Page 3 of Skate the Line

I can almost picture her walking through the kitchen while nibbling on her thumbnail as she tries to think of another solution to get me back to myself. I haven’t been the Sunny she knows in months. Not since I left Washington. But maybe even a little before that too.

“Will you at least think about it? That’s what you’re doing out there in California, right?Thinking.”

“I like to call it soul-searching.” It sounds better.

“Do you know what’s good for the soul?” she asks.

“If you say penis…”

She snorts. “That’s obviously implied but not what I was referring to.”

“Well, then what?”

“The Windy City, baby!” I wince at her volume.

I shake my head and smile. “Have you ever been to Chicago?”

There’s silence.

“No…but I’d have a reason to go if you were there.”

“Well…” I pop up from the sand and brush myself off. “Keep looking for reasons, because my answer is no.”

Two

RHODES

What the hell is this?An escort service?

I stare at the screen with an angry brow while a bead of sweat rolls down my back. I reread the text from the team’s manager, making sure our signals aren’t crossed. The nanny agency even sounds like an escort business—The Nanny Roster.

Is it a list of nannies that we can hire to watch our children…or is it a list of nannies that we can hire for other things?

It sounds a little suspicious.

Or maybe I’m just on edge because I’m at my wits’ end with the endless number of nannies I’ve been through lately.

Ellie is a good kid. I know it’s not her that is the issue here.

It’s the women I keep hiring.

Or if you ask them, it’sme.I’m the problem.

I sigh, and it sounds like a growl.

Malaki walks into the media room where we watch film tapes, but apparently, it’s doubling as a hang-out room today. He plops down onto the couch and opens a Gatorade. He gulps it as loud as humanly possible, clearly trying to get my attention, just like my five-year-old daughter would do.

I slowly raise my gaze above my laptop screen and glare at him. “Can I help you?”

“Nope.” He throws his empty Gatorade bottle into the trash halfway across the room and winks after making it. “But I can help you.”

“Doubtful.”

Out of all my teammates, Malaki is the one who makes the most jokes about fucking Ellie’s nannies, and it irritates me because the entire reason most of them leave is because Iwon’tfuck them.

After looking at The Nanny Roster logo again, I pull my attention back to Malaki. I have no idea why he’s so early. I’m the only one who shows up hours before team practice to hone my skills in silence, but given that my choices are limited and he’s taking up space, I throw him a bone.

I spin my laptop around, and he gets this excited look on his face, like he’s eager to please me.

---