“It’s because I’m so glad to see you here. I’m glad to see you anywhere,” he told me. “Even when I look at the dot that shows your location, I sit there and smile at my phone.”
“Oh, geez,” I heard my sister mutter somewhere in the background.
Everett cupped my cheek with his hand, then took off his glove. “Now I can feel you,” he explained.
“After the game, I want to talk to you,” I said.
“Jesus. Damn, what? What’s wrong? Tell me now.”
He was losing his chill. “No, it’s nothing,” I said quickly. “I heard some things about my mom, bad things, and it made me think a lot about you.”
“I’m doing bad things?”
“No, I realized that you were doing something selfless for Eris’s son. You wanted to provide him with stability and attention and that’s what kids need, but I haven’t been supportive—”
“I’m not going to do that. I’m withdrawing my petition for custody on Monday.”
“What?” I stared up at him. “What about the stability and attention?”
“I don’t think he needs those things from me. I was going to tell you yesterday but you had news, and then we were busy,” he reminded me, and he looked at me in way that made some muscles way down inside me clench up.
“Oh, geez!” Willow burst out, and Boyd laughed.
“I talked to Eris, just us and no lawyers. She thought I was fighting about her son to stay close to her or to punish her. Maybe I was at the beginning, but I kept thinking about that little boy and how nobody was loving him. But they do,” he said. “He had the nanny who raised him and now Eris is promising that she’s going to take care of him, too. Either she’s a better actress than I ever imagined, or she’s being honest. I don’t want to pull him away from that.”
“Good.” I breathed out. “Because he needs that.”
“But I’ve been thinking about what you said before about parenting, about having that responsibility and giving that love. It’s something I want,” he went on. “I want a family of my own, a wife and kids, a house where we all live together with the right number of bedrooms.”
It didn’t hurt kids to share their spaces, but I understood what he meant. Also, Willow sometimes snored and I could have done without that when we had been together in the motel and the studio apartment. “I think you should have all of it,” I agreed.
“Zoey!” my sister exclaimed. “He’s talking about you—no, I don’t want to go,” she told Boyd, but he led her away.
“Did you really mean that you want those things with me?” I asked.
“I think we could have a future together,” Everett answered. “I’m not going to push you hard or go crazy and throw up on you. I mean that we could have it someday. Someday, you could tell me if you want it too.”
“Thank you for not puking, and just as a reminder, I don’t care about other types of your bodily fluids,” I told him. “But you don’t have to wait for someday. I already know that want those things too, with you.”
“You’re the future,” he said. “Whatever happens, I need you.” There may have been a photographer or two taking pictures as he kissed me again, but I didn’t care. Unfortunately, the presence of those photographers, players, coaches, and a lot of fans made it impossible to strip off our clothes right at that moment. Anyway, he had to go play in a football game, and he was still smiling as he went toward the tunnel.
“Well,” my sister announced. She and Boyd were standing together, his arms around her waist like he might have been holding her back. “Well, well. Well!”
“That was good news,” Boyd reminded her. “We all heard him say that she’s his future. Let’s go watch the game.”
He managed to get her to leave but I stayed just for another minute, and I saw Everett stop walking down the sideline. Heturned around and started to jog in my direction, and then he ran. Was something wrong? Why was he—
“I didn’t tell you something important,” he said as he grabbed my hands.
“What? Is it something about—”
“I didn’t tell you that I love you,” he said. “I do.”
“You do? Oh geez, I’m so glad to hear that. Because I also love you,” I answered, and he smiled down at me again.
“You do?” he asked me back. He picked me up and I put my arms around his neck. “Damn. Jesus, I’m a lucky man.”
The Woodsmen won that game, but we had won something much more important—
