Page 78 of Crazy Love

But inside, I’m thinking,there’s no way I’ll want this to end, so I really hope you don’t either.

When we pass the gate and she pulls into our driveway, Mrs. Murphy’s car is parked in front of the house.

“Shit, looks like we’ve got a drop-in visit from the social worker,” I tell Addy.

She looks at me with as much dread as I feel. “You think your parents are okay with her right now?”

“I think so, but we better get in there.”

We both rush out of the car and go in through the garage. When we walk into the kitchen, Mrs. Murphy is sitting next to Sam at the bar, and my mom is leaning against the kitchen counter. There are chocolate chip cookies on a pretty plate and Sam is in the middle of dunking one in a glass of milk when they notice us.

“Hey, you guys!” Sam says happily. “We heated up the cookies Addy made last night and they’re so good!”

I smile at him, pausing to squeeze his shoulder and kiss my mom’s cheek before reaching out to shake Mrs. Murphy’s hand. My dad walks in then and we all say hello.

“Thought I’d stop by and see how it’s going,” Mrs. Murphy says. “Sam was telling me about the party you had over the weekend. It sounds like a lot of fun.”

Addy and I share a look and nod. Do we look nervous? I think maybe so. I try to relax my shoulders and reach out, taking Addy’s hand, hoping that I made that look casual too. Fuck. Why am I so bad at this? Where is this swagger that Sam was talking about?That I’ve always been known for?

“We had such a fun night,” Addy says, smiling up at me. “Sam helped a lot with everything too. And it was great having our family and friends with us.”

“Seems like everything moved really fast,” she says.

I think I audibly hear both of us gulp and can’t look at Addy right now or I’ll surely look like a deer in the headlights.

“We thought so too!” My mom laughs. “But we’d heard about her months ago, and that was unusual…for our boy to be talking about a woman he met at all is not the typical.” She laughs and glances at my dad.

He nods too. “Yep, it was a first for sure.”

“And then we saw the two of them together and,” my mom shakes her head, smiling dreamily, “it just all felt meant to be.” She lifts her shoulder and glances at Mrs. Murphy. “Jeremy and I only dated a month before we eloped, so it wasn’t that far-fetched to us, that they’d do the same thing. The fact that she’s his coach’s daughter makes it a little more complicated…” My mom’s eyes crinkle as she beams at Addy and me.

Mrs. Murphy turns to look at us. “Oh, I didn’t realize that. What’s the connection there?”

“My dad is one of the coaches for the Mustangs, so he works closely with Penn. That’s kind of how we met. I went with my parents to the Bahamas when they went for a player’s wedding, and I enjoyed a mini vacation while they did the wedding activities.”

“And I was the officiant for the wedding and practicing what I’d say at the ceremony when we met by the beach.” I smile at Addy.

Her eyes never leave mine and it feels like we’re back on that beach, consumed with each other the way we were that night. “He was so nervous about the wedding that I took him to flamingo yoga to try to calm him down, but that didn’t work.”

I hold up the little flamingo she just gave me. “One of the flamingos—Capone or Capona, depending on who you ask—took a hatred or a liking, again, depending on who you ask, to me, and we ended up running for our lives.”

Addy snorts and Sam cracks up. “Caponajust wanted to give you a little kiss,” she says.

“You didn’t tell me this part!” Sam says, handing me a cookie.

I hold it up and pause before taking a bite. “Because I wanted to scream like a baby when that thing stood over me. Something I’d rather forget.”

Sam loves that. “Lost your cool in front of the girl. That should’ve been the sign right there that you were hopeless over Addy.”

I point my cookie at him and then glance at Addy. “He’s not wrong.” I take a bite of the cookie and can’t resist groaning. “And she makes the best cookies. The best everything.”

She leans into me and it feels natural to wrap her back against my chest, so I do.

But then I’m thrown when Mrs. Murphy says, “Well, Sam, I have another foster family who is interested in taking you. How would you feel about that?”

Sam shoots an incredulous look at me. “I’d feel terrible about that. I want to stay here. Why do you keep trying to keep me from Penn?” His voice cracks at the end and I move closer to him. Addy comes with me, and we both hover next to his chair.

“It isn’t that I’m trying to keep you from him.” Her tone is apologetic. “I just want you to be in the best possible home.”

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