part. I figured you’d want those honors.”

I bite back a grin and the urge to leap across the table and kiss him. Instead, I tell my dad the part that’s my favorite. The part where he finds out how much he’s valued by the team and the people he sees every day. The part where there’s going to be enough money in his account in a few days’ time that he’ll be able to truly relax and start again.

When I’m done, my father turns away to gather himself. When he spins around to face us, his eyes are filled with unshed tears. I love it when a man tries to fight his emotions, but I really love that I’m getting to see his smile through those tears, too.

“You. Did. All of this,” he says, waving a hand in the air at nothing in particular. “For your dad?”

“And I would do it again,” I say, lifting my mug in the air.

“Same,” Ollie chimes in, his hand sneaking under the table to squeeze my knee.

“I don’t know what to say.” He leans against the counter, looking at both of us with astonishment reflected in his eyes.

“Nothing,” Ollie says, pushing his chair back and walking around to my dad. “You deserve this and more. When I talked to the guys, they all agreed that we are truly all for one and one for all. We’re more than a team, Danny. We’re a family.”

Ollie looks back across the table at me, those blue-gray eyes of his shimmering with delight. “All of us.”

As my heart starts freaking out, Dad wipes the wet from his cheeks. “I need to wrap my head around this.” He chuckles. “I’m gonna take a walk to let it all sink in.”

He starts to leave the room, stopping to kiss the top of my head. “Also, you’re grounded.”

I stretch my arms up high from where I sit so I can snake my arms around his neck and give him a hug. “I love you.”

As the front door slams closed, Ollie walks over and pulls out a chair, pulling it close to mine.

“You took off,” he says. “Your dad told me it wasn’t really anything that required you to race home, so I can only guess it’s because of what Molly told you?”

I cock my head to the side and narrow my eyes. “How did you…Molly.” Of course. “She told you what she saw?”

Ollie nods. “It was my sister. Mia, the one you haven’t met.”

He watches me with his shoulders hiked up so they are level with his ears, a sure sign he’s worried.

“Okay,” I say.

“Okay?” He cocks his head to the side and studies me.

“Yes. Okay,” I say with a laugh. “It’s fine. I mean, obviously it is. It’s your sister.”

“But you left last night,” he points out.

“I did, because it was a lot.” I sit back in my chair. “The last few weeks have been fun but chaotic, and yesterday was insane. I started this whole drama in motion to help my dad, and for you. I needed to come home and take a minute to think about myself and what I want.”

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