Or text her.
Yeah, he was just being nice.
…or she was a big idiot.
It was a toss-up.
“Hey, Coach!”
Shea Adler turned around just as Lucy and Angie made their way to him. With a big grin on his face, he waved happily. “Hey, Hart. How’s it going?”
Looking exhausted, which was a complete sham since the girl slept more than Lucy did, she slapped her leg. “Well, funny story.”
Jesus.
Angie had told everyone she saw they were homeless, and no matter how many times Lucy told her to stop, she still proceeded to tell the world. Lucy had just finished writing a very lengthy email to Angie’s teacher, guaranteeing her that they were not, in fact, homeless.
“So our apartment got flooded and they are tearing it up. They called Mom and told her we couldn’t go back for a while. It’s a mess. I would say we’re homeless, but I don’t want to lose my iPad and Mom has already threatened me with that if I tell one more person we’re homeless. So we’re not homeless, but we don’t have a home.”
This kid.
Letting out a long breath, Lucy ran her fingers through her hair before meeting Shea’s stunned gaze. “Wow, okay.”
Lucy shrugged. “Ladies and gentlemen, Angela Lynn Hart.”
Shea laughed as he bumped fists with her and smiled over at Lucy. “You guys are good, though, right? We have a house y’all can stay at, but it’s an hour from here.”
She appreciated his worry. He was such a good guy, and she knew what house he was speaking of. It was Elli’s old house. A lot of people had rented it from her, but like he said, it was an hour from here, and that wouldn’t cut it for her. “Yeah, we are staying with Jayden until we get things figured out. They aren’t sure if the building is even safe anymore. There was way more damage when they got farther into it. We’ve had to move my office into my brother’s den while he’s gone. So I’ve got until Friday to figure out what I’m going to do. It’s a mess.”
“Man, that blows. Let me know if you need anything, okay? I can help, Elli will help too, you know that. Even if it’s just to keep Angie. She can come hang with us.”
Lucy smiled. “Thanks, Shea. Really, that means a lot. I’ve got this, though.”
Shea nodded. “Oh, I know. Just wanted to let you know we’re here for you,” he said with a grin before turning to Angie. “Ready to hit the ice?”
“Yes, sir!” she cheered before taking her bag from Lucy. She said a quick bye, and as Lucy was walking away, she heard Angie telling Shea about quitting dance, which made Lucy roll her eyes.
Angie was telling everyone, and because of that, Lucy knew she had to have everything figured out before Angie went back to her dad’s. She wasn’t sure if Angie would tell him about their housing issues, but to be sure, she wanted to have a plan. No reason to give him anything he could use to get custody of Angie. Things were good the way they had it, and she wasn’t using Angie’s diagnosis as any kind of excuse. She needed consistency and she needed stability. Rick was not that. He never had been. So what made him think he was now? It made no sense. But thankfully, they were staying with family, so that was normal for Angie. But she worried what would happen when they needed to move.
If they had to move.
Shit, she didn’t know.
Such a mess. That was her life, though, a jumble of mess.
Going up the bleachers, Lucy sat in what she had decided was her normal spot and leaned back, waiting for Angie to take the ice. Going through some emails, she answered back her vendors, set up appointments for the following day, and looked through some possible offices that Rayne had sent her. But she didn’t want to move. She wanted to stay where she was. It was so perfect for her. Home on top, office on bottom. It worked.
But nothing ever seemed to work for her for long.
Letting out a sad sigh, she noticed that each office was way out of her price range. She knew if she picked one of them, there would be no way she could hire another designer. What a clusterfuck. Maybe she could set up an office in her warehouse? But as soon as she thought it, she knew she couldn’t. It wasn’t an office setting, and it was cold in there during the winter and hot as hell in the summer. No, that wouldn’t work.
Damn it.
When the girls hit the ice, Lucy smiled as Angie did her usual laps. She wondered if Angie missed Benji because she looked a little sad as she made her laps. When she came to a stop, she looked up at Lucy and shrugged. Lucy could tell she was a little unsure of herself, so she held up two thumbs and Angie smiled at that as Shea gave direction. At least she had Shea. He was good to her.
But even Lucy missed seeing Benji out there.
When her phone sounded, she looked down to see a text from the very man she was thinking about. Well, she thought about him all the time, but no one needed to know that.