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“Okay. We can discuss the money part another time. But don’t think this is going to change anything. It’s all for my daughter.”
“Our daughter,” I remind her.
Elle licks her lips, and I find myself wanting to kiss her.
“Our daughter,” she whispers.
Chapter 13 Elle
Two Weeks Later
I squeal and jump up and down as Amy hits the ball hard and starts running towards first base. She gets there in plenty of time, and she turns to me and waves with a beaming smile.
“I didn’t think minor league softball was so competitive,” Luke comments as a mother from the front row jumps up and shouts that it was a foul ball. “Is it always like this?”
I laugh as I sit back down.
“She’s normally drunk, so she’ll shout at pretty much anything if it doesn’t do what her alcohol-fueled brain wants.”
“If she’s drunk, why is she here? Shouldn’t she be thrown out?”
“That does end up happening. It’s only because she’s the coach’s wife that she hasn’t been banned from the field already.” I shrug. “It’s something I don’t get involved in as long as she leaves Amy alone.”
Luke grunts.
“That’s not making me feel any better, having a drunk woman acting like an idiot.”
“Oh, she’s harmless. Don’t worry about it.” I nudge him. “We just need to keep our distance, and we can simply ignore her. Everyone’s here just to see the kids play. We know how to handle her.”
Luke doesn’t look convinced. I know that the woman in question is mostly just verbally annoying. She never got physical with anyone, it was just a lot of screaming and complaining. But we mostly ignore her. Although I have to admit that it feels better and quieter when she’s not here.
Amy takes off at a spring towards the next base, and she gets there in time. Luke looks approving.
“I thought she was a good little runner when she showed me at the park. Now I can really see it.”
“Impressed, then?”
“Of course. You’ve done really well to cultivate her strengths.”
I feel warm and happy at that. I’m glad Luke can see that. He’s never trodden on my toes regarding Amy, and he’s followed my lead over the last couple of weeks. Something I never thought would happen.
It’s been a fortnight since Luke and Amy met, and while I wanted things to go slow so Amy could get used to Luke’s presence, it seems as if the two of them have just clicked. Amy really likes Luke, and she will talk to him about absolutely anything. If Luke is bored by it, he doesn’t show it. He follows her lead with anything, and I have to admit that it’s quite amusing to see a grown man at the beck and call of a five-year-old.
He would be a good father. I regret that I didn’t look for him to let him know in the beginning, but I’m glad that we’re doing this now. We can co-parent well enough, I believe. Luke has bought a house not too far away that he works out of, and he spends every other afternoon with his daughter. He’s even taken us out to dinner a couple of times, and from the way Amy is around him, I can tell that she likes him.
I’m glad that they’re getting along. It would have been uncomfortable if they didn’t.
But there is some discomfort in the house. Ben is not happy about it at all. I can understand why when he’s been Amy’s father figure since she was born, but things haven’t really changed at home. Amy still calls him ‘papa’ and she looks to him like she would a father. But Ben doesn’t like that Luke is around and slowly taking this away from him.
I need to have a word with him again. I don’t want Ben to ruin what Luke and I are cultivating between us, and I don’t want him to upset the relationship Luke is building with Amy. We’re not going to become an immediate family, and the only thing that is changing is that Amy’s biological father is around. Ben seems to think everything is going to change and implode.
Hopefully, he’ll come around eventually.
“Elle?”
“Hmm?”
Luke is frowning at me, his eyes searching my face.
