When Tuck opens the door, he’s wearing gym shorts and no shirt.
We stare at each other.
“This. I want this,” I hear myself say. I’m not thinking rationally.
Maybe.
I don’t know.
But I want to know who he is and what this harmony we share is about. I want him to want our child.
I run into his arms, and he picks me up.
Chapter 13
TUCK
Jasper gives me a fist bump as he takes his chair. He’d been up at the bar getting us another beer. “We pulled it out at the last minute, yo! You think it was the bracelets?”
“Absolutely!” I laugh.
He salutes me. “You kicked ass, Big T!”
Yeah, I guess I did. Tate, my replacement, limped off the field with a twisted ankle, went to the locker room for scans, and never came back. I played my ass off with no mistakes. I fidget in my seat, trying to relieve the pain in my hips from a fall I took.
I take a sip of my beer. Yeah, the win was good, but this season is the first time the Pythons haven’t made the playoffs.
The waitress sets down my grilled chicken and veggies, then gives Jasper his chicken and Cheetos. I shake my head at him as we sit inside the Baller.
Shawna, a brunette with big tits, sits across from me. She keeps giving me the “Do you wanna get lucky?” smile. A friend who hangs around with Courtney, she homed in on us when we sat down.
I’m midbite when she slides her bare foot up my calf. I set down my fork and raise an eyebrow as she takes a long sip from her red wine.
“I’ve been missing you,” she says. “You used to come in every weekend.”
“He’s pining after someone,” Jasper tells her with relish. “You should focus on me. He’s not interested.”
I haven’t seen Francesca since she left the penthouse the day after the gallery. We spent the night together, then woke up and went for a walk. She insisted I get a tree for my place, so I bought a nine-foot evergreen; then we ran into boutiques for ornaments. After the tree was delivered, we decorated, had dinner delivered, and then fucked for hours under the twinkling lights. She gave me a compass keychain as a gift, something she bought secretly while we shopped together.Something to guide you home,she said, her eyes glittering, an earnest look on her face.
The next day, she, Cece, Brogan, and Darden celebrated their Christmas in his apartment while I spent it in the penthouse, just me and Cherry. I told her I was seeing family in Virginia for a few days. Embarrassment and pride kept me from admitting that I was alone.
Refocusing, I think about the compass. I am lost. I have no direction. How does sheknowme?
I exhale.
Yet I’m not surprised at our connection. Is it the great sex?
After Christmas, they flew to LA to meet Lewis and see Cece’s house. I pull my phone out and scan through the texts we shared as Shawna renews her efforts on my other leg.
I smile at one I sent her.It’s raining here today.
She sent me a photo of her and Brogan in a lush garden outside Cece’s house. The sun was shining, her hair was in a ponytail, and she looked young and beautiful.
Later, I sent her a pic of my scruff I’d let grow out. She sent me a pic of her unshaven legs.
The next day, I asked her if she’d had the lemon bars at the bakery around the block, and she said she loved them with ten heart emoji.I walked down to the bakery and had some overnighted to Cece’s address.
One morning, she sent me a pic of a charcoal sketch of a woman wearing her emerald-and-topaz necklace. I saved it to my phone and added it as her contact photo. I like her art. She’s talented without being obvious or pretentious about it. She’s so real. Genuine.