Page 90 of Finding the Forward: Part One
I whimpered. “But...”
“From her.” Grif pulled me to him, kissing me so deeply my toes curled.
Okay, that would do. Still, I hoped she had time for me tonight, too.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Verity
Isat at a high-top in the lobby bar of the Glitter City Stonefeld Hotel and Conference Center. Creed, Grace, and Spencer sat with me as we sipped drinks and ate greasy bar food. While dressed for the party, I only occasionally popped in to check on my sister. Mercy was with her agent who was introducing her to sponsors and helping her work the room.
Dad sat with us. We’d literally taken him from the conference. Sadly, we hadn’t locked Mumsy in a closet. She was unhappy about our ambush, but couldn’t protest considering we’d been in public.
My phone buzzed and a silly selfie of Grif popped up on my phone.
Grif
We won 2-0. Leaving the arena soon.
Me
Great job!
They’d gotten a shutout. Well, then.
Grif
This is Dean. Shutout!!!
The accompanying picture was mostly Dean’s tongue. I stifled a chuckle as I replied.
Me
Amazing!
Mercy joined us. “I’m done for the night.”
“Did you want to hang out with us? Meet up with your friends? Go up to the room since you’re meeting Dad bright and early for breakfast?” I offered, hoping going to bed was an option. Not only had we gotten up early, but there was a three-hour time difference. The pills most athletes took to help with jet lag didn’t work for me.
“That party wassoboring.” Mercy plopped down and animatedly told Dad all about it. She wore a cute, bright blue cocktail dress and had a bunch of beaded bracelets on her wrists.
“Mercy.” Riley waved her over. A bunch of rookies who preferred hanging out in the lobby, eating snacks, and making bracelets to the party had adopted her.
“Dad, hope you’re having fun. But I’m being summoned.” Mercy gave Dad a big hug, then ran off to join Riley and the others.
Dad looked in her direction, wistful, scent a bit salty. “And she’s off. You’re all off, living your lives, growing up...”
“We couldn’t stay with you forever. And you still have the littles.” I frowned. What did they expect?
Mercy bounced back over. “Do you have more cake pops?”
“A few back in the room,” I told her. “You can have them. If you’re hungry, I can go back with you to the party, and we’ll raid the tables.” Not that I wanted to. I kept feeling watched.
Mercy rolled her eyes. “The food was dumb. I’m going to order deep-fried cookie dough after I get the cake pops.”
She, Riley, Jack and Kaiko ran toward the elevators.
The server took away our finished snacks and brought us more drinks. Spencer and I chatted about some recent breakthroughs in genetics. Dad showed Grace photos of the littles, who were back in London with Harry.
