Page 110 of Three Pucking Words
She looks behind her and smiles. “Hi, sweetie. I put a plate away for you in the microwave in case you were hungry.”
No matter what, she always saves me food. Sometimes I’ll find it in the fridge in the guest house with a note from her. Other times my father will call me to tell me it’s waiting for me in their place, reminding me how important it is to eat so I don’t take my meds on an empty stomach.
I walk in as Puck trots over to Sylvia for attention, his tail wagging happily as she scratches between his ears. “Thanks. It’s been a long day.”
Concerns pulls at her lips. “Are you okay?”
I walk over to the microwave, grabbing the meat and potatoes inside. They’re still warm, so they must have eaten later than normal. Were they waiting for me?
“There’s a lot of media attention on tomorrow’s match, so my boss was making sure we had everything ready to go. And a few of the players’ agents have been sending emails about what shots they need. Apparently, some of them think I give too much attention to the ‘star’ players rather than the entirety ofthe team. They’re concerned the team’s photographer has a bias toward a specific right winger.”
Sylvia slowly nods in understanding. “Ah.” She offers me a sympathetic smile that seems lighter than normal. “Is it because of the photo circulating? I have to say, Honor, you look good together. I’m not surprised a lot of people have noticed. Your father told me he knew it was a matter of time the second he got home.”
I don’t blush, surprisingly. “He did?”
She laughs lightly. “He’s always had a fondness for Bodhi. If it were anyone else on the team, something tells me he’d be throwing a fit and banning them from ever looking at you.”
He’d already told me that once before, hadn’t he? I feel like an idiot. “Was he trying to get us together this whole time?”
Her smile grows. “I wouldn’t say the whole time, but he wasn’t opposed to the idea. He knew you weren’t willing to jump into anything, but friendships can grow into something beautiful if you allow them to.”
I sit down at the counter, poking my meatloaf with a fork. “Can I ask you something?”
She walks over and joins me. “Anything.”
I hesitate only a moment. “How did you and my dad meet? I feel like an ass for not knowing after all these years.”
A loving look brightens her eyes. “We met at a restaurant that I used to work at. He’d show up every single Thursday at the same time, which happened to be the time my shift started. Sometimes he’d be with friends, but he was usually by himself. And he was always in my section. It wasn’t until much later that I learned he requested to be seated there each time. We struck up conversation once or twice and learned we had some mutual friends. One of them worked at the stadium. You know his son, actually. Cal. He and his father both do security. When his father retired, Cal took over his position as the head of it.Anyway, it was probably about six months into him coming into the restaurant before he asked me out.”
I vaguely remember Sylvia talking about waitressing. I’d even defended her when my mother accused her of being a gold digger during one of her drunken rants one night. She’d been none too happy with me for sticking up for the woman she felt took away Dad from us. A ridiculous notion, considering Mom is the one who left at her own free will. But whatever.
“And you agreed,” I assume, given where they are all these years later.
“Actually,” she muses, watching me play with my food. “I turned him down.”
My eyes snap over to her. “What?”
She nods. “I turned him down. Twice. I thought he was sweet, and of course handsome—” I make a face, and she laughs. “But I knew who he was. I knew what he did. And I’ve never been a big fan of sports. I also knew he’d gone through a divorce that was made very public, and it left a lot of scrutiny on his love life. I wanted no part of that. I liked my quiet life.”
I sit back in awe. “What made you change your mind then?”
Sylvia has a faraway look about her. “Your father is persistent. He never stopped coming in, even after I said no. We talked. Got to know each other little by little. He never pushed. Never pressured me. He didn’t force sport talk on me or act like he was above me or my coworkers because we made less. I realized after a while that we were very similar. Lonely. Full of love with very few people to give it to. It was over a year of getting to know each other before I finally went out with him on an actual date. And it was becauseIaskedhimout. I’d been waiting for him to ask me again and got a little impatient when he didn’t.”
My laugh is light. “That’s kind of sweet actually.”
She props her chin on the heel of her hand that’s resting on the edge of the counter. “I didn’t want to miss out on an opportunity because I was afraid of what would happen. I was older than most women who put themselves out there. I never dated seriously. Never got married. I’d been on the fence about kids my whole life but wouldn’t have minded one. I was content with the life I was living, and worried that bringing somebody into it would ruin that inner peace. But the second your father came into my life it made it so much better. Brighter. Happier. We became friends before we became anything else.”
Wetting my lips, I can’t help thinking about how similarly I feel for Bodhi. I didn’t know I needed someone like him in my life. Someone who came in when I least expected it and changed it for the better. It was never my intention to swear off men after Max. I only wanted to be cautious around them, and Bodhi didn’t give me a standing chance.
“You really asked him out?” I ask after a long moment of contemplation.
“I did. He came into the restaurant and barely had time to sit when I strutted right over to him and said—”
“‘If you’re not going to ask me out, I will’,” my father finishes at the doorway. I don’t know how long he’s been standing there, but a nostalgic smile softens his features. “Took me by surprise. I could tell the second I saw her walking over that she was a woman on a mission. It scared me a little.”
Sylvia laughs. “I thought you were never going to ask me out again,” she defends. “I figured I had to take matters into my own hands.”
He shrugs. “I didn’t want to be rejected a third time. I figured if our short conversations every week were all I could have, then it would be enough.”
