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“So, are you gonna thank me or what?” JJ came into his room, her hair pulled back into an OU hat and a replica of his jersey thrown over a t-shirt. Her socks were the crazy kind she preferred, this pair purple and white polka-dotted with owl eyes and beak at the top.
“Thank you for what?” he asked.
“For settin’ you up with Cassie.”
“I didn’t know you set me up.”
“Duh, dad. What did youthinkI was doing, huh? I saw you liked her. And I knew there wasno wayshe would accept a date from you. So I pulled her in. Hook, line and sinker.” JJ made the motion of throwing a fishing line into water and reeling it in. Jamal couldn’t help but laugh. When the family moved to Oklahoma two years ago, JJ had insisted on learning how to fish, something Jamal knew nothing about. Luckily, Kyle was a master fisherman and Callie was even better than he was. JJ now rivaled them both.
“So that’s what you were doing, huh?”
“Yep. Our house is boring with you creakin’ around like an old man and Nanny doin’ what she does.”
“And what does she do, exactly?”
“I don’t really know. All I know is she does a lot of muttering in Spanish.”
Jamal shook his head in amusement. He never got tired of listening to things that came out of his kid’s mouth. “Well, I guess I do owe you thanks then, kiddo.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“Didn’t you mention it first?”
“Details, details.”
Twenty minutes later the two of them were in his black Mercedes S-Class that he bought specifically for when JJ was with him. After all, they couldn’t haul all her softball gear in a two-seater sports car. “Why all the stuff kiddo? I thought you were just playing catch today.”
Jamal glanced in the back of the car in his rearview mirror. JJ was surrounded by a bucket of balls, two bats, catcher’s gear, and a face mask. “And why’d you bring your face mask? You have worn that thing since you were six.”
JJ rolled her eyes at him. “Dad, it’s not forme.It’s for Cassie. I don’t want to hurt her.”
Jamal bit back a smile. “Good thought, kiddo, but I don’t think a kid’s mask would fit on her face.”
“She’s real little. I bet it does.”
Jamal couldn’t help but think his kid had a point. Bambi sure was a tiny thing. His six six frame towered over her. But man, was she curvy inallthe right places. He better quit thinking about her before his body reminded him of how much he was attracted to her.
“Earth to dad.”
“What, kid?”
“I asked if you thought she’d like softball.”
“Even if sports aren’t her thing, hun, I bet she likes hanging out with you. After all, you’re pretty cool.”
“That’s because I take after my dad.” JJ gave him a wink in the rearview mirror and Jamal couldn’t help but smile. He sure was lucky to be her dad.
-------------------------
Jeez, this sport is scary,Cassie thought as another yellow ball came zooming at her head. She, Jamal and JJ had been at the park for almost two hours. She didn’t even know why she had come if she was being honest with herself. She had no business trying to play any sport at all, and the fact she was with the beautiful specimen of a man that was the man she also happened to be walking down the aisle with for her best friend’s wedding just spelled disaster. Cassie blamed it on his adorable kid.
JJ and Jamal had led her to one of the softball fields in the park and had proceeded to explain the rules of the game to Cassie and what each position’s job was before demonstrating how to play catch. About an hour in, JJ had decided that Cassie had watched enough and was ready for her to learn how to play.
That was the reason Cassie was standing by what she learned was third base facing JJ, who was standing off of second, giving her best effort at playing catch. Which wasn’t impressive. Cassie just knew one of the balls JJ was hurling at her head was going to hit her right in the eye. She might be small, but that girl could throw. Hard.
“Eek! That washard, JJ!” Cassie felt herself say.
“Did you just eek? Eek? Really, Cass? I thought you wanted to learn.” JJ paused mid-throw and put her hand on her jutted hip.
