“You mean something something?” she asked, her eyes dancing. “Because I don’t know if I was thinking about something when I was six. I just knew my life didn’t work unless you were in it.”
“How about the last ten years?” he asked, wondering if she’d come to the same conclusion as him. “Did they work?”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, her gaze moving to the screen. Jerry was walking into a sports bar, his hair slicked back, his suit expensive and perfectly cut. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I mean I thought they did. I thought I was doing okay. And then I came back here and saw you and everything I believed in was a lie.”
“How about guys?” he asked softly. “There must have been some.”
“A few.”
His stomach tightened.
“But nothing serious.”
The band around his gut loosened a little. “Did you live with anybody?” He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.
“Nope. You?”
He shook his head. “No. I was too busy working to think about relationships.”
“I don’t believe you were a monk for ten years.”
“I didn’t say I was. I had… needs.” He winced. “God, that makes me sound like a dirty old man.”
“There’s nothing old about you,” she said, leaning forward to cup his cheek. “Though you are kinda dirty.”
He laughed, and knocked the cap up from her brow, pulling her closer until their lips met. Kissing her made his heart hammer in his chest. God, she was perfect.
“Ow.” Van winced and rubbed her side. “Damn gear shift.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah. Just remembering why making out in cars is uncomfortable.”
He leaned over to the backseat and grabbed a blanket and the speaker. “Let’s go sit on the grass. It’ll give us some more space.”
She joined him at the front of the car, watching as he laid the blanket out, then offered her his hand. She was still holding her Coke can, and she took a sip, smiling at him as Tom visited his concussed client in the hospital.
“How many concussions has Cam had?” she asked Tanner as the camera panned out to show a football player in a neck brace.
“Too many. Five, I think.”
“Ouch. I saw the one he got against Chicago. It looked awful.”
“Yeah, I flew up to see him that time. He was unconscious for more than twenty-four hours.” Tanner sighed. “I’m hoping he thinks about retiring soon.”
“He’s too young for that, isn’t he?”
“I guess so.”
“Does he have plans after he stops playing?” Van asked. “Maybe he could become an agent like Jerry Maguire.”
“Ha! That would involve having to actually talk to people.”
“It’s funny how often people got him and Logan mixed up at school,” Van mused, smiling at him over the rim of her can. “And yet you could tell the difference as soon as they opened their mouths. He’d mumble a few words…”
“And Logan would never shut up.” Tanner laughed. “I guess they’ve always been that way. A bit like you and me.”
“As in you’re the talkative one, and I’m the strong silent type?” Van asked, her brow arching.