I laughed. “We may have to talk about healthy boundaries.” I looked around the room. “Anybody here for you?”
Mikey’s face fell. Fuck. I always put my foot in my mouth with him. “Still unsuccessful there. I do alright, though.”
“I’m sure you do,” I said, trying to console him and acknowledge his soft spot for the women who fell into his DMs. More power to him. He grimaced and tried to make me feel better about it.
“It’s fine. I’m alright. But I think every fight I had with Stelle in college was because I was jealous of you two.” Mikey raked his damp hair back. “But hey, you’ve been a bit of a superstar yourself, haven’t you?”
I gave a modest smile. “Something like that.”
“Proud of you. I always tell people I knew you back when.” I hugged him to my side again. Mikey had always been good to me, even if it was just in his brutish kind of way. “And I’m glad you and Guy figured it out.”
“Yeah, well, he did the hard part,” I said as a freshly showered and delicious-smelling Guy stepped to my side.
“You chirped yourself out, Birdy,” Guy joked when he heard my shredded voice. He leaned down to my ear, and before pecking my cheek he said, “Gonna have to make you more hoarse tonight.”
He gave big hugs to my family and then introduced me to some of his new teammates.
“Big fan of your work,” one player, Beatty, told me. “My wife’salready so happy you’ll be around. We love your standup. How are you going to be funny if you’re happy with Stelle, though?”
Guy stiffened. He knew that I faced criticism sometimes, the price of being in the limelight. Some of it was about my jokes. Some of it was commentary about my body.
I was too West Virginia. I wasn’t West Virginia enough, a sell-out. If I existed in a female body and was pictured at an angle that wasn’t the peak of flattery, I was pregnant with someone’s love child. All my jokes had to be about dating because I was a woman. If I wasn’t sad and bitter, I wasn’t funny. When I talked about fame, I was unrelatable. If I was too witty, I was unlikable. I’d seen and heard it all.
Guy was prepared. After all, he was the former @funnyfan96. He knew every nasty thing people had to say about me and had a comeback for every point. But here, he was going to have to work with Beatty long-term. He couldn’t be his full internet troll self.
“I’ve known Kitty a long time. She always has something funny to say,” Guy said with a forced smile.
“Who knows? Maybe I’ll roast his teammates next,” I said with a raised eyebrow. Guy squeezed my butt as he stifled a laugh.
“Right. Right. I guess that was a dick thing to say. Nice meeting you. Rachel looks forward to meeting you,” he said before walking away.
Guy turned me to face him before we moved to another conversation. “You never need me to defend you, Birdy. I love it.”
“But I like it that you do,” I said, planting a smooch on his lips. “My big, scrappy bulldog.”
We had a nice dinner out with my family, Mikey, Branson, and Mel. Guy held my hand when we weren’t eating. It felt like the old days when Guy would have dinner at our house. Everything felt complete. Nothing was wrong. Everything was working out. The puzzle pieces all fit. Guy was really mine to have and had moved mountains to get to me. He said his agent threatened to quit the day he asked if he could arrange a trade to L.A., after allthe work she’d done on the New York area teams.
“We’ll have to send her a nice Christmas present,” I said.
“Maybe we can get her a baby announcement,” Guy said, wiggling his eyebrows.
My jaw fell open. “Guy Stelle, if you moved here thinking you were going to knock me up, you are out of your fucking mind. Call that moving company and tell them to turn that truck around.”
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” he said. “I love getting you all worked up.”
“You just want me to take it out on you later.”
“Maybe,” he said, sinking his teeth into a roll with a wink.
My family stayed in a hotel to give us privacy, but would help us move Guy’s stuff in the next day. He had a day off before L.A.’s next road stand.
That night, after Guy and I had worn each other out in every position we could think of, we drifted off to sleep together in our home. Not just mine. Ours.
The thing I thought would never be possible had happened. Guy and I were together. We shared a home. We merged the lives we’d built and were finally getting our happy ending.
Chapter 41
Guy
