Page 94 of Rowdy Hearts

Lately, though, I hadn’t been in here, and I wanted to change that. I wanted to change a lot of things in my life.

“If you don’t mind my asking, what are you planning to do? With Tressy, I mean.”

He looked so damn nosy, I had to laugh. “You got any suggestions?”

“I just might. Tressy’s got a spine. I like her. And her daughter. And your mom got pretty attached to them both. The little girl wrapped your mom around her finger pretty damn fast.”

“I thought you were gonna dole out advice?”

“I’m getting there.” My dad shook his head. “Always so impatient. That’s part of your problem, kid. Sometimes you’ve got to take your time getting where you want to go.”

“I seem to remember you telling me you knew in less than two days that you wanted to marry Mom.”

My dad’s gaze narrowed. “You going to let me talk or interrupt every couple of seconds?”

I bit back a grin and shook my head. “Floor’s all yours.”

“Uh huh. Like I was saying, you’re too damn impatient. Sometimes, you gotta take a step back and let her come to you.”

“Honestly, Pop, I’m afraid if I don’t keep reminding her I’m here, she’s gonna forget me.”

“I saw the way that girl looked at you. I don’t think she’sgonna forget you. You make a pretty damn big impression on people. But don’t go blowing up her inbox.”

“Did you just use an actual relevant social media reference correctly?”

“See?” He pointed a finger at me. “That right there is what’s gonna get you in trouble, son. You don’t know when to keep your mouth shut.”

He was right. Usually, I didn’t.

“Yeah, well, I did keep it shut this time. I didn’t tell her how much I wanted her and Krista to stay, and she walked out the damn door, like I didn’t matter.”

“The woman’s got a life of her own and a business to run, according to your mother. Maybe you didn’t show her that you understand those things are just as important to her as you want to be.”

Fuck. Had I really been that mindless?

“Shit.”

“Now,” my dad leaned back in his chair, looking like the cat that ate the mouse, “maybe you want to take a different approach when you contact her next time.”

“So when areyou going to fix whatever happened between you and Tressy?”

My jaw locked against the urge to say something really inappropriate to my sister. Rain didn’t deserve to have my mood taken out on her. But if she continued to ask questions, I wasn’t going to be responsible for what came out of my mouth.

Monday practices after a game weekend were usually optional, but most of the team was here today. I’d thought maybe I wouldn’t have to deal with a lot of people, and I could skate and chew over what my dad and I had talked about. Didn’t look like that was in the cards.

“Hello to you, too, Rainbow Brite.” I yanked my right skate laces so hard, I heard them groan. “Don’t you have somewhere else you could be?”

As I grabbed my left skate and shoved my foot in it, Rain just continued to stare down at me.

“For your information, I finalized the designs for the Christmas sweaters this morning and signed on another couple of sponsors for the wine tasting in February.” She crossed her arms over her chest and continued to stare down at me. “What did you do this morning? Besides mope?”

I huffed out a laugh at her bratty sass and looked up. “Since when do you care?”

“Since I’ve never seen you like this. I don’t like it. It’s weird. Snap out of it.”

I stood, towering over her, the skates giving me an extra couple of inches of height.

“I’m fine, Rainy.”

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