“Then go ahead and invite her.”
Isaiah sighs in defeat. “She’ll definitely say no if I’m the one to ask. Cody.” My brother turns towards our first baseman. “Will you ask her?”
“Why?” he laughs. “So I can trick her into spending time with you?”
“Well . . . yeah. Exactly.”
I grab my hat off the bench before leaving the locker room. “Come over around seven.”
Before I hit the parking lot, I take a sharp left and round the corner to Monty’s office. The door is slightly cracked already, so I rap my knuckles against the wood and let myself inside.
“Hey, Ace.” He barely peeks up at me over his computer screen. “How’s the arm?”
“Good.”
“Did you get some time in the training room? Let the staff work on it?”
I take a seat on the chair opposite his desk. “I did.”
Monty finally peels his eyes away from the computer. “I’m assuming you’re in here because there’s something you want to tell me.”
I exhale a shocked and uncomfortable laugh. Fuck my life.
“Want to tell you?” I ask. “Not a chance in hell. Is there something I should tell you? Probably.”
“Well, are you going to?”
Am I going to look him in the eye and tell him I’m sleeping with his daughter? Abso-fucking-lutely not.
“I’m gonna plead the fifth on this one, Monty.”
He laughs to himself, clearly entertained by how uncomfortable I am.
I change the subject. “Are you free tonight?”
“I am. Well, I was going to see if Millie wanted to get dinner.” He lifts a brow. “Or is she busy?”
God, this is weird. Six weeks ago, I thought I couldn’t stand the girl, and now I know her schedule better than her dad. And he knows as well as I do that if she’s not free, it’s because she’s with me.
“As far as I know, she is, but what do you say about having dinner at our—my house instead?”
A knowing smirk lifts on his lips at my slip-up. “I could do that.”
“Great. And after, I need you to stick around for a bit. Miller is working on some recipes for work tonight. Well, she doesn’t know she is yet, but I think it’d help her if you were there for that.”
Monty leans back in his chair, folding his hands over his stomach, his tone full of suspicion. “What are you planning, Ace?”
I lean back too, sprawling my legs out in front of me. I guess if this man were anyone other than Monty, I’d feel uncomfortable being so honest, but more than being Miller’s father, he’s my friend.
“Look, the other night she got a call about work, and she was pretty upset because she hasn’t had much time in the kitchen. That’s my fault, so tonight, some of the guys from the team are going to come over and try whatever she comes up with. She needs to regain some of her confidence in the kitchen, and I know that more than anyone else, Miller wants to impress you.”
He shakes his head. “That’s ridiculous. I’m always impressed by her.”
“I know. Trust me, I know, but . . .” Fuck. How the hell do I tell Monty about his own daughter who he clearly knows better than me? “She’s putting a lot of pressure on herself to get back to the level she was at before she won that award and hearing it coming from you that she’s doing a good job would help ease that burden, I think.”
Monty pauses, a bit confused by my spiel, but eventually he relents. “Okay, I’ll be there.”
“Great.” With a simple nod of my head, I stand from the chair, but he stops me at the door.
“I know you don’t want her to leave, so why are you helping her do just that?”
Well, shit.
There’s no way to answer that question without him figuring out just how fucking deep I am.
I sink into the chair again with a heavy sigh. “Because it’s her dream, and I care about her too much to not help her chase it, even if that means I won’t be there when she gets everything she’s worked for.”
Monty watches me, looking for any signs of bullshit, I’m sure. I wish I was lying. I wish I wasn’t such a fucking sap that I could, in good conscience, do everything in my power to make her stay. But I won’t be the reason she gives up on her dreams.
“You’re good for her, Ace.”
“No, it’s . . . it’s not like that.”
“Oh, it’s not like that, huh? So you’re going to sit here and tell me you’re sleeping with my daughter but it doesn’t mean anything? Can’t wait to hear that.”