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Lorne nodded slowly. “I know, sweetheart.”
The music started up again, a local band taking the stage as the loud bass vibrated through the PA. Lorne gave her another squeeze and put his arm around his wife’s waist, saying hello to Ember, Brooke, and Lucas before the two of them walked away.
Ally took another mouthful of cocktail, and tried to push down the anxiety talking about her dad had brought up. On the positive side it gave her something to worry about other than Nathan Crawford. That had to be a good thing, didn’t it?
* * *
Nate glanced at his phone as he walked through the throngs of people lining the boardwalk beside Paxton’s Pier, the sound of music and excited conversation filling his ears. A message from Riley flashed across the screen.
Just finished up dinner. Going into the movie now. Laura’s mom promises to have me home by 11:30. Love you, xxx
He quickly tapped out a reply. Have fun. Love you too xx. He was still on high alert, worried about something going wrong, but he’d spoken to Laura’s mom who seemed like she had everything under control. He rolled his shoulders, his muscles stiff beneath his white cotton shirt, and tried to let his jaw loosen up.
“Nate, you came. I wasn’t sure if you would.”
He looked up to see Lorne Michaels standing there, along with Frank Megassey, and two women who were almost certainly their wives. He gave them a smile that all four of them returned.
There. Being friendly wasn’t so hard after all.
“I heard there were fireworks. I thought I’d check them out before I headed home.”
“Riley not here?” Lorne asked. He’d met Nate’s daughter a few times, when Nate had sent her to the shop next door with a drink for the old man. He was becoming very fond of his lattes.
“She’s at the movies with friends.”
“And of course Ally’s already here. She’s looking well. You’re obviously taking care of her.” Frank gave him a slow nod, his eyes full of approval. “You did a good thing taking her in.”
“Especially when her dad left her all on her own,” the woman standing next to Frank – his wife? – added
“He didn’t leave her,” Lorne pointed out, looking irritated at the woman’s suggestion. “He went away for a while. That’s all. And she’s a grown woman. She doesn’t need her daddy around her constantly.”
“Daughters can be tough,” Frank agreed. Then he looked at Nate. “I expect you know all about that.”
Nate let out a little laugh. “Yeah, I do.”
“Oh look, there’s Ally.” Nate followed the direction of Frank’s arm, frowning as he tried to pick her out. There were so many people here.
But then he saw her standing next to her friends about fifteen feet away. She was holding a glass with pink liquid in it, her beautiful blonde hair tumbling over her bare shoulders.
His stomach tightened. So much for avoiding her. And there was a part of him that didn’t want to because, damn, she did things to him. Made him feel things he hadn’t in a long time. She breached boundaries he didn’t know he had, and it scared him.
“Such a nice girl,” Lorne’s wife was saying. “She’s always taken care of you, hasn’t she, Lorne? And she always has a smile for me whenever I see her. Such a shame what happened to her when she was younger.”
With his eyes still on Ally, Nate inclined his head to listen to the conversation going on around him. He held his breath so he could hear a little better.
“Losing her mom?” Frank’s wife asked. “Yes, that was so sad.”
“She had such a bright future ahead of her,” Frank agreed.
Somebody had moved in front of Ally, blocking his view. Nate frowned, willing them to move. He wanted to look at her again, to drink her in.
“Did you know she used to compete for the state?” Frank asked. “Man, she could make running look easy.” It took Nate a minute to realize Frank was talking to him. Reluctantly, he pulled his gaze away from Ally’s direction.
“She did?”
“Yup. There was talk of her eventually meeting Olympic standards. She was that good.”
“So what happened?”
