I nod. “Yeah, I heard they are saying he’ll be top three.”

“Or first,” she says but I grin.

“No disrespect, but that’s my spot,” I say with a wink, but she still doesn’t smile. Thinking fast, I grin as Avery comes into my side, and I say, “Gotta go big so I can take care of my wife and daughter.”

“It’s a girl?” Thea gushes and Benedict’s face breaks into a huge smile.

“Yeah, we are so excited,” Avery says, holding me tight.

“How sweet. Oh, all the things we can buy,” Thea says, pulling Avery from me and into her side. Avery looks back at me, but I shake my head, smiling as her mother gushes over her. She needs this and they are trying, I feel. The moment I think they aren’t, though, we are out.

“So a girl, huh? They’re hard,” Benedict says and I look over at him, matching his stride as we follow behind our wives. “I could never click with Avery the way I should have. It was easy with the boys, but with her, it was a challenge.”

I don’t answer because I don’t agree. My mom was great with all of us and so was my dad until he turned into a cheating bastard. I plan to be the same with my child, but I nod to keep my composure with my new in-laws. I trust them as far as I can throw them, and by the size of Benedict, he won’t go far.

“I still love her, a lot.”

I nod. “I do too.”

“I’m sure you do, but you’ll see. The love between a father and his daughter is something very special.”

“I look forward to that relationship.”

Because I know I’ll do a hundred times better than he did.

But what do I know because, during dinner, they are actually very sweet to Avery and even me. I still don’t like them and I’m sure they don’t like me, but we are all civil. I can tell Avery is eating it up too. As much as she didn’t want to get her hopes up, I know she has. I just hope they don’t let her down. As dessert is served, Avery leans into me, grinning, and I smile down at her.

“Good, huh?” I say, feeding her a bite of pumpkin pie.

She takes the bite and nods. “Not like your mom’s.”

“Nothing is like my mom’s,” I remind her as I look up to see her parents watching us. They both look pained, as if they were hoping I was a dirtbag or something.

Clearing her throat, Thea says, “Avery, honey, why don’t we go look in the gift shop?”

Avery looks at her, confused. “Why?”

“I want to peek and I wanted to get some stuff for the road.”

Or she wants to leave so that Benedict can talk to me.

Avery knows this too because she looks at me and I shrug. “It’s fine.”

She takes in a breath and shakes her head before getting out of the booth and walking with her mom toward the gift shop. Looking over at Benedict, I take a long pull of my tea and smile.

“I’m ready.”

He smiles. “Yeah?”

“Yup, hit me with what you got.”

Benedict nods as he laughs. “I guess that means there will be no chance of me talking you into letting her go, then? Letting her come home and relieving you of all your duties to her?”

I scoff. “Not a snowball’s chance in hell.”

“It’s a big responsibility, especially for a rookie player. You sure you want that?”

“I’m never been more sure of anything in my life.”

“She isn’t well, mentally. She struggles.”

“I know and I’ve got her.”

“It’s a lot for a nineteen-year-old boy.”

“Man,” I correct with a grin. “I’m almost twenty. And I don’t care how much work it is, because there is no me without that girl right there,” I say, pointing to where Avery is looking at silver spoons. “I get it. You don’t like me, don’t trust me. But I can promise you, that girl has never been happier. And she will continue to be happy as long as I’m there loving her.”

He nods slowly, bringing his gaze from Avery to me. “Very sure of yourself.”

“Damn right, and I’m sure that she and I will work. Trust and believe that.”

Sucking on his teeth, he swallows hard and then pins me with a look. “Can’t blame me for trying.”

“No, sir, ’cause I would do the same for my daughter who got knocked up by some rookie,” I say with a grin and he smiles. “I respect you, Mr. Haverbrooke, I do. But I love that girl, and I’m not letting her go.”

He eyes me. “It’s not easy to love her—”

“It is for me.”

“It is for me too,” he says slowly. “But I messed up somewhere. I put her brothers before her, and she holds a certain kind of animosity toward me for that. Not that I don’t deserve it.”

“You do.”

He nods sadly. “Yeah. I know you think I don’t like you, and it isn’t that. It’s that I don’t think anyone is good enough for her. I fully expected to walk into a shitshow, but you’re different.”

“Thank you,” I say, my eyes locked in his gaze. “I love her. All of her.”

“So you know the whole deal, her past?”

“Yes, sir, everything.”

“It doesn’t scare you?”

“Not even a little bit.”

He nods. “Scares the shit out of me. Want to know why?”

“Sure.”

“Because I’m pretty sure I could have prevented it, and I didn’t.”

The remorse, the pain is apparent on his face, and I feel for the guy. I don’t like that he hurt Avery, wasn’t there for her. But he regrets that and hopefully he’ll make it better. Leaning back, I nod. “I really think you should give her a chance to tell you the whole story.”

His face twists in confusion as he holds my gaze. “The whole story?”

“Yeah, the whole thing, because I’m sure it’s more than what you know. And I feel you need to know.”

Before he can say anything else, Avery slides in beside me and shoots me a grin before glancing at her dad. Looking back at me, she asks, “He try to talk you into leaving?”

I laugh as I nod. “Yeah, but it’s cool. I would do it for my daughter too.”

She smiles. “Yeah?”