Page 26 of Ugly Duckling
The door closed, and the shower turned on, and only then did Webber say, “Who is she?”
I knew what he was asking.
“We had nothing together,” I said. “We were just acquaintances in high school. We didn’t really share a best friend like Audric and Creole did. Rocky, my nanny friend, her dad was my dad’s good friend. We were forced to be around each other a lot because of our parents hanging out. Rocky is best friends with Sutton.”
“And y’all weren’t friends by association?” he asked.
“Not really,” I admitted. “We were both hella busy in high school. Her with all her sports and practices, then eventually Olympic training. And me with all of mine. Then Jett.”
Finding out that you were a father in high school was not for the weak, that was for sure.
Especially as a kid that was as busy as I was.
Fuck, it was hard.
Thank God for my Uncle Parker.
Without him, I would’ve never made it.
“Olympics?” he asked in surprise.
“Yeah, she was good. If there was ever a woman who could go, it was her,” I said. “She was fantastic. She used to smoke everyone. Went to state all four years of high school for the mile and the mile and a half. All with mediocre coaching. It was only when she got to college and acquired a really good coach, though, that she truly shone. I watched her win sixth in that 1500-meter run while we were fresh off a win at a bar in Seattle. It was the most goddamn exciting thing I’ve ever witnessed.”
“Is she going to go to the next one?” he asked.
“She says this is her last time, maybe.” He laughed. “Not like we’re getting any younger, though.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” He chuckled. “Milena was talking about how y’all qualified for Boston. Is that something that y’all are going to run?”
I thought about that for a long moment then said, “I might.”
“You should.” His eyes gleamed. “We’ll watch Lottie when you go.”
I chuckled. “That’s over seven months from now. Who knows what kind of shit we’ll have to deal with in that long of a time.”
“Enough time to meet the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with and knock her up.”
I grinned. “Just because you did that with your current wife, doesn’t mean that everyone does.”
“Every last damn member of this club has,” he disagreed. “You’re nothing special.”
“No, but I learned the hard way how to use a condom.” I sighed. “Though, if I had learned before that, I wouldn’t have had one of the best things to ever happen to me. However, now I know better.”
Webber snorted. “You’re no fun.”
“Lottie is already keeping me on my toes,” I pointed out.
“You a handful, Lottie?” he teased, acting like he was about to drop her.
She laughed like a banshee and slapped her sticky fingers onto his throat, holding on for dear life, as if Webber would actually drop her.
“Go take your shower, man. I’ll stay until you’re done,” he offered.
I took him up on his offer.
I’d forgotten how fucking hard it was to shower with a toddler running around.
Lottie was even worse than Jett had been, in and out of damn near everything.
