“We’re a package deal, so you get me as well,” Kieran said, squeezing her gently. Atticus gasped.
“No!” He wagged a finger at Kieran. “Absolutely not. That’s my thing with her, you don’t get to say it.” Then he tripped as pavement turned to patchy grass, falling flat on his ass.
Sammie and Kieran drew to a halt as the rest of their group snickered, continuing on. Eric and Aaron ran ahead, Ivy hollering after them to, “Stretch first, goddammit!”
“You good?” Kieran asked, offering a hand toward Atticus. Sammie laughed as her brother narrowed his eyes, getting up on his own, swiping at the dirt on the seat of his pants. Kai slapped his boyfriend on the rear as he walked by, earning a chuckle from David Lu. Sammie didn’t know the oldest Wildcat well, as he usually opted out of team gatherings in favor of spending time with his wife and two small kids, but he’d been one of the first to volunteer when Kieran had asked the team to come help Sammie get the house fixed up enough that she’d finally be able to list it. Apparently, his family owned an HVAC business, and he’d been able to get her old air conditioner up and running that morning.
“I’mfine,” Atticus said, poking Kieran in the chest. “She wasmysister before she wasyouranything, so no funny business.”
“Sure thing, bud,” Kieran said, nodding sagely. That made Atticus frown harder. He threw his hands into the air, turningtoward the old sandy court, mumbling under his breath aboutregretsanddisgusting puppy loveas he walked away.
“He’s fine,” Sammie said, following after him. Kieran’s arm was still firmly planted around her shoulders, and she leaned into the touch. It still felt surreal, this new thing between them. Even though it wasn’t wholly new. Not the basis of it, anyway.
Sammie had known Kieran for most of her life, and had loved him for much of it. And now he loved her back. He’d confided, as they’d curled up together on her granny’s old couch the night before while waiting for Atticus and Kai to stop arguing over what movie they’d all be watching, that maybe a part of him had always loved her. Not romantically, not at first. But there had always been a part of Kieran that had cared about her, a seed that had needed that old, healthy soil to take root in, a seed that was only then able to bloom into something more. Something different.
They broke off into two teams. Sammie fell into line with Atticus, Kieran, and Eric. David tossed the ball up on the other side, serving it half heartedly. Sammie jumped up, blocking the ball. Kieran was right there to make a wall with her, and the serve didn’t make it past them. Ivy dug the ball, sending a puff of dirt and sand into the air as she hit the ground.
Kai lazily dumped the ball over the net before anyone had a chance to recover.
“What?” Atticus sputtered. “No. What?” He crossed his arms, staring down at Kai from across the net. “You’re small. And you haven’t played in years. You don’t get to just dump it on me like that.”
Kai raised a brow. “Do something about it then.”
Sammie laughed with everyone else as her brother was left speechless.
“Do your parents know you’re in town?” The question had been gnawing at Sammie all weekend, and it wasn’t until everyone else had left, until after Atticus and Kai were locked up together in her brother’s old bedroom, until the sun had disappeared and the quiet of night had finally set in that Sammie had worked up the courage to finally voice it. Kieran had told her about his last conversations with his parents as they’d driven to their old hometown together. He’d told her about his father’s congratulatory message after the championship game.
About the silence from his mother.
“Dad knows.” Kieran stood shirtless in the bathroom doorway, scrubbing at his wet hair with a towel. His gym shorts hung low on his hips, and Sammie needed to stop staring.
Except, she didn’t. She was allowed to stare as much as she wanted now.
It was fucking delightful.
“I’m sure he’s told Mom.”
Sammie frowned. “And they haven’t said anything about you stopping by while you’re here?”
Kieran shrugged, hanging the towel on one of the hooks next to the door. “No. I didn’t expect them to.”
There was a flash of hurt there, in his eyes, hurt that Sammie understood acutely. A new ache had taken residence in her chest, not all that dissimilar to the one she’d carried for herself for so long.
It never felt good, being rejected by the people who were supposed to love you unconditionally.
“Come on.” Sammie grabbed his hand, tugging him out of the bathroom and down the dark hallway. She made sure to activelynotlisten as they passed her brother’s door. He and Kai had been making eyes at one another over dinner and Sammie had no desire to hear whatever was currently playing out in that room.
She led Kieran through the quiet house. Everything smelled fresh after the guys from the team, under Ivy’s supervision, had added a new coat of paint to the entire place. The devastation she’d faced in the kitchen just weeks earlier was gone, now that the new window was in and the water-damaged cabinets had been replaced with plain, new ones.
Sammie didn’t know how a place could feel so familiar yet so unknown all at once.
It was no longer her granny’s house. It hadn’t been, not since the day Greta had died. All of the memories that Sammie had clung to, they were all still there. Faded with time, yes, but never gone completely. She didn’t need the house to keep them. They would go with her wherever she went.
She fired off a text to her brother, telling him to stay far, far away from the sunroom under threat of castration, before she led Kieran out the back door.
“I used to sleep out here whenever I had a bad day.” Sammie lowered herself onto the old mattress. She’d replaced the sheets earlier that day because she’d sort of hoped this was where they would end up.
A girl could dream, right?
