he looks incredible today. The dark blue button down he’s wearing really brings out his eyes. Such beautiful eyes.
I must have been staring for too long, because his eyebrows shoot up in question. “Is there something you need, Spencer?”
I tear my gaze away, blinking rapidly. “Right. Um…rugby.”
“We’re playing a scrimmage against Spencer’s team in a few weeks,” Connor tells Will.
“Oh yeah, Jamie mentioned it. Apparently Shay’s pretty pumped,” Will says with a wry smile.
“Did Jamie also mention Shay wants you to play with us?” Connor asks.
Will looks completely baffled. “Um…no?”
“Apparently you’re an honorary Kelly so he wants you on the team. But you work for me now so you can be on my team instead,” I say with a grin.
“But…why would either of you want me? I don’t know anything about rugby,” Will says.
“Someone tosses you the ball and you run it up the field,” Connor explains with the air of someone who’s clearly tired of this conversation. “It won’t be much different from when you played football in high school, except you won’t have any protective padding or a helmet.”
“Wow. That sounds…appealing,” Will says, entirely unenthusiastically.
“You don’t have to play,” I say gently. “You can just come and watch us kick their asses.”
“Or you can camp out and try to spot a pig fly, ‘cause that’s not ever going to happen,” Connor says with a smirk. I wonder if now might be a good time to remind him he actually works for me…
Will shakes his head in exasperation. “I’ll play if one of the teams are short on numbers. Otherwise I’ll come and watch as an unbiased spectator.”
On Saturday, I make my way to Pax’s apartment for lunch; as I walk in, I’m enveloped in a fierce hug by a lanky teenage girl. My step-niece, Kaley.
“Jesus, are you ever going to stop growing?” I ask with an affectionate brush of her hair once we break apart. She’s almost up to my chin now, and considering I’m just over six foot, that’s pretty tall for a fourteen-year-old girl.
“God, I hope so,” she grumbles, tugging at the hem of her t-shirt a little self-consciously.
I follow her toward the kitchen where Pax is making up a salad. I close my eyes and draw in a deep breath as the scent of roasting tomatoes, cheese, and various Italian spices hit my senses. “Lasagna?” I ask.
“Mmhmm,” Pax confirms. “Should be ready soon.”
I head toward the fridge and retrieve a beer. “Want one?” I ask Pax.
“Yeah, thanks.”
“Can I have one?” Kaley asks with a mischievous smirk.
“Nice try,” Pax tells her.
I snap the caps off the beers and set one on the counter next to Pax. Then I move over toward the kitchen table and sit down with Kaley.
“So, Kay-Kay, tell me, what are your thoughts on…” I pause for a moment, trying to remember the name Will used. “Captain Jack?”
Kaley eyes me skeptically. “Sparrow or Harkness?”
“Um…I don’t know. My assistant saw that blue box thing you gave me and started raving about Captain Jack.”
She gives an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “It’s not a box, Spencer, it’s a TARDIS. And that would be Captain Jack Harkness.” She clutches a hand to her chest and gives a dramatic sigh. “My heart.”
I chuckle. “You should meet Will. I have a feeling the two of you would get along.”
“So, you’re happy with the new guy?” Pax asks as he sets a steaming dish of lasagna on the table, followed by the salad and a bowl of bread.
“Yeah, he’s great,” I tell him, stuffing a piece of bread in my mouth in the hopes of cutting off any further questions about Will.
Fortunately, Pax seems happy to concentrate on eating his lunch and doesn’t bring the topic up again.
“So, Kaley, how’s your other dad?” I ask.
Kaley gives the most trademark teenage girl eye roll you can imagine. “He’s pissed because I want to come here and go to Columbia.”
“Wow. Fourteen and you’re already thinking about college?”
She lifts one shoulder in a casual shrug. “It’s good to have a plan. That way I can spend the next four years maintaining my GPA and working on all my extracurriculars. I don’t want to get to applications time and realize I haven’t done enough to get in.”
Pax’s face spreads into a bright grin and he reaches beside him to tousle his daughter’s hair. “That’s my girl.”
“Where does Mark want you to go?” I ask, curious.
“Duke. He wants me to stay in North Carolina.”
“That’s a good school,” I say.
“Yeah, but it’s not Columbia,” she