Page 72 of Time Out

And he had absolutely no idea.

Making me feel like an absolute pile of crap for forcing Davis to keep this secret from a family he loved and adored so much. The day I’d asked him to hold off had seemed so minuscule. He was still someone I barely knew, and his family was half a country away.

We had time.

But as he turned and spotted Kate and Dave, who again welcomed him into their arms with warm hugs and greetings, I couldn’t force my feet to move.

“You look like you’re going to throw up.”

As far as first willing words, Eden spoke to me all afternoon, they weren’t the greatest. Neither comforting or exactly kind, even if she wasn’t wrong. “Davis hasn’t told his family, and now I feel like shit for asking him to wait.”

“Huh.” She peered at me with narrowed eyes, inspecting me and then her features softened before she turned and walked off.

I opened up and got a huh in return and as she reached to shake Mr. Hall’s hand. I had the utter urge to slap their hands apart and push her down the hall so she couldn’t spill my secret or Davis’s well before he was ready.

Before I was ready.

Instead, she turned, and with maybe the first non-judgmental smile she wore in my presence all day, waved me over. “Jim, this is a friend of ours, Maggie. Maggie, this is Jim, Davis’s dad.”

“Hello there, Maggie. Pleasure to meet you. Any friend of Davis’s is a friend of mine.”

I glanced at Eden, searched for something hidden, anything to figure out her motive, and found nothing.

Weird. So weird.

Fortunately, I didn’t have long to wonder because the doors to the team area opened, and players started streaming out.

I hadn’t seen Davis since Friday before I went in to work. I’d stayed there Thursday night, worked an afternoon shift yesterday, and he’d had to get in a workout before heading to the hotel where his team always stayed the night before games. It’d been less than forty-eight hours since I’d been in his presence but I felt it as soon as he pushed through the doors, dressed in a tailored, dark charcoal-gray suit with light pinstripes and his hair already perfectly styled but still wet from his shower.

His blue eyes lit up as soon as he saw his dad, and he dropped his bag he’d had slung over his shoulder and rushed to him. Emotion burned in my eyes and I willed them back while Davis threw his arms around his dad, so damn glad to see him and threw him back and forth in a manly bear hug that Jim returned with equal vigor.

“Great game, son,” Jim said, squeezing Davis tighter. He slapped Davis on the back before giving him another hearty hug. “So proud of you.”

“Thanks, Dad. Glad you could make it. How was the flight?”

“Bumpy. Your mom says they’ve already gotten five inches with another eight expected. Might be stuck here for an extra day.”

“Not mad about it.” Davis slapped his dad’s back and then saw Cole’s family still waiting nearby and for Cole to come out. He grinned at Eden. “He’s almost done. Just talking to Coach for a second.”

He turned to me. “Hey. What’d you think?”

“I think you were great. It was fun.”

“Everyone good to you?”

“Yeah.” Mostly. The small little white lie got stuck in my throat and Davis frowned before taking the few steps toward me.

“Dad, did you meet Maggie?” As he asked, he slid his arm around my lower back and pulled me close to him.

My spine straightened with steel and my mouth went dry. Davis told me his dad was going to try to come to the game, but I hadn’t been fully prepared and we hadn’t talked about what we were or who I was to him.

Jim, smart man, didn’t miss the gesture and he flashed me an amused grin. “Seems maybe I didn’t get the proper introduction.”

“Maggie’s my new girlfriend.” He said it with all the proudness his own father had just spoken to him and I grinned up at him.

This was important news. And surprising because we hadn’t talked about any of this, not that I was complaining. I imagined my look was as surprised as Jim’s mixed with the happiness he’d so boldly proclaim me as his.

“Girlfriend? Well, heck, dads are always the last to know the good stuff, aren’t we?”

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