Page 29 of False Start
“Weston has a game over Thanksgiving. We won’t be able to make it down.”
“It’s fine,” she said, hoisting her bag through the front door.
“We’ll move the date so we can celebrate together.”
The door slammed behind her, and I felt the weight of her presence lift off my shoulders as her footsteps faded in the corridor.
I’d survived her whirlwind visit this time, but now I faced a new problem.
Convincing my fake boyfriend to meet the family.
Weston
Georgie: How’s Florida?
Weston: Hot and wet.
Georgie: Like me?
Weston: Fuck, princess. You’re in a mood, aren’t you?
Georgie: Sorry. I feel like I need to butter you up before I ask a huge favor that I’ve been putting off asking, and you should absolutely say no to, but I really hope you’ll say yes.
Weston: Color me intrigued.
Georgie: Is there any chance you feel like celebrating a late Thanksgiving in Texas while you protect me from my nightmare family? Before you ask, I’m absolutely throwing you to the wolves and asking you to wrap yourself in bacon first.
Weston: I don’t know if that was meant to sound kinky, or if I’ve just been missing you, but seeing as saving you is one of my favorite hobbies, there’s no way I’d miss a chance to meet the family that puts the fun in dysfunctional.
Georgie: They’re really not fun. But thank you.
Georgie: I miss you too, BTW.
I grinnedas I tucked my phone into my gym bag and headed for the bus to the hotel. Between Georgia starting on set, and back-to-back away games for the team, we’d barely had a chance to see each other. Our fake relationship was still in place, but the less I got to see her, the more I realized I wished it were real and that we could make the time to spend together. Our text conversations had been the highlight of my day for weeks, but I hadn’t worked up the balls to tell her how I felt.
Life was unpredictable, and I didn’t think I’d survive getting close to Georgia and having her walk away from me like Harmony did.
“You look deep in thought,” Christian said, dropping into the seat beside me as the bus trundled out of the parking lot.
“Life, love, and next steps, my brother,” I said, watching the stadium recede into the distance.
Christian hummed, flipping his cell in his hands. “I get that. How is everything? Gia, your shoulder… you?”
I wanted to brush him off. Make like everything was sweet and move on, but it seemed like I mightn’t have been the only one going through something, so I went with something close to honesty.
“Things are good on the surface, but I guess I’m wondering if I can trust it, you know? I thought things were good with Harmony, but then…” I shrugged. Christian had been there through every step of the last year, and had seen me rebuild not just from the injury but from the heartbreak.
“Marina likes Gia.” It was said with the resolve that Amber would use to convince me cookies were better than cake. It was an absolute, and therefore impossible to refute.
“Does she?”
Christian glanced at me, then back at his hands as he continued to flip the phone over and over. His heel tapped out a staccato rhythm in time to his bouncing knee.
“She’s mentioned it a few times when I pick Zara up from her house. Just little things, but she likes how you are with Gia. She says you smile more, and that you both deserve some happiness.”
“That’s really nice of her to say—”
“She never liked Harmony.”
