She gazes at me with shiny eyes and offers me an emotional smile, then turns to the house and walks in, closing the door behind her before I’ve even moved.
I grab my luggage and head to the car, climbing in the back seat since Clay took the passenger seat. I rest my head against the headrest and sigh, looking back out the window at the house. “I hate this shit. How do you guys do it all the time?”
“I guess the fact that Morgan has the girls when I’m away makes it easier. Before, she would mostly focus on her work when I was gone, and I always worried it was mentally hard on her having this kind of relationship,” Clay says. “But now she has a family here who understands what it’s like, and they can support each other through it. That’s what I tell myself to make me feel less like a shitty husband for never being home most of the year.” He sighs with a shrug.
The way Clay talks sometimes, it seems like he doesn’t have a care in the world, but he truly loves his wife and would do anything for her. The rest of the time, he appears grumpy and unaffected by anything. The only people I’ve ever seen him act out with were Silas and Cecilia.
“Yeah, but you don’t have kids yet. It’s really not the same. Leaving Minnie when it was just her and me was hard, but now that we have Dante, it’s even worse. Not gonna lie, I feel like crying every time I walk out that door knowing I won’t see him for a couple of days,” Silas tells him. “Minnie and I have actually been talking about that. My contract ends in two years… and I don’t think I’ll be re-signing,” he adds, eyes flicking up in the mirror for a second then back to the road.
Clay’s head whips toward Sy’s. “You’re thinking of retiring?”
“Yeah, that still gives me two years with you guys. I know I always said I’d play until I’m forced to stop, but things are different now. I have a family at home waiting for me. You have no idea how much it sucks missing out on your kid’s firsts.” He frowns with anger and shakes his head.
“Hell, just thinking that I could have missed the birth of my kid fucking sucks. I don’t want it to be like that. I know it’s whatshe signed up for when getting involved with me, but Cecilia doesn’t deserve to go through everything alone, and my son deserves to have his dad around regularly.”
“I know exactly what you mean. Every time Em calls me to show me something new Gracie does, it guts me that I can’t be there with them. Or the time she was sick and I had to watch her through the phone when all I wanted was to have her in my arms. It was fucking brutal.” I pull out my phone, needing to see my girls again.
Jesus, I’m pathetic. It’s been what? Five minutes, not even? And I’m already wishing I was back home.
I’m swiping through my pictures when a new text pops up from Bunny. It’s a picture of her and Gracie, each with one of my sweaters on. The thing is already huge on Emma, but Gracie? All you can see is her head sticking out of the hole. It makes me laugh.
“So you’re really serious about Mackenzie?” Silas asks cautiously.
“Yeah, I am.”
“You know, I never would have guessed things would turn out this way. You really didn’t seem like a fan of hers for a while.” He’s not trying to be a dick with his comment, but it still pisses me off. Not at him, but at myself for judging her so quickly when I had no idea what an amazing person she really was.
“I saw it coming,” Clay tells us.
Sy looks at him for a second with a frown. “You did? How? They’re so different.”
“That’s exactly why it makes sense. Look at Morg and me. Together, we fit perfectly. But apart, we’re completely different people. Ford and Emma are the same.”
“But he’s always made comments about how much she annoyed him,” Silas adds, confused.
Clay chuckles quietly. “And why do you think he paid so much attention to everything about Em? Did you ever pay such close attention to her? I know I haven’t.”
Silas shakes his head as he answers Clay’s question.
“That’s what I thought. But you, Greyson, couldn’t help yourself. The minute she was in the same room as you, all your focus fell on her. What she was doing, what she was eating, if she was laughing too loud or being too dramatic.” Clay smirks. “And you always had something to say about it. Why do you think that was? Because she was already under your skin, and you had no idea.” He chuckles again when he looks back to see my face in complete shock.
Holy shit, he’s right.
Chapter twenty-three
Emma
Little flower turned dinosaur.
How is it possible to miss someone the minute they walk out the door? I never felt this way with Tommy. Even in the beginning, we could go a full week without seeing each other, and it never really bothered me. Actually, I preferred it like that.
I’m not naturally a clingy person, and I don’t like clingy people. But with Greyson, all I want to do is build a nest on his body and make it my permanent residence.Talk about being clingy and obsessed... Oh my God, I’m a stage five clinger!
“The puck ladies have arrived!” Cecilia shouts as she throws the door open and marches in with Dante in her arms, followed by Morgan, Ronnie, and Aubrey.
“We changed our name?” I ask with a laugh as I take out the blender for some margaritas.
“Well, she couldn’t exactly say the B word with the kids around. Plus, it makes us sound classier,” Morgan says as she wanders over to the liquor cabinet to retrieve what we need.
