Page 118 of Forever Wild
“You’re talented, Ev. Whether or not this house sells, doesn’t change that.”
“Promise me you won’t buy this house. It wouldn’t be fair. How would you feel if I bought the Wildcats?”
He arches one brow.
“Pretend I’m rich enough to do that.”
“Fine,” he says, still smiling. “I promise not to interfere with your job.”
He leans forward and kisses me.
“Thank you.” I finally laugh. “Why can’t you behave like a normal boyfriend?”
“Normal sounds boring, but I’ll give that some thought. First though, we have another problem to deal with.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Mhmm…” He picks up a fry and holds it out to me. I bite half of it, and he takes the rest.
“Sounds serious.” I climb over the food and onto his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck.
“Oh, it is.” His palms flatten on my lower back. “We need to tell your brother.”
34
IT JUST HAPPENED
JACK
After we get back from the road trip, I go home and unpack, shower, and then call my dad to check in.
“That was a hell of an effort,” he says of last night’s game. “Thirty more points and you’ll have the most in franchise history.”
“It was a good night,” I say of the game and of the events that followed. “How are things there? Do you need anything?”
“I’m fine. Got everything I need.”
I consider asking him again about coming to a game, but I know the answer. And knowing my luck, if he managed to come, he’d get drunk and make a scene. That’d be hard to explain to the media and front office.
“All right, well, you know how to get ahold of me. And if you need something while I’m traveling, call James.”
“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
I want to refute that, butkeep my mouth shut.
“Thanks for calling, Jackson.”
“Bye, Dad.”
I hang up and then look around my quiet house. Everything is in order, unfortunately, so I guess there’s only one thing left to do.
“Hey.” Tyler answers the door with a smile, his brows pulled together in question. “What are you doing here?”
“Can we talk?”
“Yeah, of course.” He holds the door wide for me to come in, then walks in front of me to pick up the toys that block my path to the living room. “Sorry, we weren’t expecting anyone. Piper’s napping, and Charlotte and I are playing.”
His little girl is sitting on the floor in the middle of dozens of colorful blocks. She grins shyly at me as she continues to place them one on top of the other until they are ten or so high and then she takes the hockey stick I gave to her for her birthday and whacks it down.
