“Okay, no, ew. No, no, no. Whatever is happening right now needs to not happen. No one needs to see their parents looking at each other that way.”
My mom shrugs, turning that grin on me. “No parent needs to see her oldest child pressed up against the wall by…”
“Message received,” I say loudly, rolling my eyes when bothmy parents laugh. “I can’t even with you two,” I grumble. “I’m leaving. Apparently, I have to go be in a picture.”
Two minutes later, I’m kneeling between Riley and Ethan in front of my grandma’s train set, laughing and sticking my tongue out while Riley snaps a bunch of selfies to send to Cam. And in that moment, I realize there is literally no place I would rather be.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CAM
I’m propping my foot on the bench to tie my cleats when my phone chimes. Standing quickly, I grab it off my locker shelf, smiling as I click on the message from Riley.
Riley
[pic of Riley, Ethan, and Maddy sticking their tongues out at the camera]
I freeze as I stare at the picture on my screen, rubbing a hand over my heart that is suddenly squeezing so tightly in my chest at the image of the woman I love sandwiched between my kids that it’s making it hard to breathe. But before I can collect my thoughts, my phone rings in my hand.
Riley.
Wondering if she’s still with Maddy, and suddenly unreasonably desperate to see Maddy’s face, I swipe to answer so quickly I almost launch my phone across the locker room.
“Hey, Ry,” I say with a smile.
“Dad!” She flashes me a wide grin. “Did you see the picture? I know usually it’s just Ethan and me, and I never asked you ifhaving another person in it, like, messed with the superstition or something. But then I decided that superstitions are kind of stupid anyway and you probably wouldn’t mind a third person in the picture if that person was Maddy.”
My brain is still stuck on the picture and struggles to keep up with my daughter’s speed-talking. But the one thing I can decipher from everything she just said is that somehow, Riley has, at least in some small way, figured out that there’s something between Maddy and me. Somethingmore. I guess I should have expected it. She’s always been way too perceptive for her own good.
“I did see the picture. It was perfect, Ry.”
“Oh good,” she says, and I laugh at her sigh of relief that’s just a touch too dramatic for someone who regularly labels my superstitions asridiculous.
“Hey, Dad,” Ethan says, popping into the frame. “This is the best Thanksgiving ever. Can we come here every year?”
“Best Thanksgiving ever, huh?”
Ethan shrugs. “I mean, I kind of wish you didn’t have to be in Dallas so you could be here too, but Maddy gave me one of her dad’s old jerseys which is, like, so awesome, and Maddy’s brother, Oliver, and Jeremybothsigned it for me. And I played so muchFortnitewith Brian and his best friend, Gabe. Did you know Gabe invented the Redwood phone? Like, the phone everyone in the world has came out of his brain when he was only twenty-three years old. How cool is that? He said he could get me a special edition of the new version that’s coming out in January, but only if you say it’s okay. Is it okay?”
I huff out a laugh. “Talk to me in three years, Eth.”
He rolls his eyes. “I told him that’s what you would say, and he said he understood because he also wouldn’t let his kids have phones until they were thirteen even though he invented the whole entire phone. I have to go because I need more pie. Have a good game! They were going to have it on anyway because Tyler’s whole family is here, but Maddy’s grandma Rachel saidthat since they know us now and you’re our dad, they have an extra reason to cheer for the Renegades. She said we belong to them now, and I don’t know what that means, but this is, like, the coolest place ever and I love it here.”
Ethan shoves the phone at Riley and zooms away, and I laugh at the particular brand of enthusiasm for literally everything that is exclusive to ten-year-old boys.
“He’s on third dessert,” Riley says with a grin. “Hey, want to talk to Maddy?” The glint in her eye tells me that she knows exactly how I’m going to respond to that question, but I go for casual.
“Sure, but only if she’s not busy.”
“She’s not!” Riley exclaims. “Gotta go byeeee.”
“Love you!” I call as the screen wobbles, and two seconds later, Maddy’s face pops up.
“Hi,” she says with a grin, face a little flushed and eyes bright.
“Hey, Wildcat,” I say, my entire body relaxing at the sound of her voice. “You’re gorgeous. I miss you.”
Her face flushes a deeper red, and she doesn’t say anything for a second, but I can see her moving through the house and slipping out the back door onto some kind of deck. She sits down, and the flames of what must be a fire pit dance over her face, bathing her in a soft golden light. She’s so beautiful I forget how to breathe again.
