I’m the only one who gets to have adult playdates with Bailey.
“Sure, I’ll let you know the next time we’re free,” she responds.
“Great.” Jeff turns to me. “Good to meet you, Mason,” he says before walking away.
It’s just Bailey and me now. “He wants to fuck you,” I say in an even voice.
“What?!” Her mouth drops.
“It’s obvious.”
She cocks her head to the side. “You’re unbelievable. Do you realize that?”
“I’m not wrong.”
“Not everyone thinks of sex twenty-four seven,” she quips, then turns to walk away.
“Not everyone has met you, B.” I raise my voice slightly.
Bailey rolls her eyes and walks away.
I quickly follow behind her, feeling prideful that I got to her again. It always has been my favorite pastime.
We both rejoin her parents and Luca. I bend my knees and rest my arms on my legs, meeting Luca at his level. “I have to get going, but thank you for inviting me. You did such a great job, Luca, and I had fun watching you play today,” I tell him.
“Where are you going? Can you come over and play later?” Luca asks.
I rub my lips together, contemplating my answer. “I have to go to the restaurant, then my parents are coming to see my new house.”
He shoves a cracker into his mouth. “Will you come over after, then?”
The skin on my face burns under the direct stare of Mary, Fred, and Bailey. And they’re all waiting for my response for different reasons. I have to look away to gather my thoughts.
Bailey must have sensed my apprehension because she steps in to answer her son. She rubs the top of his head. “Alright, my little soccer star, let’s let Mason get back to work. I’m sure we’ll see him in a couple of days.”
Luca smiles. “Okay. See you later, Mason.”
Shortly after getting back to my car, my mind floods with thoughts of how much fun I had and at the same time, wondering if Bailey would be alright with me attending another game. The interaction between her and that guy, Jeff, is also on my mind. Is she interested in him? Has she flirted with him before? Was this their first exchange?
I grip the steering wheel until my knuckles turn white. I shouldn’t care. I don’t care. It doesn’t matter. If she wants to date Mr. Perfect-Dad-of-the-Year, Jeff, she can. I turn the car on and pull out of the parking lot but not before glancing back toward the field. Luca, Mary, Fred, and Bailey are packing up their stuff to leave. I’m not even down the street from the park when I start thinking about how soon I can see her again.
Chapter Seventeen
Mason
Istop by the restaurant for a few hours to help everyone get ready for the dinner rush. Harry is in the office when I arrive. He’s leaning back in his chair with one leg crossed over the other.“Hey, man, how’s it going?” I nod my head at him, taking a seat at my computer to the right of his.
He yawns before speaking. “Well, one of our new servers quit.”
Harry handles the front of the house, Travis runs the back of the house, and both Harry and I oversee the overall operations. I ran everything for the restaurant I owned in Burbank and for the last five years, it’s given me little time for me to have a life for myself. Working twelve to thirteen hours a day, six days a week, just got to be too much, so when Harry approached me about going into business with him, I knew I wanted to take on less.
“That sucks. Which one?”
“Daisy.”
“She was good,” I say. Harry turns his back to me, but I continue. “We can find someone else. Don’t stress about it.”
“Also, Melanie and Abby aren’t getting along so there’s already been a little drama between them.” He bounces his leg. “We haven’t even been open a week yet.”
