“How about a ponytail?”
She jiggled and bounced in obvious frustration.
“Let’s go, guys,” Hailey called. “You can’t go to school on an empty stomach.”
A ponytail would have to do. He rummaged through the accessories on the counter and found an elastic. Then, with two hands, he gathered her hair and tried to wrestle it into submission.
“Ow. Stop.” Paisley clutched the side of her head. Looking into the mirror, she cried harder. “I hate it.”
It was pretty awful, puffed out on one side, lopsided.Fuck. He couldn’t let her go to school like this. “I’ll bet Hailey can fix it.”
But by the time they came downstairs, Hailey was shoving a waffle into Paisley’s hand and hanging a backpack off her shoulders. “Your lunchbox is in there, sweetie.”
On the long, cold walk down the driveway, Paisley didn’t say a word, but he could tell she was fighting back tears. He couldn’t put her on the bus while she was this miserable.
Once outside the gate, he dropped to his good knee and looked her in the eyes, smoothing the section that puffed out of the elastic. “Little one, there’s nothing more I want in the world right now than to make you happy. But it’s my first day doing this, and I don’t have it down yet. All I can do is promise to do better.”
He also couldn’t help wondering how much of these tears had to do with waking up in a strange home and being herded by strangers. But the bus was rumbling toward them, and he only had a few seconds to pull her together. “Can I make it up to you after school? What about a hot chocolate with a mountain of whipped cream on top? Does that sound good?”
She nodded, glancing back to the house she couldn’t see behind the gate and up the winding driveway. “Who’s going to take care of Evvie while I’m at school?”
“She’ll hang out with me and Hailey today. Is that okay?” She nodded, and he thumbed away the tears. “You’re pretty cool, you know that? I like how you take care of your sister.” He watched her climb the steps and waited until the bus disappeared at a curve in the road.
Cole had faced a lot of challenges in his life. But this one? This was the toughest.
Right then, a text came in. He pulled out his phone.
Jaime: Yo, Phenom. Change of plans. Got to head to LA later this morning. Why don’t you come by for breakfast?
He rarely got to be in the same town as these guys, so he wanted to take this chance to hang out with them while he was here.
Cole: Sure. What time?
Jaime: Now. Meet us at the rink.
They’d taken their first step in repairing things over the summer.
Now, he needed to see if it was possible to get their friendship back on track.
ChapterSeven
Cole satwith his two oldest friends, watching the Renegades hockey team skate. He welcomed the chill in the air and the smell of fresh ice. It brought him back to his real life—hockey—and away from the complicated emotions going on inside his house.
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Jaime asked.
“I talked to a PI on my way over and gave him all the information I have. He’s going to see if he can find some family we don’t know about.”
“There’s probably a reason you don’t know about them,” Declan said. “You might want to be careful there.”
“I agree. We’ll vet anyone he finds and meet them personally. In the meantime, I need to find a temporary babysitter so Hailey can work.”
“Let me ask Phinny,” Declan said. “She joined a women-in-business group to get help with her store. I’m sure someone’ll have a lead for you.”
“Cool. Thanks. I didn’t have a starting point with that one.”
“You know, there’s one solution that solves everything.” Jaime broke into a slow grin. “You could move back home. Play for us.” He clapped him on the shoulder. “It’s what Kurt wanted.”
“Yep. I know.” Out of high school, he’d been drafted to the Renegades, but after what he’d done to Booker, his guilt had sent him running to Canada, where he’d played in the junior league. It hadn’t seemed fair that he’d get to play professionally while his friend suffered in physical therapy.