She makes a face. “So boring. Everyone is old, and there isn’t a single cool person to hang out with. I wish I was with you guys. Zoe told me you do Christmas just like you do Thanksgiving. I really loved Thanksgiving.”
“Same!” Ethan peers over Riley’s shoulder, and my heart squeezes at the way their faces take up the screen. The way they look happy to talk to me, the same way I’m happy to talk to them. Ethan turns to his sister. “Did you tell her yet?”
Riley rolls her eyes. “I literally just got on the phone. Dad had to talk to her first to tell her he misses her a hundred times.”
“It was barely even fifty times.” Cam’s deep voice filters through the phone, voice laced with amusement. “You can tell her, Eth.”
“Tell me what?”
He grins. “We got you a Christmas present.”
I grin back. “Did you?”
Riley grabs the phone from her brother. “Check your front door right now. It should have just been delivered.”
“Hang on one sec.”
Setting down the phone, I thunder downstairs and yank open the door. A large, flat wrapped box is sitting on my porch, the wrapping paper covered in M&M’s, orange soda, and tiny Cinnamon Toast Crunch boxes. Laughing, I scoop it up and fly back up the stairs to my room before Oliver can ask any questions, closing the door behind me.
Sitting back on the bed, I pick up my phone. “Oh my god you guys, the wrapping paper!”
“Right?” Riley says. “I found this website that does custom wrapping paper, so I did your favorite snacks. I designed some for dad too with footballs, candles, and waffles, for Lola with boxing gloves since she’s a kickboxing maniac, and for Ethan with hockey stuff. Every wrapping paper that isn’t custom is officially the worst.”
That she made some for me makes me ridiculously happy,and I can’t wipe the smile off my face. “Well, I think it’s entirely perfect.”
“Open it!” Ethan says.
“Yeah, Wildcat, open it.” Cam’s face comes back into view, and with all three of them on the screen together, triplet smiles on their faces, my heart practically takes flight.
Looking down to try to get my emotions in check, I slide my finger under the taped edge of the box, trying to take the wrapping paper off without ripping it too much, already knowing I’ll be keeping it. I lift the top of the box, setting it aside and lifting the tissue paper to reveal a Renegades jersey. Pulling it out of the box, my breath catches when I see “Lowry” emblazoned above number sixty-eight.
It’s a jersey that’s sold in a million stores in this city. A jersey owned by thousands of Renegades fans. But the way my heart gallops in my chest, emotion washing through me as I trace my fingers over the fabric, staring down at Cam’s name and number, you would think they just gave me something precious. Something one of a kind.
Except I think maybe they did.
“Do you like it?” Ethan asks, and I look back up at the screen, at my three favorite faces lined up in a row.
Something precious.
“I love it,” I say, not entirely trusting my voice.
“It was my idea,” he says, his face turning serious. “Riley and I have my dad’s jersey, and I thought you needed to have one too. So you could match us and we could all match Dad. Like a family.”
My gaze lands on Cam, and I can see the emotion swirling in his eyes. The intensity on his face. And I can hear the words like he spoke them out loud.
Be my family, Wildcat. Be ours.
I give him a small nod, and the grin that stretches across his face is so beautiful it’s almost hard to look at. “I would love to match with you guys. I think I’ll look great in a Lowry jersey.”
“No one looks good in a football jersey, but it makes Dad happy, and he’s weird about his superstitions, so we do it anyway.”
I laugh at Riley’s flippant tone, and then I laugh harder when Cam ruffles her hair like she’s a toddler and she shoves him away, giving him a look that would kill a lesser man.
“I miss you guys,” I say, lying down on my stomach and holding the phone out in front of me. “Can we do another blanket fort breakfast when you all get back?”
Riley nods. “Definitely yes. I think next time maybe we need to add cereal to our waffle bar. I’m thinking of a Cinnamon Toast Crunch, caramel syrup, whipped cream situation that will put every other waffle to shame.”
I grin at her. “See, that’s why you’re a smart girl now.”
