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My heart sinks but I nod anyway. I would’ve stormed into Ben’s room and forced his miserable ass to attend the game if I wasn’t sure that he would find a way to make the whole evening all about him if he came.
The kids are better off when Ben’s not involved in their lives. The only problem is—
Theydon’t know that yet.
* * *
“I can’t believe you made a sign!” I laugh as Phoebe thrusts her homemadeJOSH THE BOSSposter into the air as I approach with Caroline and Rae each holding a hand.
“Of course I did. This is a big deal. The rhyme scheme is questionable, but we’re gonna overlook that, mmkay?” She puts the sign down so she can squeeze the girls. “Where’s our main man?”
I glance around to find that Josh isn’t right behind me like I’d thought. “He was right here just a second ago.” I inch a little closer to Phoebe while the girls start wobbling her posterboard and giggling at the sound it makes. “Ben didn’t come and I think Josh is a little down because of it.”
“Down?” Phoebe interrupts. “He doesn’t look down to me.”
I follow her gaze to the end of the bleachers where Josh is standing with a huge smile on his face. “What is he…?”
I gasp when I realizewhohe’s smiling at.
Phoebe grabs my arm so tightly it’s actually painful. “Oh myGod!Is that who I think it is?”
“Pheebs, excuse me for a second.”
I leave her with the girls and walk over to Ruslan, trying to look a hell of a lot more composed than I actually feel. His and Josh’s heads are close together. Josh says something, Ruslan laughs, they exchange a fist bump, and then Josh joins his teammates on the court to start running through layup lines and warmup drills.
“Ruslan?” I gape at him, still not totally convinced that he’s real.
He just nods. “Hey.”
That’s it. That’s all he gives me.Hey.So damn casual. “What are you, uh—whatcha doing here?” I’m going for “easy, breezy,Cover Girl” vibes, but I think I end up sounding constipated.
“Josh invited me.”
“And youcame?”
He shrugs. “I had some free time.”
I glance over at Phoebe, who wags her eyebrows at me and starts doing her weird shoulder dance that she uses as nonverbal encouragement. I turn my back on her, hoping that Ruslan doesn’t notice.
“I really appreciate you showing up, but you don’t have to stay. I’ll talk to Josh and—”
“I’m not going anywhere.” His eyes gleam under the bright lights. “He didn’t force me to show up; he asked if I would and I made a promise to him. So I’m here and I’m staying for the whole game.”
He lifts a hand and waves. I twist around to see Josh stepping up to the hoop to make his layup. It’s obvious he wants Ruslan to watch him. It’s also obvious that he’s nervous. He fumbles the ball a few times and it almost gets away from him.
“Deep breath, Josh,” Ruslan rumbles, giving him a loud clap.
Josh nods, takes a deep breath, and shoots.
“YES!” I scream when the ball goes in, my enthusiasm wildly out of proportion to how uneventful warmup drills are in the overall context of things.
Josh side-eyes me with an embarrassed glance, his cheeks going red. I frown and clamp my lips shut. “How did I end up being the embarrassing aunt and how didyouturn out to be the cool—”
I stop short when I realize I don’t know what the hell he is at the moment. Makes sense, really—how should I know what Ruslan is to the kids, when I’m not even sure what he is to me?
What I do know is that Josh’s mood has picked up considerably. He’s racing around the court with a huge smile on his face, looking like a real eight-year-old for a change. It’s enough to make me grateful that Ruslan is here in the first place.
Like I needed another reason…
