“It’s been torture because we’ve been trying to pretend we can live without each other. I want this to work between us. Like a second chance.”
“You mean a last chance,” I say without meaning to.
Jenson’s intense gaze holds mine. “Yeah. I guess you’re right. This does feel like a last chance for us. And I’m going to make sure we get what we want this time.”
* * *
Jenson
“Daddy!!!” Connor’s earsplitting scream sounds like the world just exploded around him.
I drop the bread knife and jar of peanut butter on the kitchen counter and race down the hallway and into the guest room where the boys sleep when we’re at Mom and Dee’s house.
“What’s wrong?”
Connor has Kyle in a headlock, and Kyle’s face is bright red.
“Hey!” I push in between my sons and force them apart, grabbing each one by an arm. “What are you two fighting about?”
“Kyle stole my Superman bathing suit! Mommy said we’d go swimming today!” Connor points at Kyle whose face color is slowly returning to normal.
“Why?” I say to him. “You’ve got your Batman suit.”
“I know.”
“So why take your brother’s?”
Kyle grins devilishly. “I wanted to hear him scream. He sounds like he’s in a horror movie.”
Connor screams again, dropping a choice swear word in the process.
I spin on him. “Where did you learn that word? From one of the players on the team?”
“Nope. Uncle Colton said it to Uncle Dylan once.” Connor giggles, and Kyle joins him.
“Well, you don’t say it. Got it? Kyle, on three—give your brother back his bathing suit. And Connor, no more using the f-word. Especially not with mother thrown in there.”
“No mother f-word,” Connor says solemnly as Kyle reaches underneath his pillow and hands Connor back his bathing suit.
My cell phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out.
“Who is it, Daddy?” Connor says.
“Your uncle.” I swipe the screen to answer. “Hey, Colt.”
“J. What’s up?” My best friend’s always-casual tone is missing. Yesterday was his first day back at training camp, and the exhaustion and hint of stress in his voice is his first giveaway.
As the star tight end of the defending Super Bowl champion California Cougars football team, Colton Wild may be a famous professional football player, but to me, he’s still the same down-to-earth guy I met when I was nine years old. I recognize pretty much all his tells, the subtle and the obvious, and he can do the same with me. Colton and I were both sent to football camp for boys under fourteen one summer. We were the youngest kids there—him a year older than me, and we bonded right away.
We were both only children who loved football. I wanted to play quarterback, and I ended up the starter on the Liberty Falls high school squad while Colton dreamed of being a tight end or wide receiver. His dad was his best friend while I called my biological father a sperm donor. Dee was a great stepfather, but he and my mom fought constantly. So I spent a lot of time at the Graham house where Olivia’s dad did his best to fill in any gaps, something I’m forever grateful for.
Even so, I often felt lonely. Olivia was my touchstone and my closest confidante, but she couldn’t replace the hole in my heart for male companionship. And her brother and I never really clicked; I love Sheldon, but he and I never had much in common.
But when we were at football camp that summer, Colton talked nonstop about his cousins—Dylan, Brayden, Ayden, and Cameron—and he promised he was going to make me a Wild boy too. He said they would unofficially adopt me into the fold. At the end of camp, Colton went home to Montana, and I returned to Pennsylvania. But we stayed in touch, and Colton kept true to his word. Once a year, he invited me to visit him in Montana. I met Dylan and Brayden right away, and Ayden and Cam flew out the second time I was in town.
Despite the miles in between, the six of us became inseparable, and nothing—not high school, college, big football contracts, or women—ever tore us apart. Being part of the Wild pack changed my life. I love Colton like a brother. Other than Olivia, he’s the only one who knows my family secret, the whole story about my biological father. He’s also the one person in my inner circle who knows my true feelings for Olivia.
“How was the first day of training camp?” I ask him as I help Kyle and Connor finish packing.
