Chapter 30

I'm already pushing it being this late to practice today. I have permission since the coaches know what's going down right now to catch the saboteur, but I don't have any reason to be here anymore. I can always tell them Officer Brady needed me to make a statement though I'm not sure how believable it will be. He made it clear that he'll bend over backward to work with my schedule to line all of this out.

So I use the time to linger near Layla, even as Officer Brady drives away and Mila prepares to open the bakery truck back up. Is this how it will be every time I have to leave her? Away games are going to be rough. I might still need Landon and Eli for advice, even though we've accomplished what we set out to do.

"You ready to get back to your station?" Mila calls to Layla from inside the truck. We're standing by the back door. She's hugging my waist but leaning back so she can look up at me. I've got my arms around her too, barely containing my desire to pull her back to me and kiss her for a long time. Too many watchful eyes though. Dottie and her friends are gathered just a little ways away. I told Dottie I'd drive her home even though one of her friends brought them all in her car this morning.

"Just a minute," Layla calls back to Mila reluctantly. The crowd on the other side of the truck has grown larger, probably because news has traveled about something serious going down here and people want the full story. In any case, she's got to go soon. We both need to get back to work. "I'll see you tonight?" she asks, looking up at me pleadingly.

"You know it." I don't care how tired I am. This guy will be parked on Layla's couch, hanging out with her anytime she'll let him.

She leans up to give me a short kiss on the lips, one we both linger over, and then pulls away grudgingly. "I can't wait," she whispers.

"You and me both," I murmur. I kiss her forehead and then break our embrace.

"One more thing," she says, sliding her hand down my arm and taking my hand to hold me back. She reels me back in. Quite easily, if you're wondering. Would I skip practice to hang out at the bakery truck with her all day and risk Coach benching me for the game against the Houston Pumas on Sunday? I probably would. Luckily, Layla would never ask that.

"Yeah?" I ask.

She stands on her tiptoes, leaning in for another kiss. Just before she reaches my lips, she says, "I love you, Linc."

My heart speeds at those words, and my grin overtakes my face. "I love you too." I have another question I need to ask Eli and Landon. How soon is too soon to ask her to marry me?

Dottie hasa contented smile on her face when she settles into the passenger seat of my Bronco a few minutes later. She's got a box of thank-you cupcakes on her lap from Mila, but I think the reason she's humming under her breath has more to do with me and Layla than the treats. It's nice to see her so happy.

But I also need to take the opportunity to ask her what Layla encouraged me to ask a couple nights ago. I want to put her relationship with my grandpa behind us. Of course, neither of us are ever going to be able to forget it, but we don't have to have it hovering over us all the time like it feels like it is right now. Maybe me getting this out in the open and Dottie having an opportunity to air her own thoughts will do us both good.

"I need to ask you something, Dottie," I say as we head in the direction of Harmony Homes. "It's going to be a hard question."

She turns and frowns at me. "Oh?"

"I'm sorry," I say, reaching over to take her thin hand in mine. It's so soft, and I try not to think it, but it's sort of silky, just like I remember my grandma's being. I keep a hold of Dottie's hand anyway, hoping it will give us both strength.

"Sorry for what, dear?" she asks, worry in her expression.

"My grandpa isn't here to ask some of these questions to. Questions I need to at least try for answers. So I need to ask you, and I'm sorry about that, because you are really important to me, despite everything."

She draws in a long breath and then reaches with her other hand to pat mine. "I've been preparing for this since that first time you came over after the adopt-a-grandparent day. I knew if you were there in my living room, it was more than just that you liked me."

Fortune is with me, because we get stopped several cars back at a stoplight just then, so I can look over at her. "I love you, Dottie," I say with feeling. "Even though it's complicated. You've been a light in my life."

Her eyes shimmer, and she pats my hand again. "Thank you, Lincoln. I appreciate that. Ask your questions."

My turn to draw in a deep breath. "Did my grandma know?"

She looks down at her lap, shame evident, and guilt pricks at me. Do I really need to know this badly, to cause Dottie this kind of pain?

"Never mind, Dot—" I start, but she shakes her head and cuts me off.

"I've done what I could to make things right over this," she says. "Said my prayers and everything, but I know that there will always be ramifications. I can't hide from that. It's okay." She gives me a firm nod. "I don't think your grandma knew. I never heard any whispers about us. Most people didn't even connect us together. We were all in different social circles, hardly crossing paths. Oh Lincoln, it's one of the things I pray for—that she never knew."

