Page 84 of Sliding into Home

“Do they?” She smirked. Knowing exactly where this was heading.

“Yes, ice cream.” Max threw his arm in the air.

Jeff snorted. “Not quite where I was going, but sure bud, ice cream works.”

“Who’s getting ice cream?” Pete asked as he and Ryan joined the group.

“We are,” Max yelled.

“Max, not so loud.” Kia laughed. Yes, the kid was excited, but holy cow, did he have to show it by deafening the group?

Jeff set Max on the ground and Gonzo immediately grabbed the boy, flipped him upside down over his shoulder and yelled, “Ice cream.” Then took off running toward the parking lot.

With a laugh, Jeff slung his arm around Kia’s shoulder. “Looks like everyone is going for ice cream.”

Kia pulled the car up in front of her house. Shit. Why the hell was he here?

The last thing she wanted to see was Austin. She parked at the curb. With a deep exhalation, she exited the vehicle. “Hey Austin. What are you doing here?”

His eyes scanned her body. “Hi Kia.” He glanced behind her at the car where Max sat in his booster seat. “Can we talk?”

“Sure.” She sighed. “Let me just get Max inside.”

“You’re seriously not going to invite me in?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Fine, but I think you’re being ridiculous. We were friends, weren’t we?”

“Pretty sure you said we weren’t last time we talked. So it’s outside or nothing.” After the number of asshole texts he’d sent her over the past few weeks, he was lucky she was even willing to do that. Kia turned, popped open the back door, and unbuckled Max. “Come on buddy, let’s head inside and I’ll put the TV on for you to watch one of your shows.”

Max eyed Austin suspiciously. “What’s he doing here?”

“No idea, but I’m about to find out, so let’s get you set up.”

Together they walked toward the house and up the front stairs. As she opened the front door, she glanced over her shoulder at Austin, warning him not to come in. Once inside, she dragged her overnight case into the bedroom and dumped it on the floor. She’d deal with all that later.

In the living room, she turned on the TV and started flipping through the channels. “Hey bud, what do you think you want to watch?”

“Cartoons.”

She paused on one of the kid’s channels. “This look good?”

Max lay on his stomach on the carpet, rested his elbows on the floor with his chin in his hands, and looked up at the TV. “Yeah.”

“I’m just going to go outside and talk to Austin for a minute. Okay?”

Immersed in his cartoon already, Max made some absent sound that could be anything from agreement to leave me alone.

Outside, she walked down the front steps and stood in front of Austin. “So, you gonna tell me why you’re here?”

“I’m worried about you.”

Worried about her? That was a new one. She couldn’t help the smirk that crossed her mouth. This outta be good. “Alright and just why is it exactly that you’re worried about me?”

“I saw you on TV. You and Max were at the game.”

“Okay?” What did that have to do with anything?

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