Page 48 of Playmaker

“Sorry,” she muttered.

“That’s better.”

“Dwess up?”

“Maybe Callie wants to dress up?”

Not sure which of us was quicker to shoot down that idea. “Why don’t you let me clean up while you do…your dressing up or whatever.”

Cooper cocked his head at the girl. “Callie is being pretty nice to offer that so we can play.”

She nodded. Then grabbed Cooper’s hand and dragged him away.

It didn’t take long. I put the leftover pizza in the fridge and washed the dishes by hand rather than filling up only part of the dishwasher.

Cooper came out with Hailey again. This time the girl was in pajamas, but she and Cooper were now dressed up as some kind of animal, wearing headbands with ears. Hailey’s pajamas included feet and a hood. Cooper suggested a movie, so we spent an hour on the couch, Hailey on my side of Cooper, snuggling in tightly against him. I hated to admit it, but it was adorable.

When the movie ended, Cooper said it was bedtime. I asked if I should go, making Hailey’s face light up, but Cooper asked if I could stay for a bit. I was tempted to stick my tongue out at Hailey when I agreed, but I refrained. I was an adult, after all.

I scrolled on my phone while I waited. I wasn’t surprised it took a while. Hailey did not want to share her godfather, at least not with me. And yeah, she was just a kid, but it didn’t feel good, having someone immediately dislike you.

Cooper reappeared without any dress-up accessories. “Thanks for waiting.”

“You sure you don’t want me to go?”

He nodded. “Appreciate you coming.”

“I didn’t do much.”

“I love the kid. But I can only take so much toddler time before I need some adult company.”

I lifted my brows.

He ran a hand over his face. “Hell, that sounded wrong. No adult expectations here. Hailey’s grandmother will be here tomorrow morning, but I don’t care if we just watch a movie, as long as it doesn’t have animated animals.”

“Sure.” Maybe coming over hadn’t been a waste. Maybe I’d helped after all.

I didn’t care what we watched, so he picked some action thing with a lot of explosions. This time there was no tiny diva separating us, and I had to fight a strange urge to snuggle up in the space she’d occupied.

It must be a reaction to Hailey, because I didn’t snuggle people.

Chapter15

What I’m doing wrong

Cooper

I’d askedCallie if some of my teammates could join us on our next trip to the driving range. I hoped that having more of my teammates around meant I could spend more time with her and less dealing with fans, as well as stopping Ducky from making up a romance. The guys had promised to behave. We’d see how well that lasted.

The extra practice time we’d put in was working—Callie had done better at Briarwood on the weekend but I knew she wasn’t happy about having to let people play through while she searched for balls that had vanished in the rough.

This time at the range I booked two bays side by side. The same kid greeted us, and his eyes couldn’t have gotten any bigger as he stared at the six of us with Callie.

As he led the way, I introduced the team to her. “The big guy is Petrov, Russian, goalie. He’s…intense. Ducky, the short one, is kind of excitable, but wouldn’t hurt anyone. Crash, following Ducky—I’m giving you nicknames because that’s what we use—is another defenseman. Royster, the tall redhead, is a forward on the shutdown line, and this is JJ. He’s my partner.”

Her eyes followed each name, and I knew she’d memorized them all.

“We’ve been curious about you,” JJ said.

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