WICKED LOVE
Book 4 in the Single Dad Playbook series
arrives April 10, 2025
Chapter 1
Our Story
BOWIE
I follow my daughter into the house, feeling like I’m letting her down with each step. She’s tearing through the kitchen with her new present in her hands, rushing to showcase it in her bedroom.
“Look, Dad,” she calls.
I follow her up the stairs, stopping when I reach her room. She turns to see if I’m there and when she beams up at me, I smile back and move closer to her.
“Look, Daddy, I put it with my favorites,” Becca says.
She places the “present”—a picture frame of a woman and a young girl next to the others. This one has a woman with long blonde hair, and the young girl’s hair is like Becca’s, light brown. We can only see them from the back. They’re walking by a lake with lots of fall leaves on the ground. All the other pictures have young girls with light brown hair, but the women’s looks vary. The common thread is that all the pictures look like a loving mom with her daughter.
I sit on the oversized chair where we read books together, and she tucks her head in the crook of my arm as she shows me her framed pictures. There are pictures of us together and one of Becca with my parents, but the dozen or so frames of moms and daughters are her “collection,” and she refuses to replace the stock photos.
“Where is my mom?” she asks quietly, almost to herself.
“I don’t know, sweetheart.”
It kills me every time she asks, which is often. Once her mom, Adriane, decided to leave, she made a clean break. I don’t get check-in calls or updates on what she’s doing with her life, she just disappeared.
She taps the picture. “This looks like Poppy and me.”
I press the bridge of my nose between my fingers. Ever since Becca met Poppy Keane at our local bookstore, Twinkle Tales, a couple weeks ago, she hasn’t stopped talking about her. Poppy didn’t help matters by suggesting Becca come to Briar Hill where she works as an adaptive recreation coach. Since Becca has Down Syndrome, I’m already familiar with Briar Hill. They have an excellent reputation for all they do for kids with disabilities, but I’m hesitant to take my daughter, even knowing she’d love the activities they offer. Because of Poppy Keane.
Even though it’s fairly typical of kids with Down Syndrome to accept and be friendly with new people, it still concerns me how quickly she attached to Poppy.
The frame with a lookalike Poppy and Becca is just another case in point.
She looks up at me. “We see Poppy again?”
I’m saved by my phone buzzing. I wave it. “This is Weston. I need to answer this. Can you be ready to leave for his house in five minutes?”
“Set the timer!” She hurries to hand me the timer we keep in her room, and I set it for five minutes. I hand it back to her as I answer the phone.
“Hey,” I say to Weston, giving Becca a thumbs up. “Everything okay?”
“Will you guys be hungry? We haven’t eaten yet, so I was going to order some takeout.”
“Becca and I ate at Starlight Cafe just a little while ago, but go ahead. We can come later if you want.”
“No, come on over. We’ll just do leftovers for us then since you’ve already eaten.”
“Yeah, man, we’re good. We’ll be over there shortly.”
I hang up and Becca holds up the timer.
“It’s time,” she says. “Time to see my pretty dress again.”
It’s wedding season for my best friends, who also happen to be my teammates.
“Tell me our story…about our framily,” Becca says on the drive over.
She loves our friends with a passion and loves to hear me talk about everyone. We call them framily around our house. I’m fortunate to have friends who have welcomed us into their lives. We’re closer to them than our biological relatives.
It’s both sweet and heartbreaking that my girl craves family more than anything.
I take a deep breath, about to use most of my words for the day. I’m the quiet one in our friend group and everywhere else, but there’s very little quiet time when Becca and I are together. She likes to discuss all the things.
“Okay, here’s the rundown,” I begin, same as I always do. “As you know…” I glance back at her and she’s looking at me with her bright eyes. She has the sweetest smile. “I’m a linebacker for the Colorado Mustangs, and Weston Shaw is our quarterback.”
“I love Weston, and Sadie is the best,” she says.
“Yes, they’re great. Weston and Sadie are getting married in a couple of weeks, and Caleb is two years old and adorable.”
“Yes, he is,” she says emphatically.
“Our tight end, Rhodes Archer, just got married a couple of days ago and is on his honeymoon right now.”
“Oh, I love Rhodes! And Elle is the best.”
I chuckle. “I think you could tell our story better than I could. His son Levi is four and also one of the cutest kids I’ve ever seen.”
“Levi is cute,” she agrees. “He has curly hair. He opens doors for me.”
“Levi’s a little gentleman, isn’t he? And even Henley Ward, our wide receiver—well, former wide receiver now, after a serious ACL injury—is engaged now.”
“I sad Henley’s hurt,” she says. “I love him and Tru is the best.”
I laugh again. She thinks all the women are the best. She’s not wrong; they are incredible people.
“Henley and his ex-wife Bree have three daughters, Cassidy, Audrey, and Gracie, that we love dearly.”
“So dearly,” she adds.
If I don’t say that every time, she’s sure to add it.
“They’re fourteen, ten, and seven,” I say.
“I nine soon,” she says.
The girls dote on Becca, and Caleb and Levi adore her too. She’s treated like a princess every time she enters the room and I fucking love it.
“That’s right. All of you are growing up too fast.”
“And you bonded…” she starts then pauses for me to continue.
“The guys and I originally bonded over football and the fact that we were all dads raising our kids by ourselves, but we can’t exactly call ourselves the Single Dad Players anymore now that some of the guys are getting married.”
