Riley balled up a napkin and threw it across the table at Cole, who easily batted it away with his goalie reflexes.
“Denied!” he cheered, then turned to Tobias. “Hey, speaking of amazing goalies, you getting excited for the alumni game, Tobes?”
“Wow, real subtle segue, Cole,” Riley said.
“Aw man, we should get a segway to ride through town. That would be so cool,” Josh said.
Riley turned to where Josh sat next to him, his chairbutted up against his own, and gave him a sweet smile. The man may not have a big brain when it came to vocabulary, but it didn’t matter because Riley loved him for his big heart.
“Maybe we’ll rent them for a weekend in the city sometime,” Riley said, always willing to fulfill Josh’s wishes.
His attention snapped to Tobias when he started talking.
“Uh, getting there,” he said, his discomfort clear. “I gotta train some to shake the rust off.”
“Chase would be a good help with that,” Cole said. “He always dominated with the hand-eye coordination drills.”
“Yeah,” Chase squeaked, then cleared his throat. “I mean, if you needed someone to help you with dry land training, I could lend a hand.”
Tobias bobbed his head side to side, like he was weighing his next words, then he faced Chase. “That could be helpful, yeah. I may take you up on that.” Chase couldn’t hide his smile from Tobias, who turned a bit pink and quickly spun away from Chase, settling his gaze on his beer again.
Josh nudged him and then moved closer.
“Hey, the band is about to start,” he said softly into Riley’s ear, his warm breath leaving goosebumps across his skin.
The cover band broke into a rendition of “My Own Worst Enemy” by Lit and everyone at the table nodded to the beat while Josh sang along.
He couldn’t help but smile as he observed the joy in Josh. Their whole lives, Josh had been a ball of happiness, infecting everyone around him with contagious smiles.
Riley had always done everything he could to keep him happy, and he planned on making that his job for the rest of his life.
That was the real dream job, making Josh happy. Like Josh had always done for him.
He owed Josh everything, even though Josh would tell him he didn’t.
They were both happy being there for each other, and Riley couldn’t wait to keep it that way.
Epilogue
Ten years later…
“WHY WON’T YOU GET in the hole? This hole is literally made for you and you won’t go in. Why are you being so damn stubborn?”
Josh followed his husband’s voice until he reached the bedroom and stood in the doorway. Riley was on the floor surrounded by wooden spindles and slats, cursing up a storm at the pieces in his hands.
Aside from the frustration lining his face, he was as handsome as the day they got married eight years ago. He had some deeper lines on his face, notably his laugh lines thanks to the years of laughter they’d shared together, and crow’s feet that gave away his age, but Riley Hanson was still the most beautiful sight Josh had ever seen.
And any day now, he’d get to see his husband becomea father, a dream they’d had for years.
They’d tried adoption for years, but it had fallen through so many times they’d almost lost hope—until they received a call a week before from the agency. A woman in Pennsylvania picked them after the original couple set to take her baby suddenly dropped out, and Riley and Josh were overjoyed to take their place.
Their new baby boy was due sometime that week, and they were in a rush to prepare everything for his homecoming, which was likely why Riley was so frustrated trying to put the crib together.
The rest of the room was mostly ready, after Josh insisted on adding glow-in-the-dark accents wherever he could. A recliner sat in the corner with a stack of blankets, and a changing table sat against one wall filled with diapers and everything else they’d need. All that was left to do was build the crib.
Josh stepped out of the doorway and settled on the floor next to Riley. His gaze was fixed on a spindle that didn’t want to slide into a pre-drilled hole in a long wooden slat.
The tension slowly eased out of Riley’s spine as Josh slid his hand up his back, until Josh reached his opposite shoulder and pulled him against his side.
