Page 119 of Sweet Thing

“But my family is more important. My daughter is more precious to me than any championship ring. If you’re hurting, I need to know. Don’t hide that from me. Ever.”

I swiped at another tear. He gave me a moment to get over myself before resuming the interrogation, dad-style.

“What happened in Greece?”

I told him an abridged version.

“Did you tell Lars about it?”

“Yeah. He advised me to be up front with you.”

He scoffed. “So he does know right from wrong!”

“He’s not the villain here.”

I could see him recalibrating, retooling his attack, looking for another way in. Defense turned to offense. “Are you in love with him?”

Well played, old man.Yesterday, I’d insisted it was a fling, but I’d already lied enough. Besides, my mother would have told him her suspicions.

“Yes.”

“And who broke it off?”

“Why does it matter?”

I’d had time to think it through. I was under no illusion that Lars loved me, but I did think he cared. His upbringing with Sven had done a number on him. He didn’t think he was good enough. For fatherhood. For friendship.

For me.

Telling him that Lars considered himself a failure because of Sven felt like a betrayal. Better to keep the blame centered on me.

It didn’t work. My dad remained silent, which was always a bad sign, but he did gather me in his arms again and held me close.

“I’m sorry I lied to you, Dad, about everything.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

The “you” in that sentence said it all. Lars wasn’t off the hook just yet.

ChapterThirty-Two

Lars

I barely gota wink of sleep. Vicki finally left at just after midnight, after several hints that a baby needs both parents, and she wasn’t just talking about co-parenting. She had to know I wasn’t interested in her, no matter our connection in Mabel.

Adeline had texted last night.

Dinner outside. Talk soon.

My sweet thing was still looking after me. To show how mature I was being, I even allowed Vicki to share. A family meal. Feeling even more magnanimous, I didn’t get overly possessive with Mabel. I was too interested in watching how Vicki acted around her. I could tell she’d missed her daughter, though the fact she chose her fuckface husband over our little precious still got me all riled up. But then I wouldn’t have had her all to myself and I wouldn’t have needed Adeline to take care of her and—fuck.

Vicki’s selfishness had gifted me Adeline. And look what I did with that. I was glad when she left, when it was just me and Mabel.

But our third musketeer was in the wind. I missed Adeline like crazy, but before I could fix things with her, I had to sort out my relationship with Theo.

Janet was taking the holiday weekend off, so I was in a bind for childcare during the Thanksgiving Friday game. I’d burned my bridges with the Kershaws, so I moved down the phone tree to Tara, who had heard about the drama and was still thrilled to babysit.

Then I headed to the locker room.

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