Page 106 of Unexpectedly Falling
“Say yes, man.”
I look back and forth between the two guys who have become a hell of a lot more than friends—they’re family.
“Yes.”
Montana whoops and pumps his fist while Archer reaches his hand across the table and I take it and shake.
“We’ll work out the details later,” Archer says quietly before raising his hand toward the door.
Looking up, I see Mason and Bodhi walking toward us, a gift bag in Mason’s hand.
“Do we even want to know what you have in there?” Montana asks with a wry grin.
Mason slides the bag in front of me. “Nah, it’ll be better to just see his reaction.”
Regretting this almost immediately, I pull out the tissue paper revealing two shirts and a onesie. The larger one is black with hot-pink lettering and the smaller one is hot-pink with black lettering. The onesie is white and I bark out a laugh as I read what he’s printed on all three.
“Good, right?”
“What’s it say?” Montana asks, making me laugh harder, and because I still can’t get it together, I throw it to him. The onesie readsDaddy works the streetand has a small sheriff’s badge and under that it saysMommy plays the fieldwith a soccer ball and net.
The large shirt saysI’m Daddyand the smaller one saysI’m Mommy.
Montana snickers and hands it to Archer, whose eyes go wide before he blushes and shakes his head.
“Thanks, man, these are great,” I say, nodding and putting them back in the bag. Nessa might not be ready to be calledMommybut I hope she’ll get there one day. And if nothing else, she’ll get a kick out of the shirt anyway.
“You’re welcome. And you know, things got so hectic with the holidays and everything that we’ve been slacking on game night,” Mason remarks, earning a groan from me and snickers from everyone else. I can admit I’m a terrible loser, and even though I like spending time with them, I almost always want to flip a table if it involves a muffin tin or a ping-pong ball.
“To be fair, Nessa hasn’t been able to experience one. I bet she’ll mop the floor with us,” Montana muses, taking a sip of his beer.
“Oh definitely, and now that you three,” Mason says, pointing to Montana, Archer, and me, “are all taken, and this guy,”—he points to Bodhi who scowls—“is boring, I have to do that stranger photo thing by myself.”
“The what?” Archer asks, his hand stopping halfway to his mouth, his glass suspended as he stares.
“Case’s wife is doing one of those photoshoots that pairs up strangers and they meet at whatever location and the photographer captures them seeing each other for the first time and then they take pictures and shit.”
“Thank God I have a girlfriend,” Archer groans as he wipes his hand down his face. “Could you imagine?” His expression is absolutely horrified, and it has the rest of us cracking up as the waitress comes to take our order.
I don’t know how long we stay there, but by the time we say goodbye, I feel like I’ve left every ounce of uncertainty at the table. My life with Nessa and Remi is just beginning, and I can’t wait to join my girl in Nashville.
49
JENSEN
NOVEMBER—THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
The stadium is packed as fans in opposing jerseys stomp and cheer as the Tennessee Tornadoes take on the Virginia Vikings in the championship game. The atmosphere is pulsing with energy as both teams battle on the field. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’m not afraid to admit it’s been like that every time I see Nessa play.
But this is the big one.
Thelastone.
And I’ve been on the edge of my seat since we got here.
But she’s in the zone, sexy as hell, and easily having her best game of the entire season. It’s bittersweet but I couldn’t be prouder of my girl.
Our girl.
