Page 42 of Full Coverage (Boys of Fall)

Nolan thought about that. Oakley was a new addition. So was Lacey. Sadie had been older. Though they’d all known her, she hadn’t been a part of the core group. Annabelle had been a classmate, but she’d been a bookworm rather than a football girl. Charlene was with Wade now, but she’d been his brother’s girl in high school…

Nolan shook his head. “No, I wouldn’t say that, actually.”

“But you’re standing back,” Glen pointed out.

Hewasstanding back. But it was by choice. And habit. “I’m more of an observer,” he said.

“Nolan Winters, right?” Glen asked. “You’re writing that book about Coach.”

“Yep. And all of those yahoos.” He gestured toward the group with his beer bottle.

“Yeah?”

“Can’t write about Coach without writing about those guys,” Nolan said. Coach had influenced a lot of kids over the years, but none as much as the guys who’d played on his championship team.

“You can’t date Coach’s daughter without involving those guys either,” Glen said, lifting his own bottle to his lips.

Nolan chuckled. “Yep. But you seem to be holding your own.”

Glen lifted a shoulder. “She’s worth it.”

Nolan took a drink. “Just so you know, the fact that you think that, makes those guys pretty happy.”

Glen looked over. “Truth is, I don’t care much about making those guys happy.”

“Those guys being happy makesLoreliehappy,” Nolan said, but he was impressed by the guy. Because he was right—it wasn’t his job to make Jackson and Tucker, Wade, Carter and the rest happy. Just Lorelie.

And maybe Coach.

“Yeah, well, that’s maybe why I didn’t knock any heads together when they first started giving me shit,” Glen said. “Didn’t want to lose points with Lori.”

Nolan lifted an eyebrow. No one called Lorelie “Lori” besides her dad.

“So how come you’re not over there with your girl?” Glen asked.

“My girl?” Nolan repeated casually. But his heart kicked against his ribs.

“Randi. The gorgeous brunette—the mechanic—there in the middle who’s four shots in,” Glen said. “She’s yours, right?”

Nolan felt thehell yeahrock through him. Randi was his. Absolutely. And ever since he’d given her the Valentine and seen the look on her face—how much a stupid two-dollar card had meant to her—he’d been determined to behers. Not just the guy who had a crush on her, not just the guy fucking her, but the guy who took care of her and made her feel as special as she was. The guy who wanted to make her look the way that card had made her look, every day for the rest of his life.

Randi needed to be loved. And no one could do that better than him.

“Yeah, that’s her,” he told Glen. “Miranda.”

“So how come you’re not over there with them?”

“Well, because I’ve been fighting being over there with them for a long time,” Nolan said. “It’s safer over here.”

He already felt the pull—the temptation to claim a stool at the bar as his forever, to start reminiscing about old times, the urge to make a bunch of new memories to reminisce over in the years to come. It was strong here—the lure to stay, to settle down, to make a home.

“And it’s just my luck that when I finally fall for a woman, it’s the one in the midst, literally, of that group,” he added.

Glen took a long draw of beer, watching the group, seeming to consider what Nolan had said. Then he nodded. “I’ve noticed that falling for a Quinn girl has a way of fucking up a lot of plans.”

“Your plans get fucked up?” Nolan asked. The “Lori” thing might have something to do with that.

Glen didn’t even hesitate. He grinned. “Big time.” He definitely didn’t look disappointed or apologetic.

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