She scoffed, then turned her attention back to Tommy. “I didn’t like your friend much initially.”
“You mean I didn’t likeyou,” Levi countered.
“Ha!” Haddie cried. “You liked me so much that you—”
“We came to an agreement, put our mutual dislike aside, and now we’re roommates!” Levi blurted out, not wanting to find out how her sentence would have ended or what images it might have conjured in his head.
Shit. Images were already conjuring. Haddie in his bathtub. Haddie naked and wet climbing out of his bathtub. Haddie’s lips…
Tommy barked out a laugh. “Sure.Notdating. What did she say about ‘adorable’?” Tommy asked, nodding his chin toward Haddie. “So… Did you two just meet with the whole apartment thing?” He straightened back to his regular sitting position and glanced back and forth between Levi and Haddie, who were both staring at each other.
“Yep,” Levi replied, beating her to the punch. “Met the morning I called you on your honeymoon asking about the apartment.”
“Yeppers…” Haddie added. “First time we ever saw each other was in the hardware store.”
Tommy glanced at his friend to see if he was buying their story.
“Yeah, well, seems like you’ve known each other as long as me and Five-Oh-One have,” Tommy told Haddie. “Because you push his buttons about as well as I do, and not gonna lie… It’s damned funny to see.”
Haddie grinned and clapped her hands together. “Five-Oh-One? Okay, that is even more adorable than him introducing you as his BFF from elementary school. Seriously. You two must have been lethal in high school with all that sweet, small-town boyish charm. I bet you both broke a lot of hearts.” She laughed. “Or maybe you didn’t because you’re both too damned adorable.”
At this, both Levi and Tommy straightened their posture andjutted out their chins, peacocking for the pretty woman who totally had their number.
“I mean, I broke a heart or two,” Tommy said, his voice dropping an octave. “I wasn’t that sweet.”
“Yeah, same,” Levi grunted. “We were total assholes.”
Levi was one of the good guys when he was a teen. Sure, maybe football always rode shotgun, but any girl he dated knew that and seemed okay with it. That was high school. Levi never saw himself as book smart like Tommy and Matteo. Football was his shot at a big future, and if that meant putting everything else second, then so be it.
But when it all went to hell—when he lost his mom, his career, and in a way, his brother soon after—that sweet, adorable guy was lost too.
What would Haddie think of the man he’d become since then? And even more so, why did he care?
“Good evening, everyone!” Principal Crawford’s voice boomed through the gymnasium’s speakers, echoing off the high ceilings.
Haddie gave them both a quick wave and then spun back to face the floor.
“Here we go…” Tommy remarked with a sigh, and he leaned back, resting his elbows on the empty bleacher behind him.
“Welcome back to what I’m sure will be another winning year for the Summertown Muskies.”
“Muh-SKIES!” almost everyone in the crowd of faculty roared back in the same chant they’d done at every football game for as long as Levi could remember.
Everyone but Levi, Tommy, and he was pretty sure, Haddie. It had been so long since Levi had been a Muskie. Haddie had neverbeen one. And Tommy… Well, he guessed Tommy was the only one to actively abstain despite the pride Levi knew he had for his school and the students he taught.
“After two more days of working in your classrooms, we welcome our students back on Friday morning not only to what I know will be an award-winning academic year, but also to our first home football game to kick off the season.”
Another chorus of “Muh-SKIES!” rang out, but this time the high school and middle school mascot’s name turned into a continuous chant, with Coach Crawford basking in the glory of the legacy he’d created.
Finally, Coach Crawford cleared his throat into the microphone, and the chant slowly faded until he had the auditorium’s full attention once more.
“It warms my heart to hear the spirit of our town so fervently displayed among the educators of our future leaders. If you’re new to Summertown, there are two things you should know. One, our town lives up to its name. Its famous gardens and topiaries and, most recently, outdoor art installations bring visitors from far and wide to witness what some may call a spectacle but what we know as simply summer in Summertown.”
Soft murmurs of laughter and recognition emanated from the crowd.
“But once summer ends, our little town’s sole draw is its unparalleled football team. For years, we were one of the best in the state…a few times,thebest.”
Tommy raised his brows at Levi, indicating the role Levi playedin Summertown’s football glory days.