“Dad, you not married,” she says, her lips puckering out.
“No, I’m not. We meet on the regular to talk about all things kids, life, football…and lately, a helluva lot about the women in their lives.” I emphasize their because I need her to understand that there will not be a woman in my life.
Her smile is long gone now, and I focus on the road in front of me to avoid her scowl.
“You need a woman to talk about a helluva lot…on the reg’lar.”
I clear my throat and charge forward, trying both not to laugh and to distract her from the topic of women.
“We have a book that we write in all the time, The Single Dad Playbook, where we exchange advice and stories when we’re not together in person.”
“And Penn too!” she says.
“I haven’t forgotten Penn Hudson, our running back. He isn’t a dad, but even he has developed a fatherly bond with Sam, a kid that he mentors. It started through a tutoring program, but Sam has become like family to all of us by now, right?”
“Right. Sam is eleven and so pretty,” she breathes. “But Penn is the prettiest.”
I roll my eyes and she sees it in the rearview mirror. Her loud laugh fills the car.
“Neither one of them are that pretty,” I grumble.
“You call Penn pretty boy, Dad!” she argues.
“Oh yeah, that’s right.”
She leans back in her seat, satisfied.
Besides me, Penn is the only other single one at this point.
He sees a lot more action than I do though.
I’ll be living and dying on the single dad hill.
“You’re pretty too, Dad,” she adds.
“Thanks, Tater Tot.”
She giggles. She loves it when I call her that.
From the backseat, I hear, “I love you, Dad.”
“I love you too, Tater Tot.”
Damn near melts my heart every time, and she says Dad a lot, so basically, I’m mush whenever my daughter’s around. Have been since day one.
She’s the only one capable of eliciting that in me. She proves I am human after all, I guess.
“I call you Daddy too,” she says.
“Yes, my literal girl, and I love when you call me Daddy just as much.”
When we pull into Weston’s driveway, Becca claps when she sees Henley and Penn’s cars.
“Our friends are here,” she says happily. “Look, Daddy!”
I smile over at her. “Yep. And you, Cassidy, Audrey, and Gracie are going to be the prettiest flower girls who ever lived.”
“We are pretty a lot,” she says. “Levi and Caleb too.”
I know she’s thinking about Rhodes’ and Elle’s wedding now.
“You were beautiful, but you always are. I wasn’t in any weddings as a kid. Do you like being in all these weddings?” I ask.
“I like it lots.” Her lisp is extra pronounced when she’s excited and she’s practically bouncing in her seat. “Sadie says we blow bubbles, but we wait until they say I do.” She holds out her hands and bounces them with I do.
“That’ll be fun.”
We get out and walk to the door. I let Becca ring the doorbell.
Henley opens the door, holding Caleb. Caleb loves all of us, but “Unca Hen” is his favorite.
“Unca Bowie!” Caleb says happily.
I hold my fist up and he bumps it with his.
“Hey, you two, how’s it going?” Henley asks.
“Great,” Becca says. “Right, Dad?”
“Right.” I nod, smiling at her when she looks back at me.
“Excellent.” Henley grins and tilts his head to the side. “The girls just went into the family room, Becca. They’re waiting on you to try on the dresses.”
“I try on my dress now,” she says, rushing off to the family room. She’s moving so fast, she nearly collides with Weston. “Oh! Sorry, Weston! I want to be a princess.”
He laughs and holds his hands out toward the family room. “Right this way, Princess Becca.”
He walks with her the rest of the way, and Penn sticks his head out of the living room as Henley and I walk back with Caleb.
“There you are. Dude, preparing you now. Sadie’s not giving up on this date business. Have you found a date for the wedding yet?” Penn puts his hand on my shoulder and squeezes.
“Not happening,” I say.
Weston walks in then. “What's not happening?” he asks.
“A date for your wedding,” I say.
“Oh man.” He laughs. “Sadie really thinks you need to bring a date.”
“Even if it wouldn't be fun for me?” I ask.
He grins. “She seems to think we could make it fun.”
“I don't know where she's getting her information,” I grumble. “I don't have a date and I don’t plan on finding one between now and then. Your wedding is just around the corner.”
“Man, it can't come soon enough for me,” he says, grinning. “I can't wait to marry that woman.”
“I can't wait for you to marry her either…so you can get off our backs about a date,” Penn says. “Women get weird around weddings. It’s more of a time to get acquainted with a stranger in a hidden nook in the church rather than be all formal and make things seem more serious than they are...”
“Gross,” Henley says, laughing.
“I’m kidding. I'm not that bad,” Penn says. “Unless she's really beautiful…”
I roll my eyes.
When the girls come out later, they’re hyper from getting the final measurements on their dresses. As they’re making popcorn, Sadie corners me.
“So…” she starts.
I shake my head.
She pouts. “But I want you to have someone to dance with.”
“I’ll dance with whoever wants to dance…but I don’t want to have to try to make awkward conversation during dinner. I want to actually enjoy your wedding.”
Her face breaks out into a smile. “As long as you’re dancing, I’m good.” She hugs me and then goes off to help the girls.
Weston smirks at me and I swipe my hand down my face.
“She’s really hard to say no to,” I admit.
“Don’t I know it.” He looks at Sadie with such reverent love in his eyes, it makes my heart ache.
I was in love once.
I don’t intend on making that mistake again.