Maybe that was what it was all about. I had found my own family with them, and it was natural to want to start new traditions with the ones you loved.
“That’s a good idea,” Kace confirmed. “Tomorrow we can go get decorations and use Cam’s truck to go from place to place.”
“Or,” Cam’s voice was serious and I could feel him tense behind me. “We could all just live together in one place.”
It had crossed my mind on more than one occasion that the way we bounced from each of our places wasn’t sustainable. But moving in together seemed too soon, didn’t it?
My eyes widened at his words, but only Kace could see me. His smile told me he was on board, and all I had to do was say the word.
“I don’t want to give up my grandma’s apartment,” I blurted my first worry. Grandma left me my tiny apartment and it was a sacred place for me.
“We don’t have to get rid of any of our places,” Kace pulled me across the couch and into his arms. “This apartment isn’t big enough for us all, but we could always turn it into your office. Or a crash pad for after our games here in the city.”
“You’re serious?”
“Of course I am.” Kace nodded toward Cam and added, “He is too.”
“Do you ever see this ending?” Cam asked me as I looked into his eyes.
“No,” I said quickly. I never saw an end to what we had. I would die without them in my life.
“You planned a Christmas surprise for Cam,” Kace whispered. “Let this bemypresent. You, me, and Cam…all together.”
“Oh my God,” I breathed while also nodding. “Let’s do it.”
“My place,” Cam confirmed. “It has everything we need to be a family together. We will keep yours and Kace’s apartments too.”
Tears sprang in my eyes as reality was hitting me. We were forever.
CHAPTER5
CAM
Just like that, we spent my two days off decorating my house full of Christmas and moving most of Kace and Ali’s things into my house. The big things stayed where they were, but between them both, I was going to need more closet space.
We..we were going to need more closet space.
My house was no longermyhouse, it was ours. I bought that house hoping to one day have a family to share it with, and while my family may not look the way I imagined, it was better.
Excitement and peace ran through me as I imagined them always being home with me, never having to worry whose house to go to or where they would be when I got home from games.
Ali was dragging us through a store for Christmas stockings, something we forgot on our first trip to get decorations. The store she chose was a busy department store in the mall, and on a Friday night, a couple weeks before Christmas, the mall was the last place I wanted to be.
She told us she knew which ones she wanted and could just run in and get them, but we would never let her go in alone. So we donned our hoodies and a hat, and followed her into the large store.
Ali went straight to the stockings and started looking for one labeled with an A, a K, and a C. She was moving quickly, and I felt good about getting what we needed and leaving.
“An A,” she squealed with excitement and handed it to Kace before turning back to the stack for more.
Normally, we would have ordered most of this to avoid the stores, but Ali wanted it done before I left, and I caved, knowing how important it was to her to make me happy. She knew traveling away from them, especially when we were making so many major decisions, was hard on me.
“K!” she squealed again and handed another stocking to Kace.
His face mirrored mine—a huge smile because of her excitement. But we were distracted and let our guard down for just a minute. That was when all hell broke loose.
“Cam Nichols?” I heard a woman scream.
Before I could look up, I had a strange woman in my arms hugging me and begging me for a picture with her. Kace tried slipping away to keep from being noticed as well, but when I looked at him, so did the fan, and she screamed his name as well. “Kace Jackson?”