Two guys who were in it for a fling, for Ross’s version of a summer romance, for Tenner’s first relationship since a bad divorce.
Two guys who would die for one more kiss.
Two guys… who were irrevocably falling in love.
TENNER SHOWED up at Nina’s with Piper in tow. He’d asked Nina for a dress for after practice, and Nina’s eyes had grown bright and shiny. Piper loved her tomboy clothes, Nina knew that, but they both knew his parents wanted to see her in something lacy and girlie, and Piper didn’t mind those either.
That Tenner had remembered was important.
As they got out of the car, Tenner grabbing Piper’s bag because she was excited to see Grandma and Grandpa again and forgot, his pocket buzzed.
He pulled out his phone as he walked, and saw a picture of the practice he’d left early. Ross had, apparently, ordered pizza, and all his guys were digging in.
Should I bring you some later?
Tenner grimaced at his parents’ rental car as it sat in the driveway. Yeah. I’ll text you when this is over.
Good deal.
And then he put the phone away and summoned his best plastic smile.
“Grandma!” Piper squealed, running in for a hug. Tenner’s mother—a severe woman with gray hair scraped back into a ponytail—hadn’t been particularly warm when Tenner had been a child. Something about having a grandchild, though, had made her soften. Her smile and hug had all the hallmarks of the things Tenner had missed when he’d been a kid, and he was glad that, if nothing else, his daughter didn’t have to know about chilly voids and disapproving scowls in the same way he had.
Tenner walked up quietly behind his daughter and waited to be let into the house.
His mother sobered when she saw him, her face drawing into lines of lemon-eating disapproval. “Tenner.”
“Edith,” Tenner said dryly. He hadn’t been able to call her Mom since he’d told them about the divorce and was told, in no uncertain terms, that he wasn’t their son anymore.
“Be respectful,” his father said behind her.
“I am being respectful, Timothy,” Tenner replied, meeting his father’s eyes. “You said I wasn’t your son, so I’m addressing you as fellow adults.”
“Tim.” Tenner’s mother put her hand on his father’s shoulder and looked at him pleadingly, and then looked at Piper.
Timothy Gibson swallowed whatever he was going to say and glared at Tenner, but he stepped back into Nina’s house and gestured for Tenner to come in.
“Grandma!” Piper said a little desperately. “Did you see what Mommy got me? It’s a baseball glove! I practice baseball with Daddy and his team!”
Timothy Gibson gave Piper a fond look. “You don’t really play with the team, sweetpea. They’re just having fun with you, is all.”
Nina entered from the kitchen at that moment, her face flushed and her eyes way too bright, and her glare at Tenner’s father was fierce.
“She practices with the team,” Tenner said before his daughter’s lower lip could start quivering. “They all take turns with her, helping her throw, helping her hit. Hanford brings his sister’s kids—”
“Who’s Hanford?” his mother asked sharply.
“Co-captain,” Tenner responded, a little startled. “Ross brought his nephew today.”
“Who’s Ross?” she asked with the same tone.
And Tenner got it. “Piper honey, why don’t you go put your backpack and toys away and go help your mom with dinner, okay?”
“Okay, Daddy.” She beamed at him and then went in for a surprise hug. “I don’t care how I get to play, you know,” she said, her voice a little wobbly. “Tell them not to be mean to you.”
He bent down and kissed the crown of her neat double plait. “I definitely will. Now shoo.” They’d left softball a half an hour early so he could get her hair done specifically that way, because she wanted to make Grandma and Grandpa happy.
She trotted off, Nina at her heels. Nina threw him a beleaguered look of compassion over her shoulder, and he understood immediately. She’d love to help, but she needed to get Piper out of the room before the fireworks began.
“You two,” he said pleasantly, “need to just stop. I’m gay. I’m not banging my entire men’s softball team. Most of them have wives, a few of them have boyfriends, and all the single ones are probably not interested.” He conveniently left Ross out of it because Ross was not the point here. “Piper loves you right now. You show up with toys and hugs and desert, and that’s great. But Nina and I take care of her from day to day, and if you keep crapping on me, or start in on Nina, you are going to make that little girl hate you. And that would be a shame.”
They both recoiled from him like he was a snake, but he didn’t care.
Nine years ago, when he’d been a dumb, confused kid, he’d given up who he was for what they wanted him to be. Piper had been the result—and he’d do it again, for her—but he and Nina had been collateral damage, and that wasn’t fucking fair.
“You have no right to talk to us in—”
“In Nina’s house? I think I do. What have you been saying to her, M—Edith? She looked like she was ready to cry.”
“Your mother was trying to make a point,” Timothy growled. “The way you two are raising that little girl isn’t right. Splitting her between two houses, you off doing God knows what in front of your little girl while that woman works herself to death as a single mother.”
“Fifty-fifty, Tim. We split custody fifty-fifty, and we both have jobs. Do you think I hire a maid to do her hair?”
“Everybody knows you people have no problem doing hair,” Edith said, trying to be conciliatory.
Tenner’s eyes widened, and he ignored her because… God. Because.
“Piper’s doing great. Her teachers have said so, she has friends over—Nina and I live less than two miles away from each other for exactly that reason.”
“Oh, you’ve got an answer for everything, don’t you!” Tim barked.
“As far as our daughter is concerned, we both do!” Tenner snapped back. “What is this about?”
“We just think,” Edith murmured, “you know. Neither of you are looking to get married again, and if you’re not going to get back together, we just think it’s best that Piper be in a stable household.”
For a moment, Tenner’s brain blanked. Completely fuzzed out. All he saw was white static and all he heard was a roaring in his ears. His temper hair-triggered, and he was about to open his mouth and roar when he remembered he was in his ex-wife’s house.
He took a deep breath and held up a finger. “Excuse me.”
And with that he walked back to Piper’s room, where Piper was emptying her backpack and explaining what they’d done that weekend. “Honey, I need to talk to your mother for a minute. Nina?”
Nina turned red-rimmed eyes toward him and bit her lip. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “They ambushed me with it, Ten. I swear, I would have managed to be out of town if I’d known.”
“Not your fault,” he murmured. Piper was still unloading her things, and he leaned in for Nina’s ears only. “How about you tell Piper that you, me, and her are going out for dinner. Then get her out to the car, okay?”