“No,” Matty said. “Too busy thinking about this afternoon.”
“It’s going to be absolutely fine,” I said, putting my hand on his arm. It was the closest I could get to holding his hand. “And what does it matter if it’s not perfect? As long as Jack has fun, that’s all that matters.”
“Thanks, sunshine.” He smiled again, then quickly brushed his lips across my cheek. “I don’t think I could get through this without you.”
I wanted to tell him he’d be fine. That he didn’t need me as much as he thought.
But I couldn’t find the words to say any of that.
Because, selfishly, I wanted him to need me.
“Hey, you must be Harper! It’s so good to meet you.”
“Hey, nice to see you!”
“Are we taking our shoes off?”
“I hope it’s okay—we brought presents.”
I stared at the group of enormous men walking in through the front door, all carrying a variety of presents in bright wrapping paper, some of which were almost as large as they were. I vaguely recognised them from the rugby pitch and seeing them at a distance in the Knights family lounge, but I didn’t know any of their names. Apparently, they all knew whoIwas, though, which was a little disconcerting. But they were all smiles, clapping me on the shoulder with a force that nearly made my knees buckle.
“Hey,” I said, snapping into host mode and pointing towards the kitchen. “Yes, just through there. We’re all out in the garden, so you can leave your shoes on. And you can take the presents with you. Matty’s put a table out. The birthday boy should be out there too. He’s in a bright green dinosaur T-shirt. You can’t miss him.”
“Perfect, thank you!” They all trooped through and I followed them, frowning because one or two of them I didn’t recognise from rugby but they still seemed familiar. One of them in particular, who had a shaved head and a neon pink T-shirt, made me think of a drag artist I’d seen at The Court. But Matty hadn’t mentioned knowing anyone there.
He caught me looking and grinned. “Hey, I’m Ryan—Mason’s boyfriend.”
“Hey, I’m Harper. Jack’s nanny,” I said. “I’m sorry, you look really familiar. This is going to sound weird, but you don’t happen to go to The Court, do you?”
“Yeah! I do. I’m Legs Luthor.” He looked at me for a long second. “Wait, did you come to the variety night last month? I could have sworn I saw you on the dance floor. You had a yellow top on.”
I stared, trying not to totally flub my words and look like a total creep. I was absolutely going to be having words with Matty later because he had to have known his teammate’sboyfriend was a drag artist! “I did, and you were amazing! Truly incredible.”
“Aww, thank you! Oh, you’ll have seen Sparkles too,” Ryan said, turning to look at the group of men heading for the back door. “Sparkles, come here.”
“What’s up?” asked another beautiful young man with brown hair, wearing flared jeans and a vintage-styleNightmare Before ChristmasT-shirt.
“This is Harper, Jack’s nanny. He—sorry, are you he/him? I’m he/they, if that helps.”
“Yes, he/him.”
“Perfect. Harper was at the variety show last month! Harper, this is Rory, also known as the fabulous Bubblegum Galaxy.” Ryan grinned. “I have to say, Sparkles, you’re seriously lacking in the glitter department today.”
“West says Matty hates glitter, so I avoided it and got this to match the theme,” Rory said, gesturing at his T-shirt. “And seriously? You were there! Oh my God, did Matty know? He should have said! We’d have taken such good care of you. This is an absolute injustice that needs correcting. Where is Matthew?”
I laughed, trying to wrap my head around what was going on. “Outside. You can corner him there.”
“Oh, we will,” Rory said. “Add me on Insta and next time you come down we’ll introduce you to everyone. You’re part of the family now, sorry. We’re adopting you.”
“Sparkles, don’t scare him,” Ryan said, looping their arm through Rory’s. “But also, I’m going to agree. We’re adopting you. Do you come to the rugby? Oh, I assume you bring Jack. Sparkles, next time we’re sitting in the family lounge.”
“Good plan.”
“Oh lord,” Matty said as he stepped through the back door, looking between the three of us with an expression of pure horror. “Please don’t scare my nanny off.”
“We’d never do that,” Rory said with a serene smile. “We were just saying next time Harper comes to The Court, we’ll have to introduce him to everyone. Since we didn’t know he was coming last time.”
“How did you—”
