Page 41 of The Rebound
“It’s just, what about when the season starts? Walker and I fell out of touch for a reason, you know. It was pretty much impossible to reach him. He was so busy. Understandably,” she says quickly, rambling like she does when she’s nervous, “since the stakes are so high in professional sports. But what am I going to do if I need help and neither of you are around?”
I gingerly place my hands on her shoulders and turn her until she’s looking at me straight. “Hey, listen to me. It’s gonna be okay. He and I may not see eye to eye on most things these days, but at least we agree on one thing. Taking care of you. There’s no chance you’ll ever be without at least one of us. I promise.”
Skeptical, she tilts her head. “What about games? What about travel?”
Kinley has a point there. Unless Reeves gets his way and I’m officially suspended next season, we’re both going to be out of town a lot. She has a right to be concerned.
Instead of trying to ease her worries with meaningless words, I tuck away all my instincts to justmake it betterand listen for once in my damn life.
“What do you need, Kin? I’ll make it happen.”
She looks at me like I don’t know what I just offered. Little does she know, I’d do just about anything for her.
“Um, an entire team of professional caretakers would be great. And more baby clothes. And diapers. God, I’m gonna need so many diapers. Ugh, why am I crying?”
I wipe a stray tear from the soft ridge of her cheekbone. She leans into my touch, resting her head against my hand momentarily before sighing wetly. Dang, just the sight of her feeling so vulnerable has me tied up in knots.
Sniffing away her tears, she looks up at me and says softly, “I just need to know everything is going to be all right.”
“It is. I promise you.” An idea occurs to me, and I spout it out before it’s fully formed. “One thing at a time. First, I’m going to throw you a baby shower.”
“What? No, Saint, I don’t know if I love that idea.”
“Come on, what’s not to love? Friends, family, themed snacks, dumb games ...gifts.”
“Gifts?” This grabs her interest.
“All the gifts. Diapers and baby clothes.”
“I guess that’s not such a bad idea. But who would you invite on such short notice? I have like zero friends here.”
I shrug. “The team and their wives.”
Kinley shakes her head. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t want anyone to feel pressured to buy me anything. Most of them don’t even know me.”
“That’s not true. You know Aspen and Summer. And didn’t you say they offered to help with baby stuff? They would love nothing more than to pick out the cutest onesie. Hell, we could make it a competition. Liven things up.”
Frowning, she gives me an unconvinced shrug. “What about the guys? I don’t know any of them.”
“As one of them, I can assure you that they’d like nothing more than to have an excuse to sit around and drink beer for a few hours.”
Kinley finally cracks a smile. “Fair enough. I guess I could help with—”
“Ah, ah, ah.” Playfully, I waggle a finger at her. “Nope. I don’t need your help. I’ve got this.”
She arches an eyebrow. “You sure?”
I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before. With Reeves and me traveling so often during the season, Kinley is going to need to build a community of people who can be there for her, help her out in a pinch. This is perfect.
“What, you don’t have faith in me?”
She chews on this thought for a moment, her eyes softening.
“Of course I do,” she murmurs, but almost as soon as the words leave her lips, she gives me a firm look. “Just don’t do anything crazy, okay? No dumb diaper games. One tasteful game, tops.”
“Copy that.”
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