Page 173 of The Overtime Kiss

Mom gives me a sympathetic look. “Sweetheart, that has to be so hard for her,” she says, and her words are a jolt.

They’re jumper cables restarting my engine. “Wait,” I sputter. “You’re saying she just went along with it?”

Boppity lifts her chin and barks again at me. It sounds likeyou idiotin canine.

“Listen to your fur sister,” Mom says.

Miles chuckles under his breath, then mutters, “Yeah, Little Falcon.”

“Tyler, her father showed up that morning,” my mom says. “Do you think maybe that threw her off? Maybe it sent her spinning? Maybe it made her feel like her world had tipped upside down. From what you’ve said, he’s never supported her.”

“It’s so much worse than that,” I hiss out, the venom back in my voice. “He puts her down. He blames her. He twists everything. He accused her of having an affair with mebeforeshe almost married that tool.”

“That’s my point, sweetheart,” Mom says, reaching up to ruffle my hair. “She must have been hurting so much.”

Miles clears his throat. “And then, let me see if I’ve got this straight. Right after she has a run-in with the man who makes her feel worthless, she pulls back from you just a little. Maybe out of self-protection. And you assume that means she doesn’t want you,” Miles adds, pulling no punches.

How did I miss it? “Shit,” I mutter, dragging a hand through my hair, feeling like the world’s biggest idiot. She was robotic, yes. But she was also overperforming. She was making a million dishes at dinner. She was telling me every little thing she did for the kids. She was—a stark realizationslams into me—making a spoken listfor meof every damn thing she’d done. Like she used to do to track her skating performance. And she was in full skater mode Sunday night.

I didn’t connect the dots. She was protecting herself because of him. She was trying to be perfectfor mebecause he’d been horrible to her. And then I proceeded to presume it was all about me—but it was all about her and him.

My heart aches horribly with all the hurt she must carry over that man.

And I didn’t even connect the dots. “I’m the world’s biggest idiot,” I mutter.

Miles holds his arms out wide. “At last, he learns!” Cindy twirls around Miles in a little doggie victory dance.

“Seriously. I am,” I add as my stomach drops and I replay how quiet she was when she told me about his visit. Like she could only get out a few words, here and there. She wasn’t holding back from me. She was holding in a dam of hurt, while clutching a kitten like a shield.

I should have been her shield. Not a little baby cat.

“What do I do now?” I ask, feeling utterly helpless, like I did when Parker was sick and I was hundreds of miles away.

My mother comes closer, squeezes my arm. “If you want to be a good dad, teach your kids what it means to stay. Don’t show them how to run.”

With that final blow, I’m knocked dead.

But it’s time to pick myself up from the ground and start over. I check my watch. It’s noon. It’s a game day. And a VIP night. We have warmups, and also a couple quick photo opps as some VIPs tour the arena before the game against the Vegas Sabers.

The game where Sabrina’s performing tonight. She’ll arrive early, knowing her. Probably five-ish, to be safe. To stretch. Get in her costume. Take some pics.

I need to talk to her before she heads to the arena. I grabmy phone like I’m an Old West gunslinger. Call her right away. But it goes to voicemail.

She’s probably practicing her routine a few more times before tonight. She’d want to be one hundred ten percent ready.

I make a promise to myself to find her as soon as I can. And somehow I’ll need to prove to her I can be the man she deserves. A man she can depend on, no matter what.

An idea lands in my head. “I need to talk to Leighton,” I say to Miles.

But that’s just the start of my busy afternoon. Especially since it ends with another idea, bright and shiny, shortly before I head into work.

48

SHOOT YOUR SHOT

Tyler

When you know what you want for, well, the rest of the foreseeable future, you want the foreseeable future to start right now.

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