Page 46 of Winning Brynn

Until Leo gets home, that is.

"Daddy Sully and the bros" group chat

Roman:Well,practice was a doozy, huh?

Leo:Think he's still punishing us for playing like shit in Chicago.

Alex:Oh, he definitely is.

Alex:He told me.

Roman:God, Wolfe, you're such a kiss-ass.

Alex:I'm captain. Of course he tells me shit.

Alex changed the group chat name to "Captain Alex and the bros."

Roman:Sweet Moses.

Leo changed the group chat name to "Daddy Sully and the bros."

Alex:What the fuck, man? I thought you hated that name.

Leo:I'll take it over your ego any day.

Chapter Fifteen

Leo

"Dada!"Salem claps her hands together as I walk into the kitchen after practice. She's sitting in her highchair at the kitchen island, her face a mess of spaghetti sauce stains and smiles.

"Hey, baby girl." I kiss the top of her head and stroke the softness of her short hair. "I missed you today."

"We went to the playground this morning, didn't we, ladybug?" Brynn sings in the musical, high-pitched voice she reserves for my daughter.

"Oh, yeah?" I answer with a raise of my brows. And while it's been over a month now since Brynn has been her nanny, I can't help the small twist of anxiety I feel at hearing they've been out of the house. But I push it down. "Was it fun?"

"So much fun," Brynn says, speaking over her shoulder as she washes dishes in the sink. "Although, something weird happened..."

"Oh yeah?"

"A woman there thought I was Say's mom." She releases a weird, choked laugh. "Super weird, right?"

Is it weird?

If I saw a woman with a child at the playground, I'd assume she's the mother too. And of course, I know that all families look different. She could be an aunt, or a family friend, or a foster care parent, or a nanny, like in Brynn's case. But my first assumption, wrong or right, would still always be mother.

Not that I say any of that.

For some reason that I haven't put my finger on yet, Brynn seems even more off-kilter than she is on a typical day. So, I just nod along with a half-assed, "Sure, yeah, super weird," and move through to the living area.

I jump three feet into the air at what I find there.

"What the fuck is that?"

"Huh?" Brynn asks casually, but there's a wobble to her voice. "What?"

"Is that a rodent on my rug?"

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