“Hey, man, you get Little Miss off without a problem?” Colin poked his head around the corner of the doorjamb.
Buddy nodded, his attention still directed at the whiteboard where he was pairing up potential sparring partners.
“Yeah, it was harder on me than on her. I can’t believe they don’t let you walk them to the classroom.”
“Oh yeah, we should have warned you about that last night. Bailey almost had a fit last year when Maude had to walk to her room by herself. I thought we were going to have a repeat of the hospital incident.”
Buddy snorted. He hadn’t witnessed his usually mild-mannered sister’s brawl in the lobby of an emergency room, but he could imagine the scene. Even as a little girl, she had always been fiercely protective. She hadn’t changed much in the almost-twenty years that had passed since Buddy had been forced out of the family’s trailer in Texas.
“Buddy?”
“Hmm?”
Colin made a face at him. “You good?”
Buddy thought for a long minute. Was he good? He’d found the baby sister whom he’d been looking for for almost two decades and who had her own loving family. He had his own baby girl who was the light of his life. He had a job and a place for his little family to live. Yeah, he was good.
“Yeah, I’m solid. Just thinking about how different things were when I was in school.”
“No shit, man. Chocolate milk, off-campus lunch . . . ,” Colin mused in a dreamy voice.
“Asphalt playgrounds, hazing,” Buddy countered.
“Yeah, you got me on that one,” Colin acquiesced, then grew quiet. After a moment, he asked “You really got hazed? And your old man didn’t say anything?”
“Hell, Baylor told ’em where to find me. Jumped my ass in the parking lot of the grocery store where I bagged. Baylor watched me get my ass whupped and then gave me another when I got home, for not fighting hard enough.”
Buddy shook his head. He’d been thinking a lot about his childhood lately, mainly because the reunion with Bailey inevitably conjured up memories of life in that cramped mobile home and the dark years immediately after. He still hadn’t laid bare everything that had transpired in those last days he was in Seagraves, and he didn’t know if he ever would. After all, he couldn’t change what had happened or get back those years they’d missed.
When he looked back at his brother-in-law, Buddy was surprised at the fierceness he saw in Colin’s eyes, but he shouldn’t have been. After all, he knew the big former champion was no stranger to estrangement. Hell, Colin had been separated from his own half-brother for close to thirty years.
“It’s all good, C,” Buddy said, hoping to soothe the crackles of emotion he could almost see emanating from Colin. The two of them hadn’t had the smoothest of introductions, and Colin’s temper would spark at the slightest indication of any injustice to his beloved family. But Buddy was thankful for Colin’s loyalty and love, and he knew without a doubt that Colin’s girls would be protected from any and every sort of danger.
Colin inclined his head toward the whiteboard. “So what’s the status on the pairings? You find anyone to match with Johnson?”
Grateful for the change in subject, Buddy shifted the conversation to his actual job as matchmaker for one of the most reputable MMA training facilities in the country. Time passed quickly as he and Colin bandied around names, stopping only to move into the kitchen so they could have lunch when their stomachs simultaneously rumbled, and even then, they continued to discuss create hypothetical fight cards.
“Okay, bud, er Buddy, buddy. Goddamn, you would have to have some sort of crazy ass nickname for a, er, nickname.” Colin screwed his eyes tightly shut. “For crap’s sake.”
Buddy laughed. “You okay, C?”
“Yeah, man. I am. Oh shit – I’m late for a meeting. Would you—”
Buddy interrupted his brother-in-law. “I’ll drop Maude at the house when Sheila delivers the girls to the gym. I’ll call Bailey and make sure she’s home. If she’s not, I’ll take the girls to get a snack or something.”
Colin looked relieved. “I owe you one, Buddy.”
Buddy scoffed. “No, I owe you one. The fact that That I don’t have to deal with afterschool child-care? It’s you that’s done me a solid.”
Colin looked uncomfortable, but then slapped Buddy on the back and practically ran out of Buddy’s office to his meeting. Buddy shook his head and laughed, then turned back to the white board. For the remainder of the day, Buddy tried to do more matchmaking but he kept looking at the clock, waiting anxiously for his daughter and niece to arrive at the fight club. After the sixth time checking the clock, Buddy gave up doing any real work and spent the rest of the afternoon watching the members of the DS Fight Club roster spar. When that was finished, he worked off some nervous tension by punching the heavy bag until he heard Lucy’s voice.
Buddy forced himself to appear casual as he approached the front of the fight club where Sheila Doyle, the wife of DS Fight Club’s namesake stood with an amused look on her face as she listened to Lucy and Maude babble excitedly at Nanda Maldonado, the gym manager.
When the girls stopped to breathe, Buddy caught Lucy’s attention and she flung herself at him.
“Daddy! I have so much to tell you!” She hugged him tightly, and Buddy found himself with a lump in his throat.
“I can hardly wait to hear, sweet pea, but—”
“You’re off the hook – meeting’s over, Buddy. Go to dinner, and we’ll catch up tomorrow, okay?” Colin slapped Buddy on the back and gave him a sympathetic look lifting his daughter in his arms. “Okay, little baby doll, let’s go see Mama and Nora and you can tell us all about your day.”
“Bye, Maude!” Lucy waved frantically to Maude. “I’ll see you tomorrow! Bye, Miss Sheila!”
“Bye, darlin’ girl. I’ll see you tomorrow in the car ride line.” Sheila leaned over to Buddy and asked conspiratorially, “You don’t have an issue with cursing, right? Because lives will probably be lost if I can’t vent my spleen in the car ride line. Jaysus, those women are insane.”
Buddy laughed and Colin let out a pained groan, and with another wave, Buddy and Lucy left the fight club.