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“You got this, Mandy.” He tapped her forehead. “In here.”
“Not that strong,” she whispered.
“Do you know the rules?”
“My aunts live and breathe basketball. We watch it all the time.” Mandy could have lied, but it wasn’t her way. “They’ve also been dragging me to games since I was a child.”
“It’s up to you whether you do it. But this is just a friendly, so—”
“All right, stop bossing me,” she muttered.
“Not sure how I was doing that? But as your self-development coach, I’d say this is a good thing for you to do.”
She snorted.
“Is that a yes?”
“Okay, you can stop pushing.” She drew her shoulders back. “But I can’t do it for long, I need to get back to the shop.”
“Me. Push?” Ted placed a hand on his chest and tried to look innocent.
“You’re pushy, you just wrap it up with words.”
He wondered if she knew that she was changing. That some kind of switch had flipped inside her the last few days and her backbone was getting stronger. It was slow progress, but he could see it happening.
Ted wasn’t going to point that out. He watched as she took the whistle from Piper, who was now sitting.
“You tired, honey?” Dylan dropped down beside her.
“Yes, and my ankles are swollen,” she snapped. “Pregnancy is not turning out to be anything like I read in all those books. Best time of your life, my ass.”
“Right.” Dylan ran a hand over her head before regaining his feet. “Eat one of those muffins, that’ll make you feel better.”
“I hate you.”
“Sure you do.” Dylan kissed her forehead. “I’ll rub your feet later.”
“Really?” Piper’s smile made her husband laugh.
Ted wondered what that was like. Having someone you loved so much who almost knew you better than you knew yourself.
“Remember. You’re in charge, so blow that whistle and talk like you mean it. First sign of weakness and they’ll walk all over you.” Ted dragged his eyes away from Piper and Dylan to talk to Mandy.
“Right. If I wasn’t nervous enough, that’ll do it.”
“Stop whining, you got this.”
Mandy then did something he’d never seen her do. She crossed her eyes and poked out her tongue at Ted. He had the urge to grab her and kiss her.
“Practice blowing the whistle.”
She did, and it was a pretty pathetic attempt.
“Blow it like you mean it, woman.”
She did it again, this time with more force.
“Nice work.”
