The team had played last night, then would play the following afternoon, but they all had the day off today.
It wasn’t the team’s schedule that left him feeling so anxious though. It was knowing Graham was about to come out to his family and tell them about his relationship with Thad.
Graham had assured Thad he had nothing to worry about, but he still couldn’t help but wonder if he was as confident as he seemed.
Sure, maybe they’d be fine with their son dating a man. But a man who was sixteen years older and had been incarcerated for a decade? Wasn’t that pushing their luck?
“Hey, it’s gonna be fine,” Graham assured him as he hitDial. “And stop fussing, you look great.”
Thad huffed, but he dropped his hand from where hehadbeen fussing with the collar of his olive-green button-down shirt.
He’d wanted to wear a suit, but Graham had rolled his eyes and told him he was going way overboard and to put on whatever he’d been planning to wear to the O’Shea Thanksgiving celebration they were going to this afternoon.
They’d compromised on the green shirt. Now, as the call connected, Thad rubbed his sweaty palms on his dark-wash jeans.
Four faces appeared on the call. Out of view of the camera, Graham took Thad’s hand and squeezed.
As greetings filled the air, Thad studied their faces. He saw the moment the young woman—clearly Graham’s sister, Corine—looked from him to Graham and put the pieces together.
Her face lit up and she mouthed,nice.
Thad let out a relieved huff, then realized he’d completely missed what Graham had said.
“What?” he croaked, internally groaning at the first impression he’d made.Great. Just great.
“I said we wanted to tell them something.”
“Right.” Thad drew in a deep breath. “Yes.”
“Cory, I think you’ve figured it out already but, Mom, Dad, Brody, this is Thad. He’s my boyfriend.”
Thad watched everyone’s reactions closely. Surprise flickered across all their faces—except Cory’s—but no anger.
That was something.
Graham’s mom recovered first. “Well, it’s lovely to meet you then, Thad. I’m Angela.”
“Nice to meet you, Angela,” he said.
She was beautiful, with the effortless blonde good looks of a well-off middle-aged woman who probably put a lot of effort into looking like she didn’t do much to improve her appearance at all.
She smiled. “This is my husband, Paul. My daughter, Corine. And her fiancé, Broderick.”
“Please, call me Brody,” he said with a grin.
Thad nodded.
Paul was good-looking too, with eyes like Graham’s and sandy brown hair going gray. He had the look of a college professor.
Cory was as blonde and pretty as her brother, with a mischievous smile.
Brody was another frat-boy-looking handsome fucker—he wore an argyle sweater vest for fuck’s sake—with chiseled cheekbones and a short beard.
Brody was also a Black man.
Okay, Thad hadn’t seen that coming. Maybe he shouldn’t have assumed, either.
After everyone had called out their greetings, Angela continued. “Thad? How did you and Graham meet?”
