Page 8 of Single Glance

But she didn’t extend that level of loyalty to me. She’d made it clear years ago that she only tolerated me because of Emilia. Making me annoyed and uncomfortable was Hadley’s favorite pass-time, and it was a battle I always lost.

With a muttered curse and a long sigh, I forced myself out of my truck, grabbing my duffel bag before entering the house. At this point, I just entered, not bothering with knocking. I called out when I stepped into the foyer, and Adam came out first, shaking my hand.

“Hey man, welcome back.”

“Good to be back,” I said as I slid my bag to my feet. “Thank you again for letting me stay here. If it becomes too much?—”

“Nah, never too much,” Adam said. “You’re family. You want to settle in before dinner?”

“Yeah, that’d be great,” I said. Even though I showered at the stadium, it was quick, just enough to rinse the sweat off of my skin before driving back to the house. The idea of getting under the hot spray and soaking my muscles almost made me groan.

“Take your time. The girls are in the kitchen, working on dinner. I’ll let them know you’ll be down soon.” He clapped his hand on my shoulder, then turned back down the hall.

I grabbed my bag and headed up the stairs. Luckily, after being here so many times, I knew which room was mine for the next few weeks. Different sections divided the house, likely remnants from its days as a large, multi-generational home. Victoria and Adam’s bedroom and the one I was borrowing were on opposite ends of the second floor, with Emilia right in the middle. There were other roomsalso dividing our spaces, from a small, loft-style play-space to Adam’s home office. Don’t get me wrong—I appreciated the hell out of both Adam and Victoria for letting me stay with them instead of spending the next month in a hotel. But I was also grateful for the distance between our living areas. My ex and I might be cool, but our relationship would never be that good.

As I pushed open the door, I smiled, loving the little details Victoria must have added since she last face-timed me. When we last spoke, the room was almost completely bare. But now, there was a king-sized bed in the middle, with end tables anchoring each side. On the table closest to the door, there was my favorite picture of Emilia and me, taken during her first visit to my old stadium back home. Although, considering it was park benches and a pile of mud, it felt odd referring to that place as a stadium after spending the day in a state-of-the-art one. But it was where my career started, where I learned the meaning of the game. It would have killed me to end my career there, but I’d always be grateful for that team.

I dropped my duffel by the door. It wasn’t much. I’d only brought the essentials, leaving everything else in my storage unit back in Boston. I’d barely had time to get it into storage before moving out here, and I was in no rush to pull it out now. Now that my career would hopefully be stable for a couple of years, I wanted to settle down. Put down roots. Even if I got traded, I still wanted a place here, close to where my daughter would grow up. This was her home, and for that fact alone, I’d make it mine as well.

Just as I got settled, a soft knock came on the door. Victoria popped her head inside the room. “Dinner’s almost ready. You good to eat in like 15?”

“Yup,” I nodded. As I stood, I pointed to the ensuitebathroom. “Just gonna grab a quick shower, and then I’ll head down.”

Victoria toyed with her fingers, averting her eyes around the room. “Listen, there is one thing I might have forgotten to mention when I offered the room to you.”

I arched my brow. “Do I even want to know, Vic?”

“It’s about Hadley.”

My jaw tensed, especially when Victoria looked at me with a sheepish smile. “Did she take off and join the circus? Because that would make my fucking day.”

“Not exactly,” Victoria said. “Remember how we’ve been renovating that old carriage house on the edge of the property? Well, it got done right as I convinced Hadley to take a substitute teaching job nearby. So….”

“So?”

“She’s also staying here,” Victoria pushed out. As my jaw hung open, she gave me a guilty smile. “And I might have also invited her over for dinner, so play nice, Cam.”

“Me?” I said, finding my voice after that shock. “Tell her to play nice. She’s the one who goes for the jugular every chance she gets.”

“I already did,” Victoria said. “And who knows? This could be an opportunity for you two to clear the air.”

“Doubt it.”

“Cam…” She rubbed her fingers over her tense brow. “Please, for Emilia, can you try to get along with her? She’s picking up on the tension between you two, and she feels bad. Like she has to choose who she wants to spend time with.”

That broke my heart. My issues with Hadley were ours to deal with, and I hated that my six-year-old was picking up on them. I would do anything for Emilia. Even deal with chaos incarnate, with a smile on my face.

“I’ll try,” I sighed.

“That’s all I ask.”

With that, Victoria left my room, closing the door behind her. As her footsteps faded down the hallway, I cursed, muttering to myself. Knowing that I would be spending the foreseeable future with Hadley was enough to make me repack my bag and high-tail it out of here. In fact, the only thing stopping me was that I knew that she’d see that as a win.

Maybe we could clear the air? Sorry, Victoria, that would never happen.

SEVEN

The smell of chili reached my nose before I entered the kitchen. After weeks of surviving on microwaved meals and frozen pizza, I drooled. Tori was making a huge effort to make Cam’s welcome party special. Personally, I would have fed him something a little more toxic, but I guess it’s considered a faux pas to poison the guest of honor.

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