Page 51 of The Interception
“I’m pretty sure that’s because you ran barefoot from your house to catch me,” she teases.
I dip my head and kiss her again with a gentle ease that seems to be the way between us. “No, that’s not why. I mean, yes, I’m beat after that exercise, but I mean it. My whole existence brightens when you’re near me. I’m falling in love with you.” I pull back and palm her face in both hands. “I’d really like toknow if you feel the same way, and if you want to try to make this work? I don’t know how, but somehow?”
Layne bites her lip to hold back her tears. They glisten in her eyes, but I never want her to hold back with me. Not ever.
“You haven’t held back your feelings from me since the moment we met. Please don’t start now, gorgeous.”
She chokes a laugh and the tears spill free. “I didn’t want to push you,” she admits. “Yes, I want to work on this because I feel the same way. I just didn’t want to try to force myself into life here with your sister and everything that you’ve both gone through.”
“Layne, that’s ridiculous. Don’t you know you make everything better?” I breathe a sigh of relief, one that is so soothing, even my grief over losing my best friend seems to ease a little. And I remember my sister and niece. “Come on. There are two ladies back home who will absolutely put me in the grave with a magazine beating if I don’t bring you back with me. Maybe Leo too at this point.”
“A…what?” she asks, her ponytail bobbing as she quirks her head.
“Long story. Come back with me? Spend another weekend with us?”
“A weekend?”
And real life crashes back around me. “I guess you’ll have to go back to Savannah some time to get your restaurant started, but I can come down there when the season is over. Spend a few months there, see the sights.”
“And then what? We keep doing that until…what?”
I can’t help feeling like she’s already pulling at a loose thread, and I’m about to panic when she lays her head on my chest and wraps her arms around me. “I’ll head back to the house with you, stay a few more days, and we’ll work it out. I never said the restaurant had to be in Savannah, Ender. You only assumed.”
“But, Layne, I don’t want you to uproot—”
“Shh.” She presses a finger to my lips. “Less talk, more snuggling me in the middle of the road.”
I chuckle and hug her until my neighbor, also known as the homeowner’s association president, pulls up in his golf cart. He shakes his head at me and passes. “You’re blocking traffic,” he says with a smile. I look back and realize there are no less than five cars stopped, all their drivers watching our exchange with bated breath.
“Oh my gosh,” Layne says. “We have to go back to your house so I can hide.”
“One more first.” I move in and kiss her again, wondering why I waited so long to listen to my heart.
Epilogue
Ender
Six months later…
I haven’t been afraid of Andrew Rossi since the first day I met him six months ago. His final game was phenomenal, proving that he’s still got it even if it causes him pain. Charlotte is due any day now, which prompted Layne to want to head back down to Savannah for a couple of weeks to help out. However, my nerves are standing on end today as I wait for Andrew to meet me at a local Savannah coffee shop.
I’ve already asked their father for permission to propose to Layne, but I can’t shake the feeling that I need to talk to Andrew too. I arrived a few minutes early to give myself a chance to calm my racing heart.
Layne’s restaurant turned into something completely different. She and Sarah Beth opened a food truck instead, and its popularity in Charleston has skyrocketed them both to near star status. When we go out, people recognize them before they even see me. Which is fine by me. I never started playing football to become famous anyway. Besides, the ladies worked hard toearn their name, and in only a few months, they’ve exceeded their own expectations.
True to her word, Layne named our signature sandwich after me. She even kicked the heat up a notch so it could truly earn its name as The Ender. It’s put a few people out of commission with its spice. They named all of their dishes after the people we love…The Andrew, The Lottie, The Lula, The Sarah Beth, and even The Leo when he pitched in one day and babysat for Lula so Sarah Beth could go to work when the sitter couldn’t make it.
I no sooner sit down with my coffee and Andrew opens the shop door and nods at me. He acknowledges a few fans and settles in across from me at a corner table. The waitress waves at him.
“The usual?” she asks.
“You know it. Thanks, Evalina.”
She gets to work and Andrew gives me his full, unfiltered, intimidating attention. “So, when are you going to ask her?”
“I…wha…huh?”
Andrew chuckles. “I’m not a fool. I knew when Layne decided to open her truck in Charleston that she was staying because of you and not, what did she say?” He looks toward the ceiling and grins. “Because the Charleston historic district offered more opportunity.”
