girl’s situation could be a million times worse. I knew it and she knew it, and we could be open and honest with each other about the hard parts. I was beyond grateful for that.
“You’ll find somebody,” she said. “If it’s not Jase, it’ll be someone else.”
“Yeah. I just seem to be cursed with finding people who are fine dating a single dad as long as his kid is rarely seen and ideally not heard.” I huffed a bitter laugh. “Or hurt.”
“Ugh, yeah. Half the single parents in the support group I go to with Nick say the same thing—if their children aren’t in pristine perfect health, then potential partners are out of there.” She paused. “I still think you should join the group. It’s been really helpful for us.”
“I’ll think about it.” That was my stock answer, and like she always did, she let it go. I knew the group had been great for her and Nick, but support groups had never really been my thing. “Well, anyway. I’ll see how things go with Jase, and if it looks like there’s anything actually happening between us, then I’ll talk to him and hope for the best.”
She shot me a pointed look. “And by talk to him, do you mean coming in hot like you usually do?”
I avoided her gaze. “Hey, I know you don’t like how I do it, but sometimes the direct approach is—”
“The fastest way to make someone think you’re giving them an ultimatum.” She sighed, and her tone and expression both softened. “Just maybe think about what I’ve said the last few times, you know?”
I gritted my teeth. We’d argued about it more than once—it was one of the few things we could never agree on—and I got where she was coming from. The part she didn’t get was that letting things evolve slowly and naturally just gave me more time to invest myself emotionally in someone before they came to the same inevitable conclusion. Maybe I had a habit of jumping the gun by laying it all out on the table and telling partners that dating me meant that Dallas and her migraines were part of their lives now too. Maybe I’d driven a few out the door by, as Haley put it, coming in hot. But the part I kept circling back to was that they probably weren’t going to stick around anyway, so why waste their time or mine?
I didn’t have it in me to have this argument with her again, though, so I just said, “I’ll see how things go. If it seems like we might get serious, I’ll talk to him.”
She watched me with a look that said she might argue with me about it, but instead, she went with, “That’s about all you can do. And good luck.” She smiled. “From what Dallas told me, he’s a really nice guy.”
“Oh, he is.”
She studied me, then laughed. “Have I ever told you how adorable you are when you’re getting all ridiculous over someone?”
My face burned and I rolled my eyes. “Yes, you have, and you don’t need to repeat it.”
“Okay, I won’t.” She snickered, then came closer and hugged me. “Seriously, good luck with him. I really hope it works out. And don’t worry. My lips are zipped.”
Despite all my worries, I smiled as I hugged her back. “Thanks. I hope so too.”
I left the apartment. Down in the parking lot, I sat in my car with the engine idling for a long moment, thinking about what my daughter’s mother had said. She was right that Jase and I should keep whatever this was on the DL and stay off the press’s radar. As far as I was concerned, the longer we did that, the better, whether or not Dallas knew. I did not need the press all up in my business, thank you very much.
So Jase and I would be subtle about things. And after a while, I’d see where those things were going. If this was just a casual fling, and we fooled around a bit before going our separate ways—cool. If it turned out to be something more serious, well…
Then I hoped a certain difficult conversation wasn’t the end of it.
Chapter 13
Jase
Nerves. Nerves. Holy shit, nerves.
Leaning against my kitchen cabinets, I drummed my nails on the counter and tried to pull myself together. I was overreacting. When wasn’t I overreacting? I’d spent the whole damn day—especially while I was sitting in the airport and on the team’s jet—dreaming