Page 27 of Perfect Playbook

“Shay…” He shakes his head.

I know he’s wanting to be nice, but a defiance churns inside. He has no idea what kind of mom I am, and unless Jesus walks in here and tells me otherwise, Nino deserves more from me.

He shrugs. “You’re right. I guess I don’t really know, but all I have to go on is how good I thought you’d be when I used to think about things like that.”

I hate thinking about our past. I hate thinking about how Logan Hunter once used to cherish me. How he made me feel seen, heard, and valued in the worst moment of my life, but it turned out I wasn’t really special. No. I’ve seen over the yearseveryoneis special to Logan, which technically means nobody is.

“We need to get a divorce.” I tug at the ring on my finger again, but they’re still sausages. They’re holding on to every ounce of moisture available.

He’s deep in thought. I’m not sure he even heard what I said until impossible words leave his lips.

He places his hand on mine again to stop me from tugging. “What if we don’t?”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t get divorced.”

I don’t know if I should laugh or cry. “Logan…”

“No… let me talk first. What if…” He drops a look into my eyes like he knows I’ll want to stop him from talking but warns me not to. “What if last night was fate in disguise? Both of us ran into each other lower than low. Of all the days we could have been in the same place at the same time…”

I roll my eyes. “We ran into each other after a friend’s wedding. That’s not fate, that’s a very likely coincidence.”

He ignores me. “We’re both going through shit and somehow we landed in the same place at the same time. Maybe we can help each other.”

My brain is messed up from last night. Maybe I’m still drunk. Maybe he is, too, if he’s thinking there’s any reason in the world we should stay married.

His wheels turn inside that pretty head at a million miles an hour. “I hated seeing you like that last night at the sportsbooks.”

“I was fine,” I interrupt, coming to my defense as if there’s something wrong with being upset.

“Woman. You weren’t fine. You weren’t anywhere close to fine when I found you at that bar.”

I want to resist again but I don’t because Logan can still see right through me. I wasn’t fine. I’m not finenow. Not being able to provide for Nino is just about the most heart-wrenching thought I could think. I’d rather go to Hell than not give that boy what he needs.

My eyes sting thinking of it. They nearly burst when Logan’s familiar, intense gaze sinks into me like lying to him again is futile. He’s accepting me for all the ugly I’m trying to push away. Just like he always used to. Just like he did the moment I fell in love with him.

“You said last night Antonio is gifted. That he needs to go to that school in Longbrook.”

It was like scanning some Wikipedia page about some other person’s child when I read that email yesterday. I’ve always known Nino wasn’t like other kids. He could read when he was two. He could do times tables well past what I can do in my head by three. I knew it was wildly unusual but just nurtured it the best I could until he went to school. Then the principal and the test came into the picture. My kid is a genius. He’s gifted as can be, and I am so damn normal I can’t help him.

I close my eyes briefly. The gas money alone to commute Nino to a school feels like more than we can bear. And the tuition? A cool thirty-five thousand a year and the fees go up in high school. His principal mentioned in the email that Longbrook would enter him into sixth grade. He’s five. He’ll likely move through those years quickly and right into high school.

I sank everything into my rebranding, my website, a rental space in town that had a food-grade service kitchen so I could make wedding cakes and not drive my dad wild in the kitchen. I can’t say yes to Logan. But can I really say no? What’s the alternative? Saying no to Nino?

Logan envelops my hand. His long fingers grip my palm. The comfort of his touch worries me. It shouldn’t feel this natural after so many years.

“Giving back to you and Antonio would be karma. I’ve never forgotten my roots, Shay. You know how much help I got from everyone in Starlight Canyon growing up. Financially. And more.”

The Hunters weren’t always wealthy. They only really came into their money when I was in middle school. Hockey is an expensive sport, and he received a lot of gifts from our town. It’s nice this man can spend thousands like it’s nothing now, but he still appreciateswhere it started. Maybe he hasn’t become a total egomaniac after all.

I want everything for Antonio, and yet my own ego is ringing alarm bells. The whole reason I wanted to start this wedding cake business was to provide and also show Antonio what the Mendez family can do. Logan seems to be suggesting a handout.

But he said we can help each other?

“It doesn’t take a genius to know how you can help me, but…” I let my lips flap with an exhausted breath. “How could I even help you? Seriously?”

“You know about the trade. You know how much it means to me to stay on the Scorpions for Ashton’s last season. It might sound small to someone else, but…”

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