Finding Perfect

Because her days weren’t already crammed with plenty to do, Raoul had called that morning and informed her his former coach was visiting. Pia knew how much Hawk had meant to him. No doubt he was looking forward to the visit. Pia, on the other hand, was having a case of nerves brought on by meeting the emotional equivalent of the in-laws. Hawk was bringing his wife, Nicole.

She had no idea if Raoul was going to tell them the truth about the engagement, and honestly she couldn’t decide which she wanted. Faking being in love in front of the two people who cared about Raoul most seemed like a challenge. But if they knew what was really happening, wouldn’t they try to talk him out of it? And as freakish as the idea of marrying for reasons of practicality might be, Pia had found herself depending on the fact that Raoul was going to be there for her.

Dakota crossed the cement floor of the convention center, her arms filled with an overflowing box of auction paddles. “Do you really think we’re going to need this many?”

Pia nodded. “Oh, yes. We’re having quite the turnout. It’s not just ladies from Fool’s Gold who will be attending. We’re pulling them in from the whole county.”

“Lucky us.”

Montana followed her sister. She had a box full of programs for the talent show. “Did you look at these?” she asked. “There’s a woman who’s dancing with her dog.”

Pia led them to the table against the wall. “I saw her audition. It’s not as scary as it sounds. They both do ballet.”

The sisters stared at her.

Dakota set down her box. “On what planet isn’t that scary?”

“At least they’re not dancing together.”

“Okay,” Montana said slowly, lowering her box to the table. “Tell me it’s not a poodle.”

Pia pressed her lips together. “Sorry. It’s a big one, if that helps.”

“It doesn’t.”

They all laughed, although Dakota’s amusement seemed a little forced. Montana must have noticed that as well, because she turned to her sister.

“Are you okay? You don’t seem perky.”

“I’m perky.”

“Want to take a vote?” Montana asked.

Dakota shrugged. “I’m thinking about some stuff in my life. Reevaluating. I feel as if I’ve been drifting.”

That was news to Pia. “Drifting how?”

Montana sank into a folding chair. “Oh, God. If you getting your PhD and helping children is drifting, what does that make me? An earthworm?”

“It’s not about what I do,” Dakota said. “Getting the work done isn’t the point. You have so much passion for your life. I feel like I’m going through the motions. I’m not sure what’s important to me. I’m not dating, but it doesn’t really bother me. I want to wake up excited about my life.” She shrugged. “I have some thinking to do.”

Pia had to agree with Montana. Dakota was one of the most together women she knew. It was kind of scary to think someone she’d always thought of as borderline perfect had issues. If Dakota had trouble figuring things out, what hope did the rest of them have?

Montana crossed to her sister and hugged her. “I want you to be happy.”

“I am happy.”

Montana shook her head. “You’re not.”

Dakota smiled. “Okay. Then I will be. How’s that?”

“Better,” Montana said. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Pia felt her throat get a little tight as she watched the sisters hug each other. She’d always wondered what it would be like to grow up with a sibling. While she would never know, Crystal’s babies would have that experience.

She lightly touched her stomach. “You’re always going to have each other,” she whispered. “Won’t that be great?”

Before the moment could spiral into a hugging, tearful vat of emotion, two other women approached. Pia recognized one as a head nurse from the hospital. The other was a lawyer in town. Both were in their fifties, with the lawyer slightly closer to sixty than her friend.

Bea, the lawyer, stopped in front of Pia. “About this auction,” she began without a greeting. “Have you vetted the men? Done background checks? Will they have papers?”

Pia had worked with Bea before and was used to her abrupt style. “They’re coming to a dinner-dance, not immigrating into the country. What kind of papers are you looking for?”

“How do we know they’re safe?”

Pia sighed. “Buyer beware.”

Bea’s friend, Nina, smiled at Pia. “Will there be a preview? Can we look them over before we bid? Is there a list of what they will or won’t do?”

Crap, crap, crap. “We’re sponsoring the auction, ladies. We’re talking dinner and dancing, not anything else.”

Bea snorted. “She thinks you’re looking for sex, Nina.”

Nina, a petite brunette, flushed. “Oh, no. Not that. I was wondering if I could ask the guy to clean out my gutters. There’s a lot of leaves up there and I hate getting on a ladder.”

Gutters? From the corner of her eye, Pia saw Dakota and Montana trying not to laugh.

“You win a night that includes dinner and dancing,” Pia repeated, telling herself it was important to be patient. “The woman pays. Proceeds from the auction itself go to the city for various charity projects.”

“Who needs a man for dancing?” Bea muttered. “I’m too old to care about that.”

Nina tilted her head. “I don’t know. A night of dancing sounds kind of nice.”

“There are plenty of young women who’ll be in competition with you, Nina. Bidding against you.”

Nina grinned. “Yes, but being of a certain age has advantages. We have more money.”

Bea didn’t look amused. “Perhaps you should use some of that precious money of yours to hire someone to clean out your gutters.”

“You’re always so crabby,” Nina complained, then turned back to Pia. “Thanks for the information. I guess I’m going to have to find another way to get the gutters cleaned.”

“Pick up the phone book,” Bea muttered. “I know you can spell.”

The two women walked away.

“I thought the auction was going to be boring,” Montana admitted when Bea and Nina were out of earshot. “But now I can’t wait to be here.”

“Are you going to bid?” Dakota asked.

“No, but I’m bringing popcorn. Talk about a show.”

Pia sank into a chair and rubbed her temples. “I don’t get paid enough to do this.”

