Page 40 of Ruff and Tumble

“Don’t apologize,” he said. “It was something, wasn’t it? Watching them be born?”

She could only nod. She’d assumed he’d been more horrified than delighted to be trapped in that elevator with her, but the way he was looking down at the puppy in his arms seemed to indicate otherwise.

“I haven’t felt anything like that since Reggie had Mia. It’s the most alive I’ve ever been.”

“Cole—” she began, but the sound of the front door clicking open stopped her. Which was probably for the best, because she didn’t know what she would have said. That he came to life every time he touched a football? Thatshecame to life every time he touched her?

“Knock-knock!” came a singsong voice. “Are you two decent? I rang the doorbell, but no one answered.”

“We’re in the kitchen,” Hailey called back, her voice unsteady. When Regina appeared behind the dog gate, she added, “I turned the doorbell off so it wouldn’t wake the puppies while they’re sleeping.”

“No need to tell me.” Regina leaned forward and dropped a light kiss on her brother’s cheek. “I used to disconnect every electronic device I owned when Mia was a baby. I’d have fought a duel to the death to protect her sleep—and mine. What smells so good?”

For the second time, Hailey found herself flustered by the question. “It’s just a sweet potato and chicken thing I threw into the slow cooker.” She cast an apologetic look at Cole and added, “There’s a quinoa and kale salad in the fridge to go with it. I hope you don’t mind, but I had your nutritionist send over a copy of your diet and calorie guidelines. He was very helpful.”

Cole blinked down at her. “You emailed Piers?”

“Technically, I called him, but yes. He thought I was just some crazy stalker at first, but we got to talking about your mom, and I convinced him I’m the real deal.” She paused and added, “Well, he might still think I’m a crazy stalker, but even he had to admit that I could hardly try to kill you with kale.”

Regina laughed. “You say that now, but you should have seen his face the first time Mom served it to him. He was—what?—sixteen at the time. He told us it looked like something that food eats.”

“Oh no.” Hailey had been so careful to stick to the caloric and ingredient guidelines that she’d forgotten to ask about his personal tastes. “You don’t like it?”

“I love it,” Cole said firmly.

“Do you?” Regina asked, an arch lift to her brow. “Do you really?”

“It’s my favorite thing.”

He spoke with such resolve that Hailey knew it for a lie. But it was a polite lie, and one he seemed determined to uphold as they sat at the table to eat. It was an interesting dynamic, what with Cole holding a napping Rufus in the crook of his arm, Philip panting anxiously at his feet, and a framed Lumberjacks jersey mounted above Regina’s head, but Hailey had no one to blame for it but herself. She’d wanted to do this on her own terms, even if her terms were unorthodox and slightly pathetic.

It helped that Cole must have warned Regina ahead of time what to expect inside the house. Other than a slightly lifted brow at the decor, she hadn’t said anything about it.

“By the way, that Penny woman sent me a list of the two puppy teams you guys picked,” Regina said between mouthfuls of the kale—which she, at least, seemed to appreciate. “We should get some good press out of it, but I’m curious about what happens next.”

“Filming, mostly,” Hailey replied. “The crew is going to start putting up the set next week, and then we’ll introduce the puppies a few at a time until we’re ready to start. It takes us a while to get enough footage. Puppies rarely do what they’re told.”

“Football players are the same,” Regina said, dimpling at her brother. “And preschoolers, come to think of it. Cole and Mia have a lot in common.”

Cole pointed his fork at his sister. “The joke’s on you. Mia is the best person in the whole world.”

“Mia throws tantrums when I make her wear shoes that match.”

“She’s a woman who knows her own mind. I can respect that.”

Hailey sat back and watched as the two siblings continued their conversation, which was half argument and half love letter to the child they both adored. She doubted they had any idea how much it revealed, how deeply it showed the bond between them. These two had grown up side by side and, now that they were functioning adults, chose to continue that relationship by working together every day of their lives.

“What?” Cole demanded when he realized Hailey had stopped eating to watch them. “Why are you looking at us like that?”

She shook her head. There was no way she could explain that their relationship—so effortless, so natural, soreal—was everything she’d ever wanted and nothing she would have an opportunity to know.

Cole looked as though he was going to demand an explanation, but both his and Regina’s phones chimed at the same time. Since Cole was still balancing Rufus, Regina got to hers first.

“Oh shit.” Regina cast a stricken glance at her brother.

“What?” He pushed back in his chair, jolting both the table and the puppy. “What happened? Is it Mia?”

“No. It’s Dad.” Regina held her phone up so Cole could read the message. It took him a moment to absorb the contents, his eyes moving anxiously back and forth across the screen. It was as though he needed to read it a few times before he was able to believe what he was seeing.