Our first real disagreement. I leaned in closer. “Baby, I love you, but I know there’s more.” He hung his head, which only solidified what I suspected. “Did it have anything to do with me?”
First he paled, then turned red, and that was all I needed to know. “No, ’course not.”
“Please? You won’t hurt my feelings. I’ll always love you and your mom.”
He lifted a shoulder and clasped his hands on the wooden table. “She really did say she wasn’t interested in moving because her whole life was here with Theo. So I teased her and said I thought I was her life. I told her we could go to Broadway and have real good pizza. See the tree at Rockefeller Center at Christmas.”
It all sounded pretty innocuous to me. “But something happened.”
His fingers gripped tighter, the knuckles turning whiter. “You know Momma loves you.”
It was as I suspected. My smile was thin. “Yeah. I know.”
“Baby—”
“Please.” I held his gaze. “Tell me.”
Brody gave a sharp nod, then a sigh of defeat. “Okay. I made all the arguments I could, and she didn’t say anything. Finally, she looked up at me and asked if I was doing all this because of you.”
“Me? You mean because we’re together?” The last few words were said in a whisper as I spotted several people walking toward us.
“No. It was more like, am I making this big decision to follow you. That’s all.”
That was enough. My heart sank. I thought Brody’s mom and I got along, certainly better than I ever had with my own mother. For her to think Brody was coming to New York simply to be with me and not doing what was best for his career devastated me. Early on, when my parents had told me over and over how I’d disappointed them, I’d learned to hold that pain inside. But God, it hurt. Badly. Now I knew I had no one completely on my side except Brody, and even then, I was tearing him apart with this decision. I wasn’t being fair to him.
“What did you say?” I asked in a low voice.
“Don’t look like that,” he pleaded. “You know how I feel. Nothin’ and nobody could ever make me do anything I didn’t wanna. And I told you it was a long shot that she’d wanna move. But that won’t change my mind or how I feel about you. Nothing ever could.”
Hoping my smile would reassure him, I nodded. “I know. And I do understand. More than you know. I’m not going to insist you stay in the city if you don’t want.”
“What’re you talkin’ about? I want this trade, I swear. Momma didn’t mean it like that. She loves you.”
I dismissed his protests. “Let’s do this. We’ll both have apartments in the city, but after the season is over, you go home, and after a month or so, I’ll follow and hang out. Like we’ve been doing this time.”
“Dev, you don’t think the press is gonna think it’s odd that two guys hang out only with each other—no women?”
Annoyed that he was right, I crushed the empty cup in my hand. “Dammit. I’m trying to make it work for us, but it’s ridiculous. What the hell are we supposed to do? Get married to women and live a lie? I wouldn’t do that to a woman or to you.”
“I don’t know, baby. It sucks balls.”
“If you don’t want to stay in the city in the off-season then I’ll buy a place for myself down here somewhere. Not in the same town, but close enough that it wouldn’t be hard to see each other. All I know is that I’m not going to spend half the year without you. I’m thinking about the end game all the damn time. You and me together.” I kicked the dirt under the table. “Love shouldn’t be so fucking hard.”
Brody sighed. “We’ll work it out.”
But at what cost?
Vette joined us, his arm around the shoulders of the petite, blond Dora Lee. “What’s up, my dudes? Y’all look like you were havin’ an intense conversation.”
Brody and I rose to our feet, and he gave a wave to the couple. “Nothin’. Just figuring some stuff out. Hey, Dora Lee. How’s little Nicky?”
“Not so little anymore. He’s almost ten and taller than me. Wants to play football.” She gazed up at Vette. “Everett said he’d be happy to show him some special moves after dinner.” Her bright-pink nails played against his copper-brown skin, tracing the rose tattoo under her fingers. Over the years, Vette had accumulated numerous tats, and he and I had spent some time comparing.
From the intensity of Vette’s dark eyes as he gazed down at her, I’d bet he’d be showin’ Dora Lee some special moves as well. “No one better than Vette.”
“Hey, baby?” Vette bent to kiss Dora Lee. “Why don’t you find Nicky, and we’ll go out to dinner. Wherever you’d like. I just need to talk to my boys here for a moment. Wait for me by the car?” He dug out keys from his shorts. “It’s the white Escalade.”
Her skin flushed pink, and her blue eyes glowed. “Oh, okay. Thanks.” She smiled shyly at us. “Bye, Brody. Nice to meet you, Devlin.”
