“But, Nash.”
“Right here.”
“Melinda Harper makes me swear when she pulls my hair.”
“Let me tell you a little secret, Grace.” He bent closer and whispered in her ear, “If you do happen to swear, and I’m not saying you should, but if you do. Make sure no one is listening.”
“You teaching my baby more bad habits, Nash Winter?”
“No, sir.” He straightened and gave the little girl a wink.
“Nana and Granddad just arrived, Gracie,” Dylan said.
The little girl squealed and ran to where Mr. and Mrs. Howard were.
“One of life’s miracles, that,” Joe said.
“Sure is,” her daddy said as the girl flung herself at her grandmother and she whirled her in a circle.
Nash knew a little about Grace’s background. Her parents had been drug addicts, and Piper had stepped in to take her when they died. Good people, he thought, did stuff like that.
“So about this guy hassling, Luna,” Nash said to Luke.
“She said he’s been doing that for years. I could tell she didn’t like him because she was tense and looked upset. Hugo, her really good friend, had a go at the man too.”
Nash didn’t like to think about Luna upset; it did something weird to his insides. He ignored the comment about them being really good friends, knowing it was said to get a rise out of him.
“After we’d moved him on, Luna told us that it wasn’t our problem, she’d been dealing with it and she didn’t want us involved.”
“To hell with that.” Nash had his eyes on the guy.
Even from here he could see the man was looking at Luna. He had a camera with a large lens on his lap.
“Seem awfully riled there, big fella.” Luke patted Nash on the arm.
“Anyone would be riled up being around you guys.”
“Fair point.”
“Why is it they look really good in uniforms and you guys don’t?” Fin Trainer arrived thankfully and took the focus off Nash. He’d been talking about the girls’ team. “Even Maggs is wearing the uniform but told me she’d rather eat mashed turnip than actually play.”
“She still have that thing about turnips?” Ford asked.
“Won’t have them in the house.”
“Mom loves turnips, and most meals they were on the plate in some form or other. Nash and I eat anything, but Tigger is a bit more selective.”
“She’s fussy, is what she is,” Fin said, looking for his girl with that sloppy look on his face.
“How come you guys all don’t look like Jack?” Ford asked.
“We can hold our alcohol, plus we drink a lot of water,” Joe said.
A whistle blew, Jack winced, and then Miss Marla was there with her megaphone. Miss Sarah was seated in a chair with her leg up.
She outlined the mini tournament. The Pilker Peasants were playing the girls first.
“No foul play!” she roared, making everyone wince. “Umpires are Mr. Howard and me.”
“Both hard-asses,” Dylan said. “I see a lot of fouls in my future.”