Dev grinned. “Ain’t it funny how things like that can happen?”
Troy covered his eyes for a second before speaking, his voice thick with emotion. “I can’t thank you enough. You have no idea how much it’s meant to us. You’ve changed our lives for the better.”
“Just take care of yourselves and Jimmy.” Dev extended his hand, and Troy shook his and mine. “That’s all we care about.”
We distributed the signed T-shirts, footballs, and pictures, then headed home for lunch. I put burgers on the grill, took out two beers, and joined Dev on the couch on the deck.
“That was a real nice thing you did for them. How come you never told me?”
“I don’t know. It just happened so quickly, like one minute I saw him and Amber at the center, talking about what they could and couldn’t afford, Troy still so worried about being home and in a wheelchair, and the next I was at the bank, paying off the mortgage. It seemed like the right thing to do.”
“You always tell me what a good person I am, but do you know how special you are?” I took the bottle from his hand and kissed him.
“I’m not. Anyone would’ve done it.”
Dev hated direct praise and would always push his good deed on someone else. I guessed it had to do with never receiving any positive reinforcement from his parents. He simply didn’t enjoy people telling him what a great person he was, or understand how to accept a compliment, but I was here to change that.
“But you were the one who did it. And I love you for it.”
“I love you too. I was thinking…”
“Uh-oh,” I joked, and he elbowed me.
“Very funny. I’m serious. What would you say about buying a house upstate where we stayed? I’d love to have something the two of us own together.”
I hadn’t thought about it, but I did love the area. “I’d like that. Especially after the season’s finished, it might be a nice place to escape to and hunker down for the winter.” I ran my bare foot over his. “Snowed-in in a cabin with you, a fire, and a heap of blankets? I could think of worse things.”
Dev’s face brightened. “Fantastic. If we call Ezra, he can contact a real estate agent and find us something, I’m sure.”
A thought struck me. “But how could we…both our names? Wouldn’t that raise red flags? People are bound to find out.”
He shrugged and took back his beer. “I mean, friends work together all the time. So to be sure, we’ll form a business together and let the corporation buy it.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “I’ll tell Ezra.”
Dev’s spontaneity was another thing I loved about him, but this was a large purchase, and I wasn’t used to spending money like that. When you grew up poor, it was hard to change that habit.
“You’re sure about this? You don’t think we should think about it?”
He set the phone on the deck railing. “I don’t need to think when it feels so right. I know.” He leaned in, cupped my cheek, and brushed his lips to mine. “Like kissing you in front of that fire. Best decision I’ve ever made.”
Chapter Eighteen
Dev
Six months later
“How’s the shoulder?” Brody asked when I came through the door, having taken a car upstate after my PT session in the city.
I grunted.
“That doesn’t tell me anything,” Brody pressed, and I huffed out a sigh.
“It’s the same as it was last week after I came home. It’s fine.” I kicked my sneakers across the room. “And I don’t want to talk about it.”
I stormed across the living room to the bar, picked up the bottle of tequila, and splashed at least two shots in the glass. It exploded in my mouth, burned my throat, but warmed my stomach. Brody’s scent surrounded me, and he put his arms around my waist. I leaned into his naked chest. My support and rock. I couldn’t have gone through this without him to come home to.
“Even to me? We always talk about everything. But ever since the Super Bowl, you’ve shut me out.”
I closed my eyes, pain crashing into my heart. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I just hate that I disappointed everyone—the fans, the team, myself…I can’t stop thinking about it.”
