“Let’s just hope she doesn’t challenge you to do gymnastics!” Reagan laughed. “Holly tried to teach Marcus how to do a cartwheel and he ended up at the chiropractor’s office.”
Reagan and I had a good laugh about that, but it trailed off as we watched our daughters and a couple of the other girls practice standing backflips. My daughter Leia was in the middle of the line, her friends Lexi and Holly on either side of her.
Holly was Reagan and his partner Marcus’s daughter and she was a pistol. With what I knew she’d gone through in her young life, I was glad that Holly and Leia had become such good friends. Holly’s mother had been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer last year and had just enough time to get her daughter and two sons settled in with Reagan and Marcus before she died.
My daughter Leia was one of the first girls Holly met when her mother brought her little family to Rojo to be closer to her Uncle Reagan. Holly’s mom, Veronica, was Reagan’s older sister and she died knowing that her children would be well taken care of by Reagan and Marcus. Even though their union wasn’t recognized as legal quite yet, Reagan and Marcus were just as much of a married couple as any of the others I knew.
“How are your little ones getting along now?” I asked Reagan quietly. Holly had problems accepting and adjusting to her new family, but nothing like her younger brothers had. They were four and six years old and little terrors as far as I could tell.
“They’re doing better.” Reagan sighed. “It was a hard adjustment for all of us.”
“Offer still stands, friend. If there’s ever anything I can do to help, you let me know.”
“You and your princess can join us for dinner tomorrow night. How about that?”
“You know that she and I never pass up a home-cooked meal.”
“It’s settled then. Let’s say seven?”
“Done.” I chuckled. “Leia is going to be so glad you interrupted spaghetti night.”
“We have got to find you a good woman who can cook.”
“Good luck with that, man,” I scoffed. “Not many women want a ready-made family at my age.”
“What if they already have one of their own?” Reagan asked as he scanned the women in the bleachers. “That beauty down there is Lexi’s mom and I happen to know for a fact that she is single.”
“Yeah, she’s a little too hot for a regular guy like me.”
“Rowdy. At the risk of making this conversation slightly uncomfortable for the both of us, I have to say, you’re quite a fine specimen of man. The two of you would fit together spectacularly.”
“Yeah,” I scoffed again. “She’s probably got some higher standards than a half illiterate, broke mechanic, who is a single dad to the smartest mouth in the west.”
“Smartest mouth in the west!” Reagan laughed. “Your kid is going to have to share the title because my daughter fits that description, too!”
◆◆◆
“You should get water. That sports drink has way too much sugar for you considering you didn’t work out at all; you just sat in the stands and read your book.” Leia looked up at me and frowned, once again acting like she was the one in charge here.
“For your information, I did work out today and then I took a long ride in the heat,” I told the bossy little thing. “And it wasn’t just any book - it was the study guide for my test.”
“Are you ready for me to quiz you on the first section yet?”
“Not quite. Give me a few more days and I’ll get back to you.”
“Did you see the final run-through on practice?”
“I did. Looked good, but your tuck needs to be tighter on the double and work on pointing your toes during the lift.”
“Good to know.” Leia nodded and I knew that she was analyzing her performance in her head. Suddenly, a smile lit up her face as we walked around the end of the aisle toward the register in the little corner convenience store we stopped at after every practice. “Lexi!”
My daughter and the other little girl squealed and bounced around as they embraced. The two preteens acted as if they were long lost friends who hadn’t seen each other in years rather than 20 minutes ago at practice.
I glanced from the girls to the woman standing in front of them - Sierra Guthrie, the beauty that Reagan had pointed out in the bleachers earlier. I had seen her at practices, but she avoided me like I was going to repossess her car or something.
“Hi,” Sierra said shyly when she looked up and saw me walking toward the girls.
“It’s been ages since they’ve seen each other, you know.”
Sierra and I both laughed at my sarcasm, but the girls were oblivious. I jerked my head back in shock when I realized they were talking about a boy.
“They’re talking about that boy on the show they watch, Freaks and Geeks,” Sierra laughed.
I felt instantly relieved and just a bit embarrassed at my reaction and Sierra laughed at me again.
“Aren’t they a little young to notice boys? They’re only 11!” I whispered as I leaned closer to Sierra.
“They’ve got a crush on some teenager in Hollywood. I don’t think we need to worry about them dating just yet.” Sierra patted me softly on the shoulder and the spot tingled even after she took her hand away.
“Is it weird that I actually miss the days when she watched Sesame Street?”
“That’s not weird at all, Dad,” Sierra laughed again and then turned around to speak to the clerk when it was her turn.
I kept an eye on the girls who were a few feet off to the side and listened with one ear as Sierra made small talk with the cashier. She mentioned a lottery ticket and she and the cashier laughed about how much Sierra
