Read Online Ever After (Love to the Rescue Book 3) by Rachel Lacey - Free Book Online Page A

screen, then answered. “Hey, Merry.”
    “Can I take a rain check?” Merry asked. “I work again tomorrow, and I usually go to bed super early on work nights. What if we go to The Watering Hole on Friday?”
    “Oh, sure. That sounds great.”
    “Everything okay?”
    Olivia swallowed a sigh. “Yeah. I just need a night out is all.”
    Merry made a sound of agreement. “That makes two of us. I’ve been a bit of a homebody since Jayden came to stay with us, but T.J. can handle bedtime when he needs to.”
    “Okay, I’ll text you later this week.”
    “Perfect.”
    Olivia hung up the phone feeling as if the spring had returned to her step. Her car was clean, and she had fun plans to look forward to.
    Now she just had to deal with the feral cat doing God-knew-what in her downstairs bathroom. She left the dogs gated in the kitchen, grabbed an armful of old towels, and cautiously cracked the door to the bathroom.
    The trap was empty. She grabbed its handle and slid it into the hall, then stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. A slight disturbance in the litter box indicated it had been used— Hallelujah —but where was the kitten?
    Then she spotted a bit of white fur behind the toilet. The kitten was crouched against the linoleum, eyeing her. Olivia set about fashioning the towels into a makeshift kitten bed on the floor beside her. Then she sat and scooped the terrified creature into her lap.
    The kitten hissed like a wild thing, struggling against her grip. Olivia pressed it against her chest and began stroking it behind its head. “Shhh. Sorry about this, but the Internet says I have to hold you and rub you several times a day to make you tame.”
    It didn’t fight her but instead crouched, eyes wide and terrified.
    Olivia kept rubbing it while she told the kitten all about her day, keeping her tone light and soothing. After she’d talked herself blue in the face, she set the kitten in the bed of towels she’d made. It ran behind the toilet again, hissing all the way. She made a show of freshening the food and water bowls, then said good-bye and slipped out of the room.
    She’d keep at it until she won him or her over. It couldn’t be that hard. Taming this kitten was the least of her worries.
    * * *
    Pete stepped inside the rec center and took a deep breath. It was quieter today. Maybe the boys had given up on him and gone home early. He could hardly blame them. It was four thirty, a half hour after Steve Barnes, the rec center’s director, had asked him to be here to coach their soccer practice. Pete had gotten tied up with a traffic stop and subsequent paperwork. The story of his life.
    He dropped his gym bag on the end of the bleachers and eyed the boys huddled at the other end of the gym. He cleared his throat loudly, and they scattered like drunks in a bar fight. One boy slunk off to put away the cell phone they’d all been ogling God-knew-what on.
    They came to the rec center to stay out of trouble, and thanks to Pete’s tardiness, that’s exactly what they’d been up to.
    “You boys ready to play soccer?” he asked.
    “You’re our coach for the day?” a tall boy with wavy blond hair asked.
    Pete nodded.
    “You’re late. We already played. We’re just about to clear out of this joint.”
    “According to Mr. Barnes, I still have almost an hour.” Pete swallowed his guilt and grabbed a bag of soccer balls off the bleachers.
    A couple of the boys groaned, while a few looked excited at the prospect. Zach Hill hung at the back of the group, head down and notably silent.
    Pete started rolling balls toward them. “Take a minute to warm up while I get set up and see what you can do.”
    There was more groaning. One boy kicked his ball under the bleachers. Zach dribbled his ball to the goal and kicked. It sailed over the top of the goal. He scowled.
    Pete set up some cones, then called the boys over. “You and you,” he pointed at two boys. “You’re a team. You’ll stand