Page 56 of Hot Shot
“I am.”
“I’m not.”
“I know. Just remember that no matter what, we all love you.”
“The twins made it pretty clear after I married Celeste, the emotion they felt for me was the opposite side of the love coin.”
“Yeah, well, they never did learn to keep their opinions to themselves, well Landon mostly. Corbin seems to know when to keep his mouth shut. Sometimes. And as much as I hate to say it, I think finding out about Laura may change that. Change them.”
“We haven’t decided to tell them yet. We need to tell your parents first.”
“One would argue Laura’s parent should know before her grandparents.”
“But we don’t know which one of them is her father. And it’s unlikely a DNA test would shed any light on the subject. Not if they carry near identical DNA themselves.”
“I guess they get to share Laura like they’ve shared everything else in their lives.”
The driveway is long, weaving through trees before the property opens up to reveal the house. When we break through that shelter I can see two people standing at the bottom of the front stairs.
“We have a welcoming committee.”
“The security system would have alerted them when we opened the gate.”
“I remember.”
“May as well park near the front door. They’ll only follow us to the garage if you don’t.”
“Less of a hike to carry our bags too.”
“I’m not the one with more than one bag to carry.”
“I don’t understand how you have so much packed into that duffel bag. I took bare essentials when I left the house in New York and I still needed two large suitcases and a duffel.”
“I’m used to traveling light. Until I quit skating, hell, even when I coached the Canadian Women’s team, I didn’t have a home base. Just lived out of two bags. The rest of my stuff was here. Not that I had much.”
“And your house in Baton Rouge?”
“Don’t worry. Once I put down roots, I fitted the place out with everything.”
“Practice rink?”
“Except that. I thought about it, but the basement is small and a rink that size wouldn’t do much for a toddler, never mind an adult.”
“I guess now that the Rogues practice facility is open, you can use that.”
“Every day. And I’ll be dragging your ass there with me. There will be no slacking off on my watch.”
“Noted.”
Through the windshield I see Andrew Watts staring at me like he wants to drill a hole in my head. Easing the car to a stop beside the front stairs, I’ve barely moved the gear shift into park when Blake unbuckles her belt, flings the door open and bounds out.
I smile when she does the same thing she’d done as long as I’ve known her. Running straight at her dad, she launches into the air a good six feet from him. And like every other time I’ve watched them do this, he catches her and spins in a circle.
Taking a deep breath, I switch off the engine and climb out of the SUV at a more sedate pace. By the time I reach the hood, Blake has moved on to her mom, the two of them wrapped in each other’s arms.
Forcing myself to move closer, I head for Andrew first. Putting out my hand, I smile. “Hey, good to see you, Mr. Watts.”
“What is this Mr. Watts bullshit? And since when do we shake hands, son?” In spite of his words, his hand grips mine. With a quick yank, he pulls me in, saying, “Come here, dumbass, this is how we say hello.”
