Page 52 of Hot Damn
“No. But my daughter is the most precious thing in my life and until now I haven’t had to worry about her safety because she wasn’t known as Beckett Higgison’s daughter.”
“Ah, I get it. No problem. I’ll make a call, you’ll get one after I do, from someone on the Baton Rogue PD. Don’t want to have to call Oakley James to come bail me out for breaking and entering,” he explains with a grin.
Laughing, I nod. “I’ll be waiting. And I won’t offer my address because…”
“Yeah, don’t bother with that either.” He offers his hand again. “I’ll talk to you when I know what you’re up for.”
“Don’t worry about cost. Whatever it is I’ll cover it.”
“Figured you would. Enjoy the rest of your night.”
In seconds he’s gone, disappearing into the crowd which is a feat because the guy has an inch or two on me and I’m six-three.
The crowd isn’t large, but it’s not small either. I’d say there are twenty people to each player and I’m not counting front office or arena staff. There’s about seven hundred people by my estimation and with the way management has set everything up, we’re not all crowded inside the boards of the practice rink.
Some of the players are holding court on the seats rising up on all sides of the ice. I’m sure others are out in the foyer where the food is set up. I spot Whit racing toward me and smile.
She’s out of breath when she reaches me but the grin on her face tells me she’s having a great time and I’m glad. I worried about moving her when she’d barely established connections with her schoolmates back in Toronto.
But my daughter had rolled her eyes and said there was no one she’d miss that much and if she did, they could always stay in contact by phone. I had no choice but to take her word for it and so far I haven’t seen any negative changes in her the move may have caused.
“Dad!”
“Whit!” I mimic her tone with a grin.
“Can I go to Mr. Hawkins’s place tonight?” Before I can protest it’s a school night, she’s steamrolling over me. “I know I’ve got school tomorrow but so do they and we can all go together. I can drive us. Actually, I said I’d pick them up for school and drop them off every day from now on. Theywalk!”
I can’t help laughing at her distress over them walking to school. It’s all I did as a kid. Even at five I was walking. On my own.
That thought brings up some memories I can do without thinking about so I look past her to see if I can see Chase. “Did Mr. Hawkins offer up a sleepover or have you kids decided on your own?”
“He did. He wants us to get to know each other better and hehas to go home now because the baby needs to get to bed. Natalie is coming with us. She lives next door or something. Anyway, she said she’d run me by home so I can pick up my car then let me follow her to where they live even though I already know.”
Her words are rushed and her volume rises with her level of excitement. “I’d rather you not drive the car yet.”
“What? Why? The mechanic said it was fine.”
“Yes, he did, but I’d like to run you to and from school until I have to leave town for the next away game.”
“Daaaaad…”
“I know. But humor me. Please. Plus, the security people will be putting in a new alarm system tomorrow or the next day and I want to walk you through it the first few times you use it.”
It’s not necessary. She’s smart enough to remember after being shown once but I can’t seem to shake the niggle of fear in my chest.
I don’t know if it’s Cami’s concern playing into my own or that Ray said they may have found the person responsible for letting the air out of Whit’s tires.
She quietly stares at me as though she can change my mind and I have to smile. “Please, Whitbee.”
“Fine. But can I go home with the twins?”
“Where’s Mr. Hawkins? Let me have a quick word with him before I decide.”
“He’s out where the food is.”
“Lead the way.”
I follow Whit off the rink and up the stairs until we hit the corridor that winds around the edge of the building to the foyer. A few people stop me to talk, to ask for an autograph, but most let us pass with a smile or in the case of most of the men, a chin lift.
