When they reached the area where the girls were getting water by the benches, Benji saw that Angie was standing by herself, moving a puck back and forth. Before he could head over there, Shea's voice filled the rink.

"Coaches Vaughn and Benji are leaving us for some away games. So let's take a moment and wish them good luck on the road!"

All the girls clapped and cheered for them, a chant of "Go Assassins" beginning, and the guys grinned. The girls were a good group, and Benji was going to miss them. But when he looked over to Angie, she looked sad as she went back to playing with the puck. Skating over to where she was, he leaned against the boards and watched as she moved it in and out of her legs mindlessly, messing up, but he didn't think she cared. As the chants died down, Benji cleared his throat.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

She looked up, her little face twisting in confusion. She was sweaty, her cheeks red, but the frustration was in her eyes. He wasn't sure what a seven-year-old had to be frustrated about, but he sure as hell didn't think she needed to be. "What's that mean?"

He grinned. "Means 'what's up?'"

"Nothing," she said simply, shooting the puck against the boards with a little more aggression than needed.

He smiled. "Nothing, or you don't want to talk about it? Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, fine," she said and then let out a breath.

"Do you not want to talk to me?" he asked because-who was he? He was just her coach. "That's completely okay."

She looked up at him once more and then shook her head. "It's not that. It's just I'm worried about my mom."

His heart started to race as he came off the boards. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, I just think she's mad because my dad is coming here to get me early."

"Early?"

She nodded. "Yeah, he should be here soon. I have to watch for when he comes."

"Oh," he said, and he wasn't sure why his heart dropped a bit. "Well, I'm sure she's not mad at you."

"No, I know," she said, letting out a long breath. "I just hate that she gets upset. She's always mad."

"I doubt that."

"Well, not at me, but at everything else. It just sucks. My dad is mean to her, and I tell him to be nice, but he just ignores me. He told her he wanted her to pull me from hockey, but Mom said no. So he screamed at her until she hung up- Oh, crap, he's here."

Benji looked in the direction Angie had turned. Sure enough, a man was standing there, looking out at the ice. He was average height, lanky, and maybe it was because Benji thought he was a bag of dicks, but he wasn't very good-looking. Lucy picked this dude to make a kid with? Praise God that Angie was a mini Lucy.

"I gotta go," Angie grumbled as she grabbed her water. "Have a good road trip. Sucks you're leaving."

"Yeah. Come on, I'll go with you. I need to talk to your mom anyway," he said as she started to skate away. "Adler, Angie's gotta go. I'll be back."

"Yeah, see you later, Hart. Have a good weekend."

She waved at Shea and then the rest of the team. "Bye, you too."

Benji opened the door for her, and she walked out. When he looked up, he saw Lucy walking toward them, her eyes full of annoyance. But still, she was so pretty.

Her long, brown hair was down, straight along her shoulders, but with a little curl at the end. She had it pinned to the side, out of her eyes, which were done up to enhance the color. The red dress she wore was tight across her breasts but flared out at her hips, her legs clad in dark tights and boots to her knees. She was wearing some kind of blanket looking thing that he had noticed was popular in fashion now, but that wasn't what had him gawking at her.

No, it was the red of her lips.

So shiny and so plump.

Lord Almighty.

But she wasn't looking at him, her gaze only on Angie. "Baby, your dad is here."

"I know," Angie grumbled, handing her mom her water and stick.

"Hey, Angie," the guy said, coming to them as Benji shut the door behind him. The guy looked up at Benji and his brows came together before dragging his gaze back to Angie. "Ready?"

"I gotta get my equipment off. Give me a minute," Angie said before walking over to where her bag was. Benji watched her for a moment, and when she looked up, he smiled.

"You good, Angie?"

She nodded, a little smile on her lips. "Yeah, thanks, Benji."

"Anytime," he said, watching as Lucy came over to help her. Sitting down, she helped her undress and Benji knew he should have gone back on the ice, but he wanted to make sure they were okay.

Plus, he didn't trust this guy at all.

"I need you to hurry up, honey. We gotta meet Heidi and Nina. We're already late," he called over to them, and Lucy looked up, irritation flying off her.

"We are," Lucy bit out, untying Angie's skates and sliding them off her feet.

"Well, if I didn't have to drive over here and you would have met me, we wouldn't have this problem," he snapped back at her and she looked up, glaring.

