“Really?”
“Of course. They like you.”
“Won’t you be tired after playing? Especially with last night.”
Noah’s rest schedule might take a slight hit. He’d catch up. Besides the lads were always teasing him for being boring.
“I’ll get caterers.”
“I know. I’ll ask Raoul to sort it. Please let me.”
His initial instinct was to assert his independence. It was the genuine need in Carmine’s voice that made his defences fall to the ground.
“That would be amazing,” he said. “If we’re doing that, please order double of the meatballs. Steven drools over them.”
“On it.”
They terminated the call. Noah got out of the car. There was total silence except the low thrum of the turbines. They dwarfed him as he walked up to a gate and rested on it.
Everything was going perfectly. So much so that it terrified him that something would go wrong. He tried to banish those thoughts from his mind. He’d suffered enough bad times in his life to be deserving of this happiness.
A tear fell from his eye and was swept away on the wind. If only his parents had lived to see a fraction of what he’d experienced. He could understand why Carmine was hesitant to change his relationship with his family. Yet it annoyed Noah a little. What he wouldn’t give to have the opportunity.
It’s none of my business. He has to do it when he’s ready.
TWELVE
CARMINE
Carmine stared at his reflection. The shirt was way too tight.
“I need something loose,” he said, pulling the item off. “I don’t want to show the star players of Brockton my gut.”
“What gut?” Samantha fired in retort.
When he’d lived in L.A., Carmine had gone to the gym six times a week. He hadn’t even got a membership in Manchester. The mirror told a terrible tale.
“Will you find the best gym in town?” he asked.
“I’m not working right now.”
He grabbed an ink blue Ralph Lauren shirt.
Ah, Ralph. You always come to my rescue.
“Can you remember to sort it on Monday?”
“I will do my level best.”
“Maybe I’ll stop obsessing about being Old Father Time if I can get my abs back.”
“Then I’ll definitely put it on my to-do list.”
He finished the buttons and held his hands out.
“Well?”
“Hot.”
