Once Upon A Half-Time: A Sports Romance - Sosie Frost Page 0,30

had yet to hear back from her father because she had so ruined any possible relationship with him and her family it was unlikely he even thought of her as a daughter anymore.

If I had been as devoted to my siblings as Lachlan was to Sebastian, things might have been a lot different.

“Are you okay with staying here?” Lachlan asked. “I’ll make us dinner.”

“Are you a good cook?”

“No idea. We’ll find out.”

Well, this had the potential for disaster. I kicked off my heels and readied to watch the fireworks.

Lachlan surveyed the mess of pillows cluttering his living room. He picked a cushion up with his right hand and fished out a squirming Sebastian with his left.

“Okay, little man. Are you hungry?”

“I want pizza!”

“Not every dinner has to be delivered in thirty minutes or less, kiddo.”

Sebastian laughed as Lachlan flipped him onto the pillows. He curled a finger for me to follow.

I liked the kitchen—white and beachy, just like the rest of the house. Huge windows captured the sunset, streaming orange-gold light over the quartz counters. An eat-in table wedged in the corner, opposite an entrance to a formal dining room which seemed to be a catch-all for Lachlan’s equipment.

The duffel bags were his only clutter. No decorations on the shelves. No art or pictures on the walls. Totally minimalist, unlike me.

Weird.

“I…uh…” Lachlan took inventory of his fridge with a frown. “Have a private chef now. I’ve never cooked much. Mom handled dinners when I was at home, and I ate in the athletic dining hall at college…”

He glanced at me. I hated to dash his hopes.

“I…usually grab a salad from a little bistro near my apartment on my way home from the practices.”

“Never learned at home?”

“The only thing I learned in the kitchen at home was how to jiggle the screen door so it wouldn’t squeak when I was sneaking out.”

“Naughty girl.”

Not really. Dinner time was always the worst. Dad usually demanded one of my sisters prepare him dinner. As the youngest, I never had that responsibility. Instead I was meant to sit at the table, completely silent as a woman was meant to be, and listen politely as he talked about his day at the office. It worked fine until my sisters were married off or away at their women’s colleges. Then Dad and I were alone.

I ran away the night Dad bruised my cheek because I refused to make him a steak.

I shrugged. “Didn’t stick around long enough to grab the family recipes.”

Lachlan searched the freezer. “Well, Christ. It can’t be that hard. Here. Chicken breasts. Bast, want some chicken?”

Bast wrestled with the stools at the counter, warning us of the imminent, imaginary lava danger pouring over the wooden floor. “Stop calling me Bast.”

Lachlan avoided the lava and stood on a rug. “If you want to eat, you’re gonna be called Bast.”

“Aw man.”

Lachlan glanced at me. “I named the damn kid. See the thanks I get?”

“You named him?”

“Bast. Chicken. Yes or no?”

Sebastian amused himself by clacking a salt and pepper shaker together. “I don’t like chicken.”

“What are you talking about? You love chicken. You have nuggets all the time.”

“That isn’t nuggets.”

Oh, this was going to be a fun night.

I leaned against the counter, chin in my hands. “Yeah, Charming. Those aren’t nuggets.”

“Well…” He stared at the package of frozen breasts. “They’re the inside of the nugget. You like what’s inside the nugget.”

Sebastian grinned, missing a front tooth. “I like what’s outside better.”

“But I know you like chicken.”

“No, I don’t.”

“I’ve watched you eat it for Mom.”

“Na-uh.”

“Yes-huh. You’re in the lava.”

Lachlan edged back onto the rug. I hopped from the counter and played along, dropping a paper towel to the floor so I could poke through the pantry without getting lava’d.

For a man who hired a private chef, he had a ton of pre-packaged food. Unfortunately, it was the same junk found in a college dorm, and it should have stayed there. I tossed Lachlan a blue box guaranteed to please a kid. He thunked it on the island.

“Here,” he said. “What about mac and cheese?”

Sebastian shook his head. “Nope.”

“Why not?”

“It’s yucky.”

Lachlan stared at the box. “It’s cheese and butter. How can that be yucky?”

“It’s orange.”

I bit back a laugh. The kid was lucky he was cute or he would have starved to death by now.

Lachlan tapped his fingers on the counter. “You don’t eat orange foods now?”

“Nope.”

“Little man, I watched you eat an actual orange. Yesterday.”

His little shoulders shrugged up to his ears, but he didn’t bring them back