Whoo-wee, that girl was scary.

"And I told you that she has hockey Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and games starting next week on Saturday. This is important to her."

"No, it's important to your family. She doesn't want this," he said, his voice rising. "You care more about making them happy than about what Angie wants."

"Excuse me?" Lucy roared, standing up. Her eyes cut to Benji's and she paused, her hands clenching at her sides.

"Mommy, don't fight," Angie said, slamming things into her bag before sliding her feet into her shoes. She then looked up to her father. "I do want to play, Dad. I love it. Mommy doesn't even have time to bring me, but she does. Stop being mean."

The guy glanced down at Angie, and Benji didn't like the way he looked at her. Like she was a nuisance and not the best damn thing in his pathetic life. "Whatever, we'll talk about this later. Let's go. Heidi's waiting."

Turning to Lucy, Angie wrapped her arms around her waist and hugged her tightly. Lucy's arms basically wrapped around the girl twice as she kissed her hard on the top of her head. It was almost too much to see. It was obvious Lucy didn't want to let her go, and when Benji looked away, his gaze met Rick's.

"Did you need something?"

Benji's eyes narrowed. "Not from you. Just want to make sure Angie was good, and I had to talk to her mom about the game next weekend."

Rick glared and then rolled his eyes before looking to Angie. "Let's go, Angie. You'll see her Sunday."

"I love you, Mommy," Benji heard Angie say, and honestly, he wasn't sure how Lucy did this. He would lose his fucking mind. Hell, he was and Angie wasn't even his.

"I love you too, baby. Have fun, okay? And I'll see you tomorrow at the recital. I can't wait," she said happily as she pulled back, cupping Angie's face. She was trying. She was trying so hard to be positive, it was killing her.

"What? You're coming?" Rick asked, and Lucy didn't even look at him.

"Of course, we wouldn't miss it for the world," she said and Angie grinned.

"We? The whole Sinclair clan, I'm guessing?" he seethed, and Lucy just smiled at Angie, her little dimples peeking out. It was his first time seeing them, and boy, what a sight.

"Yup, we can't wait."

Angie was beaming up at her mother, and when she wrapped her arms tightly around Lucy again, Benji swallowed hard. These two were something he had never seen before. Or maybe he had, but he was too drunk to remember. Which made him a bit sad.

Kissing her once more, Lucy patted her back. "I'll take your bag. Go on, I'll see you later."

"Okay, bye, Mommy," she said and then trudged to her father.

"Bye, baby, see you tomorrow," Lucy called as they walked toward the door. Once they were out of sight, her shoulders fell and she sucked in a deep breath. Benji didn't say anything, just watched as she slowly shook her head, swallowing hard. When she looked to him, she shrugged. "Sorry you had to see that."

Benji shook his head. "Don't apologize. You okay?"

"You'd think, after four years, that giving her to him would be easy, but it's not," she said. She looked so defeated. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her in the hopes she'd feel better.

"Yeah, doesn't seem so."

Shaking her head, she picked up Angie's bag and then looked over at him. "Yeah, anyway, what did you need? Is it, like, my snack day or something?"

Benji smiled. "Oh, I don't know. I just wanted to make sure you guys were okay."

"You didn't need anything?"

"Nope," he said simply. "Just wanted to make sure you two were safe."

"Oh." She looked surprised by that. Her sweet eyes widened as her lip quirked a bit. She didn't smile, but at least she didn't glare.

"Yeah," he said, looking away and drawing in a breath. As much as he wanted to ask her out again, he knew that wouldn't be appropriate. She was upset and it wouldn't be fair of him to take advantage of that. So he'd wait. His moment would come. He'd just have to be patient. "Okay, well, be careful going home and have a good night."

"You too."

He went to turn, to hit the ice, but then he paused. Looking back at her, he saw she was turning, about to walk away, but he called to her, "Hey, Lucy."

Glancing over her shoulder, she met his gaze. "Yeah?"

"You look really pretty tonight."

As her lips curved and those dimples appeared, Benji found himself fighting for his next breath. Slowly, her cheeks reddened and then she was fully smiling at him. Yeah, that breath he was fighting for...?

He lost the fight.

"Thanks, Benji."

"Anytime. See ya."

