Page 11 of Taking The Shot

“Nope.”

“Paige!” Constance interrupted, looking shocked at her daughter’s outburst. “Please do not say things like that or…”

“Constance,” Keith began, looking at the little girl. “She was just speaking her mind about a surprise, and we were having a conversation. It’s fine, and she should be able to share how she feels. Maybe she’ll find out I’m not the bad guy after all but a friend.”

“Girls, dinner,” Constance began carefully, looking between him and her daughter as Keith rose to his feet.

“Where’s the trash can?”

“Here,” she offered, sticking out her hand. “I’ll get it.”

“Thank you,” he replied easily as the two children rushed to the table that barely held four plates. Yeah, this wasn’t going to be easy because he already needed a breather from thecharmingchildren. He wasn’t dad-material, and this whole situation he was drowning in was pretty messed up. “I’ll be aminute. I’m going to get this other one opened, and maybe we can sit and talk after they eat.”

“Sure. I’ll make some coffee.”

“That sounds great,” he nodded, picking up the other pony and grimacing at the staggering number of twist ties as he started over from scratch – again. Christmas morning had to be just awful for billions of parents, and he couldn’t imagine doing this sort of garbage every single year.

Yeah, the longer he spent standing in a role he wasn’t prepared for in the slightest, the more doubts were assailing him. He never pictured himself married, never pictured leaving the Coyotes, never imagined the offer that was laid at his feet by his agent to take a starting position on the new hockey team in Quebec, and certainly never imagined being a stepdad in the slightest.

He needed to think for a minute.

4

CONSTANCE

Constance leanedto whisper to her daughter Paige who was eating an eggroll and shoveling in sweet and sour chicken like it was going out of style.

“He’s nice… please be kind to Keith in return.”

“Mom, he’s a dork.”

“He’s trying to be nice to you.”

“I don’t play ponies…”

“Play with your sister and say, ‘thank you.’”

“He lied…”

“About what?”

“He said that there will be a princess castle here tomorrow afternoon after looking at his phone. He said it was ordered… you don’t order stuff on a phone – do you?”

“Some people do,” Constance admitted, stunned and looking over her shoulder at the tall man who was wrestling with the packaging for the child’s toy. “And if he bought that for you – that was really sweet and unnecessary of him. You should definitely say ‘thank you’.”

“I will – but then, can he go away?”

“No. I want to talk to him.”

“Can I go play in my room?”

“Yes, ma’am. I think that would be a good idea for both of you,” Constance admitted in a hushed whisper as she nodded to Paige before plucking a noodle from Kayla’s nose. “Eat baby…”

“Ugh, got it!” Keith grunted in the distance, holding up the yellowish pony almost like a trophy. “Whoever packages these things like this should be keelhauled and horsewhipped within an inch of –uh– they should behugged often.”

And Constance laughed at his obvious discomfort, trying to change his statement into something more child-appropriate. He really was attempting to find a way to ‘fit’ or appease her in order to build a friendship or bond between them. She knew he was doing it for her, doing it to get closer, and she wasn’t a fool… nor was she a nun.

The man was gorgeous – and while she wasn’t even considering dabbling her toe into the dating pool yet, she also wasn’t naïve. Not many men wanted to take on dating a widow because they might be uncomfortable at her memories of Robert, plus blended families were hard sometimes. She wasn’t ready to be a stepmother to some other guy’s child, never wanted to choose between her kids or his kids, and there were a massive ton of other obstacles that came with dating someone.

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