Page 68 of The Wedding Deal
“You don’t know,” Simms said, glee creeping into his expression. “Her last name sounded so familiar, but it’s common enough that it took me a bit of Googling to figure out why.”
“Just say what you’re going to say. I’m busy.” He wanted to claim it didn’t matter and walk past him, but his worries about trusting her fully rushed to the surface, desperately wanting to be reassured.
“Pete James.”
It did sound familiar, but he couldn’t place it.
“The coach from UTSA who was fired for gambling—against his own team.”
…
“Goodbye,” Charlotte said, hugging Stacy as she was getting ready to leave with her new husband. They were so crazy cute, and with things going so well with her and Lance, she didn’t experience even a tinge of jealousy. Just happiness that she’d gotten to meet her and the rest of Lance’s family at such a happy time.
“I’m so glad we got to meet you. There I go, using ‘we’ now, but, like, we are a we.” A cute twitterpated squeal followed Stacy’s words, and she pulled back to look Charlotte in the eye. “I know I’ve been a bit airheaded, but next time we see you and Lance, we’ll have more time to hang out.”
Charlotte nodded, liking the sound of that.
Mitch neared, automatically stretching his hand out for Stacy’s. As soon as they linked fingers, he gave Charlotte the nod. “Later, Charlotte. Tell my brother he owes me a rematch on the field.”
Mere seconds later, Lance approached their group, so Mitch saved her the trouble and went ahead and repeated it himself.
Lance barely cracked a smile, which was rare whenever he and his brother messed with each other. Clearly he was preoccupied.
Charlotte nudged him and muttered, “This is where you return the trash talk. Tell him that you have me as your official tight end now, and I can sort of catch and everything, so we’re totally going to kick their asses.”
He peered down at her with a perplexed expression, the same one he wore whenever he was brainstorming or processing. It only lasted a second or two and then he snapped out of it, smiling at his brother as he congratulated him and Stacy yet again and told them to enjoy their honeymoon.
It seemed a smidge forced, though. Not the well wishes, but-more like Lance’s mind was still spinning on something else— Perhaps he’d learned something new about one of their current or prospective players.
“Is everything okay?” she asked. “Is it work? Because we’ve got a plan in place, and your dad declared we have our good juju back, so nothing to worry about there.”
Before he had the chance to answer, Maribelle rushed over and handed them long sparklers, asking Lance to help light the ends so the couple could run through the archway they were going to make with them.
The next few minutes were a blur of sparklers and the happy couple rushing toward a decked-out limo with streamers and “just married” hearts. Then Aaron nearly set Austin’s hair on fire, so all of the sparklers were dashed out with nearby glasses of water.
Charlotte began gathering trash and carried everything she could fit in her arms to the closest trash can.
“I appreciate that, dear,” Maribelle said, “but you don’t need to do that. The hotel has a whole crew that’ll clean up.”
Of course they did. In so many ways the Quaids seemed like everyone else, but there were those little reminders that everything they did was on a much grander scale.
Maribelle took both of her hands in hers. “I’m sure I’ve probably made it clear already, but I like to say things to people I care about, so they don’t have to wonder. I’m so glad my son brought you along. Even if I suspect it was originally to thwart my setup attempts.”
Charlotte bit back a smile. “I can neither confirm nor deny.”
“Well, as I told him last night, you far surpass the women I was originally trying to introduce him to, so joke’s on him. Or is it on me?” She shook her head. “Either way, I’m happy. I’m also going to take full credit for being the push that got you two together.”
Charlotte didn’t really care who got credit, only that she was incredibly happy things had worked out the way they had. “I’m so glad I got to meet you all. The wedding was beautiful, too. Thank you for including me in the activities and making me feel so welcome.”
“You are welcome. Anytime. I’m guessing you two will be taking off early tomorrow morning?”
Charlotte nodded. “Yeah, we have a lot to do in the next couple weeks. There are players and staff to acquire and big announcements to be made. It’ll be a whirlwind till Draft Day. Then there will be training and pre-season and…” It all hit her at once, an exhausted sort of excitement— It’d probably slammed into Lance a few minutes ago, and now she understood why he’d felt further away. “Let’s just say the foreseeable future is going to be very, very busy.”
Maribelle used her grip on her hands to pull Charlotte into a hug. “Take care of him for me, will you? I’ve been worried about him for a while, evenbeforehe inherited the team. Sure, he’s younger than most owners, but pressure is rough on people, emotionally and physically. That concern for your kids never stops, you know, in spite of how often they insist they’re fully grown and you don’t need to worry anymore. As if that’s all it takes.”
Charlotte couldn’t help but laugh a little at that. Although a pang followed as she wondered if her dad ever truly worried about her. She’d always felt like it was the other way around. But they were working on it, and she couldn’t let herself give up hope yet. Not until she at least saw for herself if the treatment had helped, and if things went any differently from here on out.
“You have no idea how much it comforts me that Lance has you,” Maribelle said as she dropped her arms and gave her a big smile.