"Bye," she said softly before turning to walk away. As he watched her walk, her ass swaying from side to side, he knew he couldn't give up.

Hell, he knew that from the start.

Now, he just had to get her to give him a chance.

"You know, just when I think I couldn't hate that son of a biscuit eater you chose to have a child with more, days like today happen, and I swear, I want to castrate the little bastard."

Lucy scoffed at her mother's proclamation as they walked into the dress shop after having a nice lunch with Jayden and Baylor. She guessed her mom had held it in while they ate with her brother and his wife. Things were already so stressful for Baylor with her surgery coming up that no one really wanted to talk about Rick. But it was evident everyone hated him.

"Jeez, Mom, tell me how you really feel."

Her mother shot her a look and Lucy realized she made that same face daily. She usually added a "What the fuck?" along with it, but her mother was too sweet for that. Unless Rick Hart had pissed her off.

And boy, had he.

Lucy hadn't expected him to do her any favors when it came to the recital. Hell, he hadn't even gotten her a ticket. But he also had not told her that she could have gotten a disc of pictures and a DVD, but that she had to pay for those two weeks in advance. She wasn't sure how she missed it on the days she took Angie to dance-she must have been working on something-but she had, so she didn't get to order. Even with a text to Claire, nothing could be done because everything was already paid for. But Rick had ordered, and when her mother asked him for a copy so that she could make a copy, he basically told her to go fuck herself.

Which Mom did not take kindly to, nor did River.

So, of course, when her mother stomped out of the lobby and River was very stern when he actually told Rick he could go fuck himself, Lucy was left with the aftermath. Which included Rick saying he didn't want Angie around River. Cold day in hell. River loved Angie, and he was about to be her step-grandfather, so Lucy decided Rick could suck it. Hell, she already had decided that. But if that wasn't enough to stress her out, Angie had whispered to her that she didn't want to dance anymore.

Fucking great.

It seemed like one thing after another, but she'd be damned if her daughter was going to be forced to do something she didn't want to. It could wait, though, until Lucy picked her up the following day. It had already been a morning of snide remarks and hellish death looks; Lucy couldn't handle a screaming match with that idiot. Especially when she had to go wedding dress shopping with her mother.

And not even for Lucy, but for her mom.

It was pathetic that she was jealous of her mother, but she was. Autumn hadn't let the divorce from Lucy's sperm-donor father or the cheating scandal ruin her. No, her mother took it in stride. She had her moment of mourning the loss of her almost thirty-year marriage, and then she was right back out there. It was kind of funny watching her crush on the boys' college hockey coach, and even funnier when she was the one to ask him out. It was cute and Lucy should be happy for her mother, but she envied her.

She wanted to be like her.

She wanted to be able to throw all caution to the wind. She wanted to give Benji a chance. It was insane, but it was all she could think about. That moment she said no when, really, she was screaming yes inside. It was so sad. She wanted to hope it would work between them because he was really proving to be a decent guy. He didn't have to stay at the rink yesterday and make sure she and Angie were fine. But he did. He also didn't have to say she looked pretty, but when he did, it meant the world. She may have spent some extra time getting ready because she knew she'd see him. For him to notice was just nice. So why couldn't she ask him out? Be the one to put it out there? Why couldn't she be like her idol?

Her mom.

Because their situations were so different, that was why. All her mother's children were grown, and once her husband was gone, he was gone. She didn't even speak to Lucy's dad. Hell, no one did anymore, not after the stunt he had pulled with Jace. Trying to buy him off so he wouldn't speak to any of them? Please, Jace was the baby. He needed them, and even if he didn't, he couldn't give up his momma. He was the biggest momma's boy in the world.

So really, Lucy couldn't even put them in the same category. She needed to be happy for the woman who had given her life and supported her no matter what. She was being an ungrateful, selfish brat and she needed to suck it up. And she also needed to let Benji go. Things would never work.

"I just hate him. I mean, how hard is it to let me get a picture to make a copy? I'll give it back! I've always been nice to that little brat, even when he doesn't deserve it. I'm done. No more Mrs. Nice Guy," her mother seethed, shaking her head as she moved each dress out of the way violently.

"Mom, those dresses did nothing to you."

She glared back at Lucy. "Shush. And also, don't they have a section for women who are older and getting married for a second time? I mean, jeez! I don't have the boobs for this."