Page 66 of Scoring Chance

She rolls her eyes. “I doubt that.”

Her dismissiveness throws me off for a beat.

“I’m giving you the chance to be honest. That’s all. You want me to believe it’s not yours? Cool. But I’m asking you—off the record—what’s really going on with Matthias?”

She hesitates. Something flickers in her eyes—defensiveness, maybe, or just hesitation—and then she fires back with something I don’t expect.

“You know what I want to know?”

I blink. “What?”

“What your deal is with my dad.”

I go still. “My—what?”

She stands up straighter, crossing her arms. “You guys say this marriage thing is fake. But you sure don’t act like it’s fake.”

“I—I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yes, you do. You’re living here. You make breakfast. You’re sharing a bed.”

“Only because your pullout couch sucks.”

“You two do all this weird silent eye contact thing. So what’s your plan? Are you going to get together for real?”

I stare at her. She stares right back. And for once in my entire adult life, I don’t have a preloaded answer. Not even a slick one-liner.

“I...” I clear my throat. “That’s...not what this is.”

“But it feels like it is,” she says, voice softer now. “I’ve seen my dad. I know when he’s just getting by. He’s been just getting by for a long time. But lately...he smiles more. Laughs. I haven’t seen that since Mom died.”

I look back at the house. In the front window, I can make out Tanner playing with Dean and Lulu, his smile beaming all the way out here.

“I care about him,” I admit, quiet.

“Do you love him?”

My stomach drops. She watches me with those sharp teenage eyes, not letting me look away.

“I don’t know,” I say. And it’s the truth.

We each soften our stances and silently call a ceasefire. It’s no fun getting interrogated.

“If you ever hurt my dad,” she says, tucking hair behind her ears. “I will make your life a living hell.”

I smile despite myself. “Fair enough.”

As she heads for the house, she pauses and turns back. “Des?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re not half as slick as you think you are.”

19

TANNER

We are twenty-four hours away from The Dinner. Des says this get together with Stan is the most important meal since the Last Supper. I personally disagree, but I keep that to myself.