Including Silas.
“It’s ridiculous,” I tell Ziggy.
I’m too far away from her.
It’s maybe six feet between where I’m standing and where she’s squatting and rubbing Jessica’s belly, but it’s too far.
I want to hold her hand. I want to hug her. I want to kiss her.
I want to promise her this will work out.
I want her to promise me she wants it to.
The guys pull away, and Fletcher bends over his phone. “Grabbing a promo shot from last season too…and posting both together on socials…”
“He’ll text the ticket office that he posted, and they’ll tell him how many more tickets move this weekend than did before,” Porter says.
“Are you an influencer?” Ziggy asks.
“I don’t do titles,” Fletcher says. “I justam.”
“That was the captain’s inspiration,” Porter says. “Thejust amthing.”
Fletcher snorts. “Was not. It was Goldie.”
“Is now. That’s what I’m telling everyone I see at headquarters. Captain made you a better person.”
I look at Ziggy and shrug. “I can’t fully explain them, but they’re mine.”
Her slow-growing smile makes my heart beat faster. “Like a real family. Complete with the annoying siblings.”
Exactly.
I might lose my job.
But for the first time in a long time, I’m finally not worried that I’ll lose my family.
32
Ziggy
Holt orders dinnerin from a local Middle Eastern restaurant, plus mashed potatoes and rosemary potatoes for me from the deli. I end up eating half of his food on top of most of my potatoes while we snuggle on the couch with my favorite TV show playing, which he says was his brother’s favorite too.
It’s been quite the day.
I thought for sure everything was doomed when I didn’t pay attention to the extra cars on the street when I got home.
And my phone had died, so I missed all of Holt’s texts telling me not to come home.
But— “Are your teammates always so nice?”
He grins down at me. “Not on the pitch.”
“Offthe pitch.”
“Unless it’s Fletcher and Silas, yes.”
“Do you think they can be subtle enough? With their plans?”
