Trust in Me

I smiled tightly. “Good to hear.”

“Do you really think I would? She’s a kid.”

“She just turned eighteen, Jase. She’s not a kid anymore.” I scowled as that little ditty sunk in. My stomach roiled. “Damn, she’s really not a kid.”

“She’s still your sister,” Jase said, pointing the pool stick at me. “And that’s never going to change.”

Go out with me.

Grinning, I put the phone on the table and waited for Avery’s response. Across from me, my dad studied his cards. There was more gray peppered in his hair, but his face was still absent of wrinkles.

“Anytime now, old man.” I sat back in the chair. “I’m not getting any younger.”

“Isn’t that the truth?” Dad looked up at me, eyes narrowed. “You cannot rush perfection.”

Jase chuckled under his breath. Beside him, Teresa’s head hung forward. She hadn’t been able to get out of dance practice since it was Saturday and that had been an all-day event. She would’ve crashed by now, like Mom, who’d dozed off in the living room, but I knew why she was still up.

I glanced over at Jase, and he arched a brow at me as he took a swig of beer.

My phone vibrated. Asking me over text is no different from in person.

The grin spread into a full smile as I texted her back. Thought I’d give it a try. What r u doing now? I’m beating my dad at poker.

As Dad threw two cards forward, she responded with a Getting ready for bed.

Wish I was there. And then I sent, Wait r u naked?

No!!! came the immediate response.

I could almost picture her, face blood red and eyes wide, and I grinned. Even miles away, I couldn’t resist teasing her. Hell, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. It seemed odd to have not seen her on Friday and facing a Sunday without eggs just didn’t seem right. We exchanged a couple of more texts and then I tossed my phone aside before Dad had a shit fit and threw it out the window.

In the next round, Jase bowed out and then Teresa quickly disappeared and the poker game fell apart after that.

“How’s school?” Dad asked once we were alone.

Nursing my beer, I leaned back in the chair. “It’s going good. Got a really easy semester.”

He nodded as he picked at the label on his bottle. “And the meetings? You’re going?”

I sat my bottle down. “Dad, you’d be the first to know if I wasn’t going. And I talked to Dr. Bale about this weekend. He was cool with it.”

“Just want to make sure.” He sat back, hooking his knee over his other leg. If anyone saw my dad now in his flannel shirt and ripped jeans, they wouldn’t believe he was a successful lawyer. “What about soccer? You give any more thought about next year?”

“Dad . . . I won’t be able to join the team at Shepherd my senior year.” I ran my hand through my hair and then dropped my arm. “And I’ll be twenty-two by then.”

“What about afterwards?” he asked, not ready to let it go.

My gaze settled over his shoulder, landing on the fridge. Photos of me scoring goals and Teresa dancing covered almost the entire door. “I don’t know, Dad.”

“Can’t fail unless you try,” he said, drinking deep.

My brows knitted. “Isn’t that you can’t succeed if you don’t try?”

“Does it matter?” He flashed a grin. “Cam, you’re a damn good player. Soccer is, or at least, was a passion. We have videos to send to coaches. And you know the coach at Shepherd would help you take new ones.”

“I know.” I sighed, shaking my head slowly. “And I keep up my workouts and practice with the guys when I can, but . . . I don’t know. Maybe next year, when I’m about to graduate . . .”

“Uh-huh.” His gaze was shrewd. “Cameron . . . Cameron . . .”

Yakking on about soccer was hard for me. Wasn’t like a future playing was completely out of the question. That was why I kept up the training, but there was nothing I could do about right now.

“Is there a young lady in your life now?” he asked.

Perhaps I should’ve let him ask about soccer. “Dad . . .”

“What?” He smiled again and then finished off the beer. “I like to have the four-one-one on my son’s life.”

My head dropped back. “Four-one-one? Are you drunk?”

“I’m buzzing.”

I laughed out loud. “Nice.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Reaching for the bottle, I eyed my father and then laughed at myself, because I knew what the words that were forming on my tongue were before I spoke them. “There’s . . . there’s someone.”

“Do tell.” Interest sparked in his eyes.

I smiled as I took the last gulp from the bottle. “We’re friends.”

“Friends as in . . .”

“Oh, come on, Dad.” I groaned, shaking my head.

“What?” He cocked his head to the side. “Like I don’t know what you kids are doing. Like I didn’t do the same thing when I was your age.”

I might vomit. “We’re not like that. Avery isn’t like that.”

“She has a name? Avery?”

Shit. I couldn’t believe I even said her name. Was I buzzing? “We’re friends, Dad. And she’s a . . . she’s . . .”

Dad’s dark brows rose. “She’s . . . ?”

Perfect. Beautiful. Smart. Funny. Prideful. Infuriating. The list could go on and on. “I’ve asked her out a couple of times.” A “couple of times” was literally the understatement of the year. “She’s turned me down each time.”

“And you keep asking?”

I nodded.

“And you think she’s going to say yes eventually?”

Smiling a little, I nodded again.

Dad leaned forward, crossing his arms on the round, oak table. “Did I ever tell you how many times your mother turned me down before she agreed to go out me? No? A lot of times.”

“Really?” I hadn’t known that.

Dad nodded. “I was a bit of a . . . rakehell in college. Had a reputation.” One side of his mouth tipped up, revealing a dimple in his left cheek. “Your mother didn’t make it easy.”

“So what changed it?”

He shrugged. “Ah, she was secretly in love with me from the beginning, but you know what? I had to chase her, and to be honest, if you don’t have to chase a woman, she’s probably not worth the effort. You get what I’m saying?”

Not really. There was a good chance my dad was more than just buzzing, but I nodded, and then he said something that sort of clicked in my head.

“Surprise,” he said, winking. “Surprise the girl. Do something she’s not expecting. Always do something good she’s not expecting.”

Surprise her? There were a lot of things I could do that would surprise Shortcake, but I doubted he meant any of those things. But as I said good night to Dad and started toward the stairs, I knew what to do.

And I wanted to do it.

I smiled as I took the steps two at a time. As I rounded the second floor, I caught sight of Teresa slipping into her bedroom. I opened my mouth to call out to her, but the door closed quietly before I could utter a word.

Okay.