Free Single Elimination: A Cozy Mystery (Brenna Battle Book 4) by Laney Monday

Blythe always had great hand-eye coordination, even better than mine, and she caught them easily and let herself inside. I wanted to go in there with her so bad. To cuddle up on the couch with her and put on a sappy movie and get her a great, big bowl of ice cream. But I had to take care of those kids, and get Jake the Snake out of here. Out of our lives.
    “Nice work, Jake. We’re happy here. Blythe is happy here. She moved on, and then you just had to butt into it.”
    He threw up his hands. “It was just a friendly visit. I didn’t think it would be like that.”
    “She loved you,” I hissed. “She really loved you.”
    “Well, we can’t help who we love.”
    Do you still love Mitzi? Part of me was dying to know. But I couldn’t let him know that. He might think I still cared, that I still loved him.
    I said, “But we can help what we do to the people who love us, can’t we?”
    “Look, I didn’t come here to fight, Brenna. I really didn’t.”
    “Then you’d better leave. We have kids in there. Kids who are counting on us.”
    “No problem. I can help with the kids.”
    “No problem? You are a problem! And you being here, in our space, that’s an even bigger problem!”
    “I feel really bad that it went down like this. Let me make it right. Let me help you out until Blythe calms down.”
    “I don’t want you anywhere near those kids.”
    “Okay. I’ll just go try to talk her down, then.”
    “Or my sister! Don’t you dare come near my sister again.”
    “Fine.”
    Finally, Jake looked a little miffed. It wasn’t near as good as apologetic, but it sure beat acting like everything was okay, or that everything could be okay.
    I went back inside and bolted the dojo door shut. The kids all looked up at me with wide eyes. They were sitting in a circle on the mat, with their gi tops and belts, which I always had them take off for snack time, back on. The snack table was cleared off and wiped down, and twelve pairs of slippers were lined up at the mat’s edge.
    Sammi and Katie quickly got up and came to the edge of the mat. “We were playing Telephone,” Sammi said.
    “Because it’s quiet and calm,” Katie added.
    “Oh.” That was all I could get out, because there was a lump in my throat. How thoughtful of them to come up with Telephone, the game where they sat in a circle and whispered a phrase from one person to the other. The kids looked so concerned, and I knew in my heart it wasn’t for themselves, it was for me and Blythe. I hated Jake for coming here and causing such a commotion. I hated it that the kids had been scared, even a little bit. But that look in their eyes—especially Sammi and Katie’s…
    We love you , it said. Jake had made me question everything I ever thought about love. He’d made me wonder if it was even real, and if I’d ever know real love when I saw it. But the love of these girls was real. I slipped my arms around both of them and pulled them in for a hug.
    “Thank you, girls,” I said. “I’m glad I can count on you.” Before I could release them, a dozen pairs of bare feet pounded toward me. In seconds, I was covered with a blanket of kids. The last few tried to jump on top, and we toppled over into one big pile, laughing and shoving and rolling around. I caught a glimpse out the front windows, of Jake in his rental car driving away. I hoped that was the last I’d see of Jake for a very long time.
    Of course, what had started as a hug on the mat evolved into judo, as anything on a judo mat tends to do. I eventually called a stop to the melee and split the kids into two groups by size for one of their favorite games, the circle drill. In each of the two circles, the kids grabbed the judo gi lapels of the people next to them and tried to get them to fall down, using only foot-sweeps. Anyone who let go, dropped to a knee, or fell down, was out of the circle, until only one person per circle remained standing—Champion of the Circle.
    I watched the kids,