Page 63 of The Forever Play

But I laugh it off, knowing she’s only two. “So, who do you want to play with, then?”

I’m expecting her to say Uncle Rusty and am already resigning myself to the fact that I’ll have to call him and he’ll no doubt meet us at the park with a gleeful grin.

Pulling out my phone with a frown, I’m about to unlock it when Zoey surprises me.

“Wywee.”

I stop the stroller and peer down at her. “Wily?”

She nods. “Me wanna pay Wywee.”

“You want to play with Wily?”

“Yeah.” She sits up, looking all enthusiastic as she holds up her horse. “Yeeha!”

I laugh. “You know we’re going to the park, though, right? He’s not buying you ice cream today. There’s no horsey at the park.”

“Wywee!” she shouts, hugging her toy horse. “I wanna pay Wywee!”

“Okay, okay.” I rub her arm to calm her down, then crouch beside the stroller. “Thing is, I don’t know where Wily and Zander live. I think they call it Football Frat, but I’m not sure.”

Zoey nods, leaning toward me like I can totally nailthis “Find Wily” mission. Touching my cheek with her little hand, she gives me an emphatic nod. “Mommy fine Wywee.”

“Okay.” I nod. “I’m gonna try.” Standing tall, I grab the handles of the stroller and start walking toward the Nolan U campus.

I stop the first person I see and ask if they know where the frat house that some football guys live in is. She doesn’t know, but the next guy mutters that it’s on Greek Row.

“Where’s that?” I call after him.

“Google it!” he shouts over his shoulder, and I try but come up empty-handed.

There’s no official street named Greek Row, and I push the stroller forward in frustration, wondering how long I should pursue this thing. The park comes into view, and I think about abandoning my quest and just taking her to the playground.

But my little girl will be so disappointed if we don’t find Wily.

She’s happily kicking her legs and singing to her horse. It’s kind of adorable, so I press on, and two people later, I find someone who is actually helpful.

“Yeah, I know Football Frat.” She grins at me, and for a second, I have that ugly flash of Kelsey U and all the smiling girls I passed on the way to Zander’s dorm room. “It’s about two doors down from my place.”

“And where’s that?” I smile back her.

She laughs. “Head down this street and take your first left, opposite the park, then turn right when you hit the Stop sign and it’ll be the…” Closing her eyes, she does a quick count in her head. “Sixth house along? Maybe the seventh. It’s the one with the Harley Davidson parked out front, and if that’s not there, just look for guy trucks. The place is always surrounded by them.”

“Okay.” I nod, trepidation taking me out as I turn and start pushing Zoey toward Football Frat.

Shit, what am I doing?

I second-guess myself the entire way there and nearly bail when I get to that Stop sign, but then I look down the street and see all those manly trucks the woman was talking about.

With my breath on hold, I push Zoey forward, looking for a Harley Davidson. I don’t see it, but I don’t have to because the blond giant appears around the side of the house. The second he spots us, his face lights up with a big grin.

“Cowgirl!” He raises his arms in greeting.

“Wywee!” Zoey starts wrestling against her restraints.

I quickly move forward to help her with the buckle.

As soon as she’s free, she launches herself out of the stroller, landing in a pile on the front lawn before jumping to her feet and running toward the gentle giant.

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