Page 81 of The Penalty

“Oh my God,” McKenzie groans.

“It’s fine, baby. She’s not going to say anything to Kylie yet. We’ve just got to come up with a plan.”

“Tyler, I really don’t want to come between you and Kylie.”

“You won’t. We’ll figure this out, ok?” I reach over and give her leg a reassuring squeeze.

I’m not sure I believe what I’m telling her, though. I can’t think of a single scenario where I don’t lose something. I knew I was never going to be able to have it all, no matter how hard I worked for it.

But for now, all I want is to hold McKenzie close and that’s exactly what we do when we get back to her hotel room. I’ll deal with everything else later.

THIRTY-TWO

MCKENZIE

“Guess who got asked on a date?” Kylie asks during our second week of the spring semester. I’ve just sat down at our lunch table, and she’s looking at me with crazy eyes.

“No way! Who is it?”

“His name is Jake. He’s in my sociology class. He’s super cute.”

“When are you going out? I’m assuming you said yes, right?” When people initially found out that she was Coach Danvers’ daughter, most of the guys we knew kept their distance. All the guys are terrified of him. If they only knew he’s not the big scary guy they think he is. She hasn’t mentioned being interested in anyone since classes started back again. The last guy she dated she didn’t click with, so I’m glad she’s giving it another shot.

“Of course, I said yes. We’re going out on Friday. The only problem is. . . he’s on the hockey team.”

My brows furrow in confusion. “Why is that a problem?”

“Dad has always been like, ‘Don’t date athletes. They’re no good,’” she imitates her father. I chuckle because I can definitely see him saying that.

“Your dad is an athlete, though.”

She shrugs. “I know. I think that’s why he says that. Especially at our age. He had me and my mom when he was our age, but he heard all his teammates’ stories. I guess that was enough for him.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” I say.

“Sometimes I feel bad for him. Like he missed out on having fun during his college years because of me,” she admits.

“I’m sure he doesn’t feel like that.”

Kylie gets a far-off look in her eyes. “I know it’s silly, but I kind of always hoped my parents would get back together. I know they’ve had their ups and downs, but I figured there had to be some love there somewhere, you know? I mean, they had a kid together. And they practically grew up together.”

I swallow hard and nod along with her, even though I hate every word that she’s saying.

“But now I don’t think that will ever happen. On New Year’s, they looked like they couldn’t get away from each other fast enough. It’s never felt weird being around them together, but that night, something was off.”

That was the night that Kylie’s mom confronted Tyler about me. I’m the one causing the rift without even meaning to. I believe Tyler when he says that he and Shae are truly over. They’ve had hundreds of opportunities to get back together over the years and haven’t. I can only trust him on that.

But I hate that Kylie noticed a change between them. And I hate that it’s my fault.

“Maybe they just weren’t meant to be,” I suggest.

“Yeah, I guess so. I hope they can each find their true loves, though. I’d love to see them each get married, even if it’s not to each other.”

“Well, there’s still time for that.” I pick up one of my already cold fries and dip it in ketchup and hope that Kylie doesn’t think I’m acting at all strange about this conversation.

“Anyways,” she lets out a sigh. “I don’t know why I went down that rabbit hole. I was thinking maybe I could ask Jake if he has a single friend, and then we could double date. What do you think?” She wiggles her eyebrows at me.

My eyes widen, and I slowly start shaking my head, trying to come up with a way to say no without giving up that I’m already seeing someone else. “I, uh, no. Probably not a good idea. I don’t really have the time right now, you know, with work and school.”