Go Away, Darling - Alexis Anne Page 0,32

all the excitement, with you.”

She chewed on her lower lip as she thought. “Okay, how about this? Go talk to Linc. Ask him what he thinks about life with Beau. If afterward you feel confident telling him about the playoffs—the traveling and the uncertainty—and answering all his questions and concerns, then we can have this discussion and decide how to proceed.”

My mouth fell open. Mostly because the thought of disappointing Linc terrified me.

She smiled sadly at me. “I like you so much, Chris. I like you so much I can almost ignore the fact that you’re an incredibly famous athlete. But at the end of the day I’m a mom. I can do anything—even if it means waiting a few months to have what I want.” She took a deep breath and looked out at Linc. “I’m going to go look at the stars from the dock. Come find me when you’re done.”

I squeezed her hand and brushed a kiss against her cheek before she left. Then I watched as she moved into the yard, and then eventually down the dock. I was stuck in a trance. Her fierce maternal instincts put me to shame and I found that a protective mother was, in fact, an incredible turn on. I wanted her more than ever.

“Chris?”

I moved from the kitchen to the living room. “Yeah, bud?”

“Oh good, you’re still here.”

I sat beside him on the floor again, watching him play. “Do you miss your dad?”

“Oh sure.”

“Do you wish he were here more?”

“Pshaw. No. Dad hates it here. I like visiting him in Tampa.” He bounced up on his toes as Captain Jack Sparrow fought on screen.

“How often do you see him?”

“Ha. Take that!” He yelled at the TV. “I’ll see him in the spring and summer.”

That...was a long time from now. “Do you ever go to his games?”

Linc hopped and twirled, finishing his mission with a howl of delight, then set his controller aside and sat on the floor facing me. “Sure. Like one or two. I don’t like them too much. It makes me crazy. Plus we don’t really get to see him when we go. He works the whole time.” He shook his head back and forth. “I like talking to Dad on video. He calls me most nights and sometimes in the mornings.”

A video father. Linc’s indifference to his absence worried me. “Do you like traveling?”

“Uh yeah. On planes I get to drink soda and watch as many movies and play as many video games as I want. It...is awesome.”

I laughed because the way he said everything was funny. He was a funny kid. “What kind of soda?”

“Sprite.”

So the safest uncaffeinated kind. That sounded just like Liv. I was beginning to get a picture. One I think I liked. Not the absentee father part, but the rest. Linc didn’t like football games. Okay. That made sense. They were wild, loud, and filled with belligerent fans. Baseball was a little different. More relaxed. He might like it. Plus most of my season was played over summer when Linc and Liv could travel with me...something Linc just said he enjoyed. It wouldn’t just be me on the road leaving them behind at home. There were lots of families on the road and I wanted Linc and Olivia with me, if they’d have me.

“Do you know Trent?”

The question caught me off guard. “Uh, yes?”

“Can you help me set him up on a date with Mom?”

I think describing me as a cartoon character whose jaw had somehow fallen all the way to the floor and had to be picked up with his hands, would probably be pretty accurate right now.

Liv and Trent?

No. Absolutely not.

But I couldn’t say that to Linc. “Why would you want to do that?” I asked instead, like a proper adult.

He shrugged. “Mom’s alone all the time and Trent likes to fish, plus he lives down the street. They could fish together and not be alone anymore.”

So logical it hurt. “I think Trent might be a bit old for your mom.”

He frowned. “Well who else?”

I wanted to say me. I wanted to know why he didn’t think of me. I was young. I was here. “Are your only requirements that it be someone who likes to fish?”

“Well...yeah. And she should laugh. Laughing means you like someone. She laughs with you and you fish, but you leave all the time, so she’d still be lonely.”

And he didn’t need another man in his life to visit on video at night. The