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week? I could bring her up and then you could bring her back to me. Or I could even come back and get her if your schedule is too busy.”
    “No.”
    She backed up, stared at him for a moment. “What do you mean, no? I’m trying to work with you. So, you need to work with me also.”
    “No,” he said again. “You’ve had Jaylen for seven years, and I want her for the entire summer. That’s the beginning and end of my negotiation.”
    When she didn’t readily respond, he said, “What’s your answer?”
    “Dang, even your opponents on the court were able to at least dribble before they took a shot. Just hold on, I’m thinking.”
    Noel took out his cell phone.
    “Who are you calling?” Ryla asked as he unlocked his phone and searched through his contacts.
    “I’m looking for my attorney’s number. If you and I can’t settle this, then I’m going to pursue other options.”
    “Okay, okay,” Ryla said. “She can come with you for the summer. I just have one stipulation.”
    “And that is?” Noel asked while putting his phone away.
    “I have to come with her.”
    “Oh, heck no. I am not about to spend my summer with you,” Noel raged.
    “I could think of better things to do than spend my summer with a grouch, too. For one thing, I have a new business to get off the ground. But we need to think about Jaylen, Noel. She needs her mother. And you’re going to be busy with the campaign, so you won’t be able to watch out for her all the time. You’ll need me there, as well.”
    Relenting, because he knew she was right, Noel said, “Okay, you can come, but I have a stipulation myself.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Stay out of the way.”
    With that, Noel entered his SUV and backed out of the driveway, leaving her with no doubt that fun had just been canceled for the summer. Noel wanted nothing to do with her. Even though she had been the one to leave, Ryla had not been able to purge Noel from her heart and mind. She was still in love with the man. Ryla ached every time she saw him. She only wished she could go back in time and change what had happened.... She would have stayed and fought for their love. But to accomplish that she would actually have to send that time machine back in time to when her father divorced her mother for his twenty-one-year-old girlfriend. Or go back to when her mother’s new boyfriend tried to make a move on her, or when her mother went through divorce number two, because, big surprise, the mongrel cheated on her.
    After what she watched her mom go through, Ryla swore she would never let a man cheat on her. Every one of her friends had warned her about dating Noel. They said that a big-time alpha dog like Noel Carter would never be anything but a player. But Ryla didn’t want to believe them. Noel loved her and she loved him. Then she caught him kissing Cathy O’Dell after the play-off game. That happened to be the same day that Ryla had planned to tell Noel about the baby. But then she had visions of Noel walking out on her and her baby, refusing to have anything to do with his own child, just as her father had done. She then dropped out of college and ran from Noel and every man who would surely be another heartache. But now Noel was back, and her heart was aching for him in ways it hadn’t in seven long years.
    Ryla went into the garage to grab her and Jaylen’s suitcases. She would need to start packing.
    After bringing their luggage into the house, she sat down on her sofa and called her mother. Every bit of Ryla’s event-planning skills had been garnered from Juanita Evans-Berkley. The woman had style and grace and decorating skills that were second to none. Her mother had also just taken an early retirement from the publicity coordinator position she’d held with the government for twenty years. Juanita had big plans of traveling around the world and finding husband number three, but Ryla needed to put those plans on hold for a little while. “Hey, Mama,” she