“Probably not,” Dakota said cheerfully, “but at least it’s never boring.”

“Right now, boring sounds really, really good.”

RAOUL WALKED ONTO THE playground at the mountain school only to find himself surrounded by kids.

“Come play with us.”

“No, me.”

“Can you help me throw harder?”

“We want to jump rope. Will you hold the rope?”

Raoul felt like the leader of a very short tribe. He raised his hands in the air. “I’m here to check on my main man. Then we’ll talk about playing.”

There were a few grumbles, but the kids fell back, allowing him to walk over to Peter and his friends. The boy grinned when he saw Raoul and launched himself at him. Raoul caught him easily.

“How are you doing?” he asked the boy. “All settled?”

Peter had returned to his foster home the previous afternoon. Mrs. Dawson had done a thorough investigation and while she admitted the Folios weren’t her favorite family, she couldn’t remove a child based on a feeling. There had to be something closer to proof.

The boy hung on to Raoul. “It’s okay. They’re being really nice. Don says he’s going to sue the school ’cause of my fall. But I don’t know who Sue is.”

Raoul put down the boy and made a mental note to talk to Don about his plan. If he thought he could get some easy money out of the school district and keep it for himself, he was about to have a change in attitude.

“I’ve been practicing throwing,” Peter continued happily.

“Just throwing, right? No catching.”

The kid sighed. “I know. Not until my arm is better.”

“If you want to play football, you need to be strong all over. That means letting your arm heal.”

“Will I be as big as you?”

“I don’t know.” Raoul didn’t have any details about Peter’s real parents. He wondered if he could ask around and get some information. “Want to show me what you can do?”

“Uh-huh.”

Peter ran over to the box of balls. Several other boys spotted what he was doing and followed. Raoul quickly organized them into groups and had them throwing back and forth to each other, like in a training camp.

“Good,” he said, walking behind them, watching them throw. “Billy, straighten that arm. Your strength is in your shoulder, not your wrist. Nice, Trevor. Great follow-through.”

He felt someone tug on his jacket and looked down to see a girl in glasses and pigtails staring up at him.

“Can I throw, too?” she asked.

The boy closest shook his head. “No girls. Go away.”

The girl ignored him. “I want to learn.”

“Girls play, too,” Raoul said, leading her to the end of the line. He motioned for Jackson to throw him a ball, then get in position to catch. “Why don’t you show me what you can do.”

The girl took the ball, pushed up her glasses, then threw the baseball with enough power to make a pop when it hit the glove. Jackson winced.

Raoul grinned. “You’ve got quite an arm there, young lady.”

“I want to be able to hit my big brother in the head and knock him out. He’s always teasing me.”

“Okay. I’m happy to help you with your throwing, but you have to promise never to aim at your brother’s head. The way you throw, you could hurt him really bad.”

Her eyes widened. “He says I’m a weak, whiny girl.”

“Probably because you’re better than him.”

She beamed. “I never thought about that.”

Dakota walked up. “Creating dissension between the sexes at such a young age?”

“I’m not that young.”

She laughed. “You know what I meant.”

“I do.” He studied her, seeing that she looked rested and a lot less sad. “You’re feeling better.”

“I am.

“Good. Want to talk about what happened?”

“No.”

The bell rang, indicating that it was time to head back into class. The kids threw the balls and gloves into the box and raced past them. Peter looked back and waved.

“You did good with him,” Dakota said.

“He made it easy.”

“You hold yourself back from most of the kids, but with him, you’re different.”

They walked toward the main building. He wasn’t surprised she’d figured out the truth about him.

“Old habit,” he said.

“I’m sure there are a lot of reasons,” she said. “The fame, for one thing. You can’t know who’s interested in you for you or because they want something.”

“Less of an issue now.”

“Possibly. Plus I would guess there are just too many kids to help individually. You can’t be in more than one place at once. So you created the camp to help as many kids as you can. It has the added benefit of allowing you to keep your distance.”

“You really feel the need to use your psychology degree, don’t you?”

“Sometimes. It can be very flashy at parties.”

He knew she was right about all of it. He did hold himself back. He’d been burned plenty of times in college and during his first few years in the NFL. Finally he’d learned the lesson that helping from a distance was a whole lot easier.

Since things had gone bad with Caro, it was also smarter. Her betrayal had shaken him on many levels. She’d made him question his ability to read someone.

“You don’t have to do anything at all,” Dakota said. “It’s not required.”

“Sure it is. I was taught that if life gives you advantages, you give back.”

“Your former coach?”

“Uh-huh. If I wasn’t doing something, he’d come down here and kick my ass.”

She smiled. “Cheap talk. You didn’t buy this camp for him. You bought it because you wanted to.”

He shrugged. “Hawk can be the voice in my head, telling me what to do.”

“My mom is that for me. I think it’s a good thing.”

“Psychologically sound?” he asked.

She laughed. “Definitely. I think it’s important to stay on the side of sanity.”

“You’re the professional.” He held open the door to the main building.

“How’s Pia doing?” she asked.

“Good. Why?”

“Aren’t Hawk and his wife coming to visit for a couple of days?”

“Sure.”

“Technically they don’t qualify as family, but emotionally, these are the in-laws. Don’t you think that’s going to make her nervous?”

He hadn’t thought of it that way. “There’s nothing for her to worry about. They’ll like her.”

Dakota’s expression turned pitying. “You’ve been married before. Do you really think that’s what she’s sitting around thinking?”