Page 74 of Every Move You Make

“Look, a park!” Robyn cheers, pointing behind the dimly lit parking lot of the bar. She grabs my hand and pulls me. “Let’s go!” Why we’re both running is beyond me, but I don’t question it. She lets out aharumphwhen she lays on the ground and I take my spot next to her.

“This is nice,” she sighs. Framed by streetlights and shadowed trees, the night sky embodies the possibilities ahead of me, but my heart aches despite it. Then there’s a small hand that finds mine, and that same strained heart sputters. “I’m going to miss you,” she whispers.

I squeeze her hand and swallow. “I’m going to miss you too, Robyn. A lot.”

Her head turns to me. “Why is it you never call me by my nickname?”

“Birdie?”

“Yeah,” she frowns. “Everyone in the rugby community does. Everyone in my family does. I don’t think you ever have.”

The moon illuminates her lovely features and I wish I could touch her the way light does, even just a second. I wish that I could keep her hand in mine forever.

I tell her the truth. “Because you were never like everyoneelse. You’re Birdie to them, but you’ve always been Robyn to me.”

“Oh,” is all she says. And maybe the old me would have tried to back track or add some kind of qualifier to make sure she knew I only meant it as a friend, but I don’t now. I let the meaning sink in and her realization dawns.

Together we turn our faces back to the night sky and lay there quietly, sounds of the thumping bass from the nearby bar and the occasional car passing by filling the void. She doesn’t let go of my hand.

“Zay?”

“Yeah?

“Can we make a marriage pact?”

“What?”

She turns her face back to mine and repeats herself. “Can we make a marriage pact? If we’re both single by the time we’re thirty-five… well, when I’m thirty-five and you’re thirty-six, we get married,” she smiles. “Even if we haven’t spoken in years, we find each other again and get married.”

Suddenly, my mind plays like a rugby match and the uprights of my life come into view as an enormous gap appears. Only a fool wouldn’t take this opportunity. I’m not the fastest, but I’m taking this breakaway and barreling for the try line. It’s a long run, but victory will taste so sweet.

Newfound hope rebuilds my outlook on life and I vow right then and there to stay single until Robyn Cassidy is walking down the aisle to me.

“It’s a plan, Robyn.”

Chapter 34

No Choice

Dell

“Iforgot about that,” Robyn gasps, her hands covering her mouth.

Then it clicks into place. The marriage pact, his old job in security, the way he jumped down those dudes’ throats when they got close to her… it all comes together. Confronting this, I ask knowingly, “You’ve been cockblocking her for years, haven’t you?”

He swallows and there it is again—shame. “Yes.”

“Isaiah,” she says, her hands moving from her mouth to her heart. “I don’t know what to think. Have you stayed single, waiting for me?”

“You were it for me, Robyn. Until…” he eyes train on me, “until I fell for him too.”

My pulse picks up as my heart flutters. I remain in control but surely they both can see me blush. “Now we’re getting somewhere,” I beam.

Robyn walks up to him and rests her hands on his arms. “Why did you stay away from me for so long? Even when you moved back here you made yourself scarce.”

“I thought that if you knew I was… trying to keep you single, that you’d hate me. And you’d especially hate me if you found out I’ve been watching you like I have. Taking that job as security was mostly to keep an eye on you when you went out. Taking this coaching job was along the same lines. I was able to stay involved in rugby after my injury and keep tabs on you. I was too afraid you’d see how I shaped mylife around you and you’d freak. I thought it was safer to just wait it out.”

She huffs a disbelieving laugh. “Until we were thirty-five?”

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