“Penny, help me,” I call for her. She comes running and reaches for my extended hand, trying to pull me away from her dad.
Gavin’s breath fans against my neck as he whispers, “You’re it.” I shiver and stop fighting against him. My body reacts to his closeness. I take a deep, calming breath.
“Okay, okay.” When my feet land on the ground, Gavin moves his arm from around my waist and brushes my hand with a squeeze of my fingers. I look at him over my shoulder with a small smile and wink.
“You better run,” I threaten and break up the tension building between us. We don’t kiss or show too much affection in front of Penny. We’re keeping our relationship G-rated when she’s around, but right now, I want to kiss the smug look off his face.
I chase the two of them around the playground. Like father, like daughter, they both taunt and tease me.
“Nana, nana, boo-boo.” Penny rolls her thumbs against her face and moves her hands back and forth.
I narrow my eyes at her, and she giggles as her eyes widen, running away from me. Gavin passes right by me, tapping my shoulder. By the time I see him, he’s already on the other side of the playground.
I laugh and look between the two of them. I pretend I’m going to run toward Penny, which causes Gavin to head in my direction. Distracted, I chase him and slap my hand on his back.
“You’re it!” I call out, wiping my hair away from my face.
“You tricked me,” he laughs.
“Ah, I knew it would work eventually.” I point at him and waggle my eyebrows.
“She got you!” Penny walks up to us. “I’m thirsty.” She sighs heavily, her face blotchy and sweaty from running around.
“Let’s go to Sundae Bliss, and I’ll get you some water and ice cream,” Gavin suggests. “How does that sound?” He looks over at me.
“Perfect,” I grin.
We walk toward the ice cream shop as Penny describes what she’s going to order, down to the colored sprinkles and cherry.
Once we’ve ordered our ice cream, we take a seat at an empty table. I lick the same strawberry and cheesecake scoops I ordered the first time Gavin brought me here, and Penny comments how we’re twins with the same sprinkles.
“Sutton, can you sit next to me at church tomorrow?” Penny’s eyes widen in a plea, and a convincing pout marks her lips. When she bats her eyelashes, I laugh and nod. She’s good.
“Yay!” she cheers with cotton candy ice cream dripping down her cheek. I reach for a napkin and wipe her face.
“Thanks,” she mumbles as she takes another bite of ice cream.
I look across the table at Gavin, who is watching me with a lazy smile.
“You’ve got a little something here.” I point to the side of my lip.
“Are you going to wipe my face, too?” His lifts a brow, an underlying teasing tone moving between us.
“I’ll do it, Daddy.” Penny gets her wadded-up napkin and swipes it across his face.
I chuckle and shake my head, biting down my lip. Behave, I mouth. My heart thumps a joyful beat as my chest swells with an indescribable emotion. This man has me wrapped around his finger, and I’m falling hard for him.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, but I ignore it. I don’t want any interruptions right now. I smile between Gavin and Penny as they engage in a conversation about their horse. Penny has been begging Gavin to let her ride alone, but she’s too young still. She’s hellbent on learning, though.
“How old were you when you started riding horses?” Penny looks at me.
I hate to be the one to burst her bubble. I purse my lips and say, “Without my dad guiding me, eight.”
Penny furrows her eyebrows and lifts her eyes to the ceiling. She counts with her fingers and frowns. “That’s like three years away.”
“Yeah,” I scrunch up my nose. “But I had great practice since I would ride with my dad, so by the time I got to ride alone, I knew exactly what to do,” I add.
Her eyes light up. “Can we ride tomorrow, Daddy? Do you want to come with us?” She looks back at me.
“We’ll go after church,” Gavin nods. “You’ll come?” His eyes meet mine.
“As if I could turn down the offer to go horseback riding,” I smile.
When we finish our ice creams, Gavin drops me off at home. I promise Penny I’ll sit with her at church tomorrow when she reminds me, and we make plans to go horseback riding afterward. I’ll spend as much time with them as I can.
When I look at my phone again, I have three messages, and two missed calls. With furrowed eyebrows, I swipe my screen and read the message from Knox.
Knox: Can you come by? We need to talk to you.
That’s weird. I read the next message from Ainsley.
Ainsley: Call me when you can
Something isn’t right. I call Ainsley as I grab my keys and hop in my car. I tell her I’m on my way over. My heart pounds in the base of my throat, as so many scenarios run through my mind. Anything from you’re fired to your mom died crosses my mind. My rational mind knows my mom didn’t die, but their messages were laced with worry.
When I get to their house, Harris’s car is parked in the driveway.
“Hey,” I say when Ainsley answers the door. Lines mark her forehead as she pulls me into the house.
“What the…” I trail off as Knox and Harris appear. “Okay, y’all are freaking me the fuck out. What’s goin’ on?”
Knox takes a deep breath. “Let’s
