“Resha hates football and I doubt my mother would want to attend.” While she still tried her best to remain active my mother shied away from going out amongst people she didn’t know or larger crowds.
“Run it by them and see what they say.”
Smiling, I pulled Tyler’s head down until our lips connected. “Thank you.”
“Show rather than tell,” he retorted before sucking my lower lip into his mouth.
I did show my gratitude for his generosity for the remainder of the night.
****
“Thank you,” I told the huge, bald man who towered in front of the door that led to the elevators up to the skybox section of Williamsport Arena, where the Cougars were playing. It was the following Sunday, and as planned, I was attending Tyler’s home game for the first time. Unfortunately, I was alone since Resha had to make a last minute trip to Boston for work. And as I guessed, my mother wasn’t up for an outing at a football game. I figured I would be fine, however. I loved football, and even without anyone to watch the game with I’d enjoy seeing it live from the view in the sky. I’d seen Tyler every night that week. In fact, he’d slept over every night the previous week. So much so, that his belongings had taken over one of the top drawers of my dresser. When I asked how come we never stayed at his place he shrugged and said he liked my place more.
I rotated my neck after stepping off the elevator, searching for the door that would lead to the box seats.
“I.D.,” a deep voice sounded.
I looked up and up some more until my eyes collided with the dark gaze of another bald and extremely large man. His stern face, stature, and standing with his hands positioned in front of him shouted that he was more security.
“Sure,” I answered, a little caught off guard. I realized security was tight in this section of the stadium but I’d already shown my I.D. and badge to the first security guard.
“Thank you, Ms. McDonald. You may pass.” He stepped aside and I entered through the entrance into the luxury seating area, expecting to see a number of faces I didn’t recognize, likely wheeling and dealing. That’s what usually happened in these particular seating areas. Most times, half of the seat holders had no interest in the game down on the field, but in who they could rub shoulders with in the luxury seats. It was a world I happened to be very familiar with.
So when I entered the room and my eyes first collided with the scowling face of Aaron Townsend, I shouldn’t have been too surprised. However, I’d specifically asked Tyler if his family members were going to be in attendance and he’d said they weren’t.
Mother and Father are away. Aaron and Patience are too busy with the babies to attend a football game. Joshua is still celebrating his honeymoon, and Carter is likely working and Michelle isn’t too interested in football.
He was wrong. Oh, so wrong.
My gaze shifted from Aaron’s scowl to a surprised looking Joshua who stood next to him, arm in arm with a woman with big, curly, auburn hair.
“Hi!” a soft voice interrupted the silence.
I glanced down to see a boy with the same hazel eyes as Aaron, caramel skin, and curly dark hair staring up at me. My heart instantly melted.
“You’re a friend of Uncle Ty’s,” he stated with assuredness.
“I-I am.”
His smile was wide and my heart caught in my chest. I had to look away from him. Reluctantly, I looked back up at the man I presumed to be his father,theAaron Townsend.
“Kyle, take your drink to the table,” he ordered in a stern yet gentle voice. For some reason that voice surprised me. From what I’d read, heard, and seen of Aaron Townsend the man didn’t have a gentle bone in his body. Of course, that was how outsiders described him. Whenever Tyler did, it was with an affection one held for their older brother.
“Well, come in.”
I glanced over and sighed at the sight of a smiling older woman with bright blue eyes. Deborah Townsend. Tyler’s mother.
“I’m sorry. I’m Destiny McDonald,” I introduced at the same time she took me by the arm, walking us toward one of the circular wooden tables at the center of the room.
“I’m Deborah, and that’s my husband, Robert.” She tilted her head to a tall man with greying hair who was speaking to another man. As soon as she touched his arm, he turned dark eyes on her. I shouldn’t have been shocked at how handsome Robert Townsend was in person. I’d certainly seen his pictures in business articles before. However, in person the magnetism that was even apparent in photos, was tenfold in person. And every one of his sons had inherited it. All of them.
Each one of the Townsend men was there with their significant others. I was able to put faces to the names Tyler had been telling me about for weeks. Joshua and his new wife, Kayla, Aaron and his wife, Patience, as well as their four children were all in attendance, along with their eldest brother, Carter, his wife, Michelle, and their sons, Diego and Samuel.
“How did you and Tyler meet?” Patience asked me as she bounced one of her fussy twins over her shoulder. We were standing at the bar in the box seating area. I swallowed the sip of my diet cola. I smiled at Patience who was approximately the same height as I was, at least she would’ve been but I had decided to where my favorite stiletto booties to go with the skinny black jeans and the Cougars jersey with the number seven, which was Tyler’s number.
“I was hired by the team during this past summer’s training camp to teach about financial planning. I’m a financial advisor.”
Patience nodded as she rubbed the baby’s back, her loose hanging sisterlocks swinging as she moved her head.
