Page 54 of The Way We Collide

“What a little angel!”Sherri Pace holds out a finger to Haddy, who’s sitting on my arm as we do our little meet-and-greet outside the Dutch door of the nursery. “She looks just like you!”

“I had no idea you were a dad, Hendrix.” An older woman joins us at the door.

“Ah, yeah…” I squint one eye, doing a little point. “Miss…”

“Martha Torres. Nursery supervisor.”

“Nice to meet you.” I nod at Raven. “Haddy and her mom are here staying with me for a little while. This is Raven. I brought her to meet you all.”

“That’s very thoughtful. Did you bring your daughter’s medical records? We have an online portal?—”

“We can take their word for it today, Martha.” Sherri gives her a nudge, then leans closer, lowering her voice. “Martha loves to give the new dads a hard time.”

“They probably need it.” I wink at her, turning on the charm.

“Oh, boy,” Martha shakes her head. “You’ve got your hands full with this one.”

“He’s not so bad.” Raven’s tone is equally teasing. “We’ve almost graduatedto poopy diapers.”

“Is that so?” The older woman’s eyebrows rise. “Sounds like you can handle him.”

Raven’s ears turn pink, and I almost chuckle. She can handle me all night long.

Clearing her throat, she looks at our daughter. “Haddy’s never stayed with anyone but my sister or me. I’m not sure how she’s going to react to being alone with… people she doesn’t know.”

Sherri gives her a warm smile. “I expect any good parent would want to know who’s taking care of their baby.”

Haddy clutches my shirtsleeve watching all of us curiously. Axel is under one arm, and she has that elephant ring in her hand. I can’t tell if she likes these ladies or not, and I hadn’t really considered the possibility she might not like it here.

Now I’m getting worried about leaving her.

“I’ll be right in the workout room or on the field if she cries or anything.”

It’s my turn to get the warm Sherri smile. “We’ve got a lot of experience with babies.” She steps closer to our girl. “Hi, Haddy! I’m Miss Sherri. Would you like to play with me today?”

She holds out her hands, but Haddy doesn’t move. It’s an awkward moment with Sherri smiling and blinking, palms up and extended to our six-month-old.

Raven steps closer to me, speaking quietly. “Maybe try passing her over.”

A knot forms in my stomach, and I look down at my little girl staring at the woman. I’m not sure passing her over is the right thing to do. It feels like I’m forcing her, and I would never do that.

To think I was so confident when we left the house this morning. Now my shoulders are tense, and I’m ready to return to the idea of flying Amelia here. Raven thinks she’ll like it. UCLA is a great school, and we could cover all her living expenses for the time they’re here.

Martha seems to read the situation at once. “Why don’t you walk her in and show her around?”

Her voice is calm and authoritative. She puts her hand on Sherri’s arm and opens the door slowly for us to step inside the large playroom.

Five other children are already here. They’re all small, and most seem to be around Haddy’s age. One is crawling around, and the biggest one is actually walking.

I have no idea whose kids they are. I’ve never paid any attention to which players had families, and I never cared to find out. All this baby stuff was so far off my radar two weeks ago.

“What do we do?” I look down at the smiling ladies.

Raven is at my side, surveying the room as well. It’s bright and happy with lots of toys, blocks and balls all around.

The floor is covered in rainbow-colored foam squares that fit together like puzzle pieces with large letters in the centers. Together they form the alphabet.

One wall has colorful, blobby monsters with numbers on their bellies. On the opposite side of the room, a row of cribs lines the wall. A baby is asleep in one of them.

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