Once Upon A Half-Time: A Sports Romance - Sosie Frost Page 0,179

in my fingers. I wished I hadn’t teared up when I said it, but at least Dad was a little misty too.

“You know I love you, Mandy-Pandy.”

I smirked. “When the baby comes, I hope I’m half as good a parent as you are, Dad.”

“And I hope you have a child just as perfect as you.”

22

Nate

The tux wasn’t mine.

Just my fucking luck.

The jacket was too tight over my arms and chest. It must have been Josh’s. I figured Bryce mixed them up when he left my tux in a pile of formal wear bundled on my bar. My bartender said he was pissed when I didn’t show for the rehearsal dinner.

Except I had been there.

And I witnessed everything I needed to see.

I ripped the jacket off, but the rest of the tux fit like shit too. I’d have to fix it at the church.

If I went.

I spent all night trying to figure out what the hell to do, and every twisted thought in my head led to the same resolution.

I had to get Mandy back.

I was an idiot for leaving after she told me about the baby, and an even bigger idiot for trying to sort through this shit without her. Christ, it had only been two days since she revealed the truth to me. How the hell had she dealt with that monster of a secret for three months? Alone.

It still pissed me off that she hadn’t told me, but it didn’t matter now that the truth was out.

Mandy was mine, and I’d be damned if I sat by and let another man take her from me.

The church was packed. The wedding party had crashed inside one of the Sunday school rooms. I hauled Josh out of the clouds of hairspray and shrieking, tipsy bridesmaids attempting to fix Carmen’s melted hair extensions. He wasn’t happy about swimming in a tux two sizes too big for his scrawny ass frame.

I patted his shoulder and pointed him towards the bathroom so we could switch.

“There you are!” Bryce charged at me. “Where the fuck have you been?”

Suddenly my best friend sounded like his former, non-wedding planning self.

“Sorry,” I said. “Something came up.”

“Dude, this is my wedding. If it isn’t perfect, Lindsey is going to have my balls for the next fifty years, if she doesn’t kill me first.”

“I know. I’m here now.”

I searched over the insanity that was the staging room. Music played, panty hose ripped, wine bottles toppled. If it wasn’t for the church, I’d have thought the scene was out of one of my old parties.

I couldn’t find Mandy. That didn’t mean anything. Knowing the Prescotts, they tossed her into the rafters to light the candles with flint and steel or ordered her outside to trim the grass with a pair of manicure scissors.

“Where’s Mandy?” I asked. “I gotta talk to her.”

Bryce actually flinched. “You didn’t hear?”

“Hear what?”

“I thought she would have told you. There was a…problem earlier.”

A problem?

Oh no. My vision hazed, and my heart nearly ripped from my chest.

Something was wrong. What if I got her upset? She was stressed. What if I hurt her?

Jesus fuck, what if something happened to the baby?

The kid was so new to me, but goddamn did it feel real. I’d sulked in the middle of the night, pissed and raging after the rehearsal dinner. I didn’t know what to do, so I hopped in the car and toured Target’s baby section. I bought the cutest damned onesie I could find.

Green, cause Mandy didn’t tell me the gender. Not that it mattered. I just wanted the baby

And I wanted to raise him or her with Mandy.

My voice caught, ragged and pained. “What happened? Is she okay?”

“She had a fight with Lindsey at the salon. She’s kinda…” He apologized with a shrug. “Uninvited to the wedding.”

“What?”

“It’s been one hell of a day.” Bryce slapped my shoulder. “Thanks for showing up. We’re lining up in fifteen minutes.”

Son of a bitch.

I couldn’t stay for this. Knowing Mandy, she’d be goddamned radioactive now. I wasn’t about to let her get upset and endanger herself or the baby.

“I gotta go find her,” I said. “Sorry, Bryce.”

“Nate, no!” Bryce trembled uncontrollably. “Please, dude. Find her after the ceremony. Don’t leave or Lindsey will kill me.”

I already wasted enough time fucking with my own idiocy. I hated to dick around more, but I couldn’t screw over my best friends.

I’d call her. Make sure she was okay. Then, as soon as they said I Do, I’d be gone.

“All right. Josh and I