AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Twenty-Six
Dean
Three months later
It’s a beautiful May day. The sun is shining brightly in the sky, and the entire Summer family is gathered in the back yard of Brian’s home. I’ve come to really enjoy spending time with Payton’s entire family, but none more so than her father. As a boy who was raised without one, it’s an indulgence I find myself enjoying as much as possible.
In fact, he invited my mom along on this gorgeous Sunday afternoon cookout. Mom has taken to Payton like a fish to water. They’ve done shopping trips with Bri and lunches whenever they can squeeze them in. It’s heartwarming to see, especially since Payton lost her mother as a teenager.
“Daddy, watch!” Brielle exclaims as she swings the little plastic bat and hits the little wiffleball on her first attempt.
She runs towards the makeshift first base, where Lexi is waiting. Bri fakes left and runs right. Lexi pretends to be caught off guard and lets my daughter make it safely on base.
Ryan comes over with two beers and sits in the folding chair beside me. “You should be thankful they let Brielle play. They’re usually very competitive. So much so that I hate playing sports with them,” he says with laugh. “But since Brielle begged and with Meghan still not herself, they’re bending their rules a little bit.”
“Yeah, even with my five-year-old out there, I’m glad I’m not playing.”
“Yeah, most of them cheat,” he adds, holding out his beer bottle for me to clink.
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t know. Payton is horrible at Uno.”
“Cheaters. All of them. That is their grandma’s fault. She’s a sneaky little woman, but I love the stuffin’ out of her,” Grandpa says, taking a seat on the other side of Ryan. Then he leans in and whispers conspiratorially, “Plus, she’s dynamite in the sack.” And then to add to my mortification as I choke on the beer I just took a swallow of, he adds a wink. Glancing over, we find Emma with her head close to my mom’s. Why does that worry me?
Before long, Levi joins the party, dropping something off at the food table before grabbing a beer and heading our way. “Hey, man,” Levi says as he pulls up a chair beside me.
“Working?” I ask the young man I’ve met only a handful of times. I know he’s Abby’s best friend, but according to Payton, there’s something else going on there. Even if neither of them acknowledges it.
“Yeah, last night. I caught five hours of sleep before heading over,” he says through a yawn. Levi’s a fireman and EMT, but spends a lot of his free weekends playing guitar for a popular local band.
“Come on, Levi! Abby’s team is behind. She needs your strong, fine ass to knock one out of the park,” Lexi exclaims from the outfield.
Glancing over, Abby’s face flames bright red as she stands at the plate with the bat. Levi stands up, and even from my position off to the side behind him, I can tell his eyes are on the youngest Summer daughter. There’s almost this poetic, erotic exchange that happens when he steps up beside her and takes the bat from her hand. I can feel the sexual tension all the way over here.
Levi steps up to the plate, the tiny little bat so small in his hands. He turns and says something to her that I can’t hear, but if I were reading her body language, I’d say it was something of the teasing variety. Abby laughs and takes a step back out of the way. Jaime lets the ball fly and Levi creams it into the field behind the house. Payton and Lexi take off running towards the ball, but Levi is too quick, rounding the bases with his long strides.
When he rounds second, he catches up to my daughter. It’s hilarious as he bends down and swoops her up into his arms. Brielle’s laughter can be heard all the way to the front lawn, and there’s no missing the smile on her face as Levi carries her around third and over home plate. He sets her down and lets her stomp on the floor mat, jumping up and down in victory. AJ and Abby give her high-fives before Levi swoops in and grabs Abby in his arms. He holds her against his chest for a moment, swinging her around, but quickly changes his hold and throws her over his shoulder like you see firemen do in movies. Abby screams for her release, which only earns her a swat on the ass from Levi.
“Those two. One of these days, they’re gonna find themselves unable to deny their feelings,” Orval says as we all watch the girls tease each other about the last minute victory.
“Agreed,” Ryan adds as Jaime walks our way. His eyes are glued to her as she sashays a little extra for his benefit. There’s no missing the smile on his face as she struts up and takes a seat in his lap. “Close game,” he says, giving Jaime a drink of his beer.
“They cheated. Again.”
“You all cheat,” Orval adds.
“Grandpa!”
“What? It’s true. Remember Candyland when you were kids? I always had to keep one eye on each of you and my own gingerbread man. They always moved.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jaime mumbles before taking another drink of beer.
“Hey,” Payton says as she walks over to me. I pat my leg in invitation. Before she takes a seat, she glances around nervously. My girl still gets a little shy showing affection in front of her family. When she sees Jaime perched on Ryan’s leg next to me, she slowly lowers herself onto me.
“Hi. Good game.”
“They cheated, as always. They pulled in a ringer from the bullpen.”
“Bri seemed to have fun, though.”
