Terrance sat down, so Tobias did the same and was more than a little surprised when Piper kept inching toward him. Eventually she even asked if she could sit on his lap.

“Sure,” he said, lifting her onto his knee.

Piper gave him a sweet smile every time she turned around to look up at him, which was often. The fact that she seemed to like him made him feel more optimistic about the evening, but he couldn’t help wondering what was taking Harper so long. He and Terrance had watched at least fifteen minutes of the game.

Eventually, she came into the room but she looked upset, flustered. “I’m so sorry,” she said.

He set Piper aside and got up. “No problem.”

“I was ready when you arrived,” she explained, “but then I—I ran into a little problem.”

“Is everything okay?”

“It is now.”

“Are you sure?” he asked. “Because we could always put this off until another night.” Or not go at all.

“Let’s not cancel,” she said. “I’ve been looking forward to it.”

He glanced between her and Terrance. “I guess we’re going. Thanks for keeping me company.”

“Have a good time,” Terrance said. Then he gave Harper a sympathetic look and spoke in a softer voice. “Try not to think about it, okay?”

“Think about what?” Tobias asked as they walked toward the door.

“I’ll tell you in the car,” Harper replied, but Tobias thought he could guess when, after calling for Piper and not getting an immediate response, Harper’s sister yelled, “Piper, come now. Your father’s on the phone!”

“You cut your hair,” Harper said as soon as they got in his truck.

“I was ready for a change,” Tobias explained.

She nodded. “Looks good.”

“Thank you.” He couldn’t tell if she was completely sincere. She was still preoccupied.

The radio came on as he started the engine and pulled away from the curb. “So…what’s going on?” he asked.

She pinched the bridge of her nose before dropping her hand. “Back there? Oh, Axel was throwing a fit.”

“About…”

“The fact that I’m going out to dinner with you.”

Tobias turned off the radio. “How’d that come up?”

“He texted me about thirty minutes ago. Said he wanted to talk to the girls. So while I was getting ready, I had Everly call him. The next thing I knew, she was bringing me the phone, saying he wanted to talk to me. Apparently, she’d told him I was about to go on a date. So he demanded to know who I was going with—and freaked out when I told him.”

Tobias pressed the brake so he could turn the corner. “I’m sorry. Like I said, we could always do this another time.”