"I thought he loved my grandma," I say in a whisper. The light has turned green, and I think it's best that I can't look at Dottie right now. But her grip is tight on my hand, holding on to me like this conversation might make me disappear. I give a light squeeze back, reassuring her. I'm not going anywhere, hard as this is.

"He did," she says. "He loved us both. He didn't talk about her when he was with me, but I knew he loved her. Doesn't make any of it right."

Maybe what I saw between my grandparents wasn't all a lie. Wasn't just Grandpa staying because that's what he thought he needed to do. Maybe I can be okay with that.

"How did you meet?" I ask. "You said you didn't see each other socially, and that's how my grandma never knew, but then how …?"

"I was a volunteer at a local hospital, and your grandfather was involved in a fundraiser through his business. We got to talking at a few of the planning meetings. Struck up a friendship over some books we'd both read. We started planning to read the same books. Calling to have discussions about them."

"Grandma always said she didn't have time to read. Teased him about it," I say thoughtfully.

Dottie huffs. It's an unspoken doesn't make it right. "I should've seen the path I was wandering down, but then one day it was just too late." She shrugs and doesn't elaborate on that. "We would say we weren't going to speak again. And months would go by. Then I'd break down and call him over something. Or he'd call me." She pauses a long time. "I'm very, very sorry," she finishes quietly.

I don't ask any more questions, and Dottie and I are silent the rest of the way back to Harmony Homes. We don't talk again until after I've walked her to her apartment.

"Do you want to come to the game on Sunday?" I ask. "I've got a suite for Layla and everyone, and she's bringing Margot. She could use an extra set of hands."

Dottie laughs for the first time since I brought up Grandpa. "If that group of friends of yours are all coming, she'll have all the help she needs, but I won't turn down spending time with her and that sweet baby. I like her, Lincoln. I like her a lot."

I grin. "So do I."

She reaches up to pat my cheek, and I lean down toward her so she can give me a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you Sunday, dear."

"See you Sunday, Dottie." I return the kiss on the cheek and wave as I leave. She watches me leave, and even as I close the side door of Harmony Homes behind me, she's still standing in her doorway, smiling after me. I give her one more wave, and she returns it, stepping inside only once I'm in my car.

I will never have a simple relationship with Dottie Van Buren. We'll never be able to forget all that came before that day I met her, but it doesn't have to matter too much. Maybe someday, in heaven, we'll all understand each other a little better. And I'm okay with waiting until then.

It's finally on the record! Representatives from both Lincoln Knight and Layla Delaford have released statements confirming their relationship. Rays running back Knight posted a picture of him with Delaford and her daughter on Instagram on Sunday night, captioning it, "Did I have the best game of my life because my girls were here cheering me on? Probably." Rumors were also quashed of a possible love triangle that included actor Jack Williams, and instead sources are saying that Williams visited Delaford to convince her to come on board for the Phantom Hex sequel. If that's the case, we can all agree that Delaford doesn't look welcoming in the pictures that showed up two weeks ago of Williams in the hallway of her apartment building. Delaford's agent confirmed that Delaford is focusing on returning to her popular role as nurse Sloane Campbell in the new LA Lights spinoff, LA Hope, though she didn't deny claims that Phantom Hex producers were interested in her for the role of the Silver Specter. Other sources are speculating that Williams' visit to Delaford's apartment was concerning Delaford's daughter and that Williams may be an absentee father. Is it possible that America's favorite hero isn't as clean-cut as he appears to be?

In related news, Bo Steele, known as @FitBallerLA on Instagram, a self-proclaimed health influencer, has pled guilty to assault and conspiracy in connection with attempting to poison Lincoln Knight to dissuade him from frequenting Sweet Kisses Bakery, the popular food truck run by Rays QB Eli Dash's sister, Mila Dash. In his bizarre confession, Steele claimed Sweet Kisses was jeopardizing the Rays' chances at a championship this year and someone had to hold both Knight and Mila Dash accountable. Aspiring actress Astrid Manning, who helped Steele as an employee of Sweet Kisses, received probation in exchange for her cooperation in Steele's arrest. Thanks to the arrest, Sweet Kisses has become even more popular, and Mila Dash has announced plans for opening a storefront location.