Page 30 of Playmaker

Darcy was up to speed now. “He’s right.”

“This is what I mean. The two of you ganging up on me.”

Darcy finally moved to the kitchen and I followed him, carrying the two bags of groceries I still held and setting them down on the counter. Callie stomped back down the hallway, muttering.

“So,” I asked, leaning against the doorway. “You don’t do threesomes?”

Darcy’s face flushed. “Sorry, but I thought…”

I smiled at him. “I know. Just playing with you. But if you can help Callie understand about the clothes, it would be great. She wants to make the right impression, and this is important.”

Darcy put the milk in the fridge. “I know. I’ve tried to explain it to her. She just lives so much in her head that she doesn’t understand why this external stuff is so important.”

I had one concern that I hoped he could help with. “Can she afford it?”

He balanced on one foot, the other toe twisting on the tile. I’d overstepped.

“I don’t mean to cross a line. I can help with the clothes issue, but she was upset about the stuff I brought this morning.”

He sighed. “She can, but it’s not her first priority.”

I heard Callie returning, so I stepped back into the living room. I didn’t want her to think we really were ganging up on her. For her sake, I wished she had some clothes that would work. But the things I saw on the coffee table were old and worn, and not up to the code of the club.

Callie and I were going to need to go shopping. And this could be all kinds of interesting.

Chapter10

Mr. Fussy

Cooper

We’d set up a date,after Darcy and I convinced her that this was important. I knew she got it, empirically, but there was something inside that was refusing to listen to reason. My guess? Money. Especially when I heard she got that horror of a dress for the charity dinner from a consignment shop. And didn’t try it on before buying it.

I’d invited Darcy to join us on our expedition. He had good taste, at least enough to know that green dress was impossible, and he might make Callie more comfortable. But he was working the couple of nights I had free this week, and Callie needed something new for our next lesson.

I was tempted to pick her up in the Ferrari this time, just to see the expression on her face, but it had no storage room so I stuck to the Bentley. Another time.

We pulled up behind the main store of my sponsor and I turned off the car. Callie looked at me suspiciously.

“What?”

She looked at the back door. “Why aren’t we going in the front?”

The back door opened and the brand liaison woman I worked with poked her head out. Seeing us, she waved, inviting us in.

“Did you tell them we were coming?”

Duh.“Of course I did.”

“I don’t want a lot of attention.” She looked ready to crawl into herself.

“That’s why I called ahead.”

She stilled and blinked at me. I could see the gears moving in her head as she finally worked it out. Part-time genius, and part-time totally oblivious.

Her chest began to rise and fall, her breathing picking up. “I can do this on my own.”

“Callie, we talked about this. You want to fit in with these people, so you can’t go cheap and you can’t pick the wrong stuff.”

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