Page 22 of Teasing

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“Okay. Make sure you don’t eat anything you aren’t sure about, okay?”

She nods again, and my heart beats an entire marching band cadence in my chest, just thinking about leaving her with someone new. But what choice do I have at this point? A football training camp is no place for a little girl.

Parenting isn’t for the weak of heart.

Lilah

Open your door.

Maverick

What?

Lilah

Which word didn’t you understand? Open? The? Or door?

Maverick

Have you always been this much of a smart-ass, Tink?

Lilah

Yes. Now open your door, please.

Maverick

Normal people knock.

Lilah

Have I ever been normal?

Maverick

Point made.

Lilah

I didn’t know if Rosie would be sleeping.

Maverick

It’s one in the afternoon.

Lilah

And I’m still standing outside.

I have better friends than most people could ever hope to have, and I’ve been lucky enough to have them my whole life. I guess that’s what happens when your parents are best friends. You get put together and told you’re family.

In all the ways that count, Lilah Ryan-St. James has always been family. Even before she married my cousin. To the rest of the world, she’s the biggest pop star on the planet. To us, she’s Tink. And when I pull open the front door, she shoves so many packages at me, I can’t even see over them.

“Tink,” I grumble and look around the stack of presents to see who’s pulling up my gravel driveway. Only it’s notmydriveway they’re in. It’s Emmie’s. I turn and drop the packages in the doorway, then wait to see who’s getting out of the car.

“Maverick,” Lilah hisses. “Be careful. Some of that stuff is breakable.”

She ducks under my arm and looks next door with me. “Who’s that?”

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