“Sorry for the games, but I thought if you actually were interested, you’d ask Kyle for my number.”
He groans. “And I thought asking Kyle would be weird. I worried about how he’d react and I let it get to my head and then…”
“And then you were on to the next woman?” I hate that I just asked that question. “Not that it’s any of my business,” I amend.
“No, the next day, my father showed up at practice and told me he was getting remarried. That was his first marriage after divorcing my mom.” He moistens his lips. “It hit me hard that time.” He glances at me. “That was Breanne, by the way. That marriage ended and now he’s engaged again. Her name’s Jess.”
“Oh.”
The pain in his eyes makes me want to curl him up in my arms.
“And look, I didn’t move on to the next woman.” He cringes at the sentiment. “Not right away. I did date someone the following summer and then someone else for a little while the summer after that. But my life was football. I played my guts out. I’ve been playing my guts out for six years and things are going to change.” He stops short, like he regrets what he just said. “Anyway, I’ve dated less than you may think. I never date during the season. That’s a recipe for a disaster.”
“What? So you just tell your girlfriends, hey, when the season starts, we’re done? Just so you know in advance?”
“No, it’s just worked out that way. I haven’t dated anyone long enough for it to carry over into the new season. And it was easier to not worry about finding someone else because my life is insane during the season.”
I stiffen. Is this where he’s going to tell me we can’t go out, that it’s been a fun little…whatever you’d call it…but he’s got to focus on the season coming up in August, so bye bye?
“What did you mean when you said everything’s going to change?”
He hedges, scratching at his brow. “Casey Riddock is really good.”
“So are you.”
He tilts his head from side to side. “Yeah, but Casey didn’t just have two losing seasons. I did.”
“Casey hasn’t had any NFL season whatsoever. I can’t see the Wolves taking that big of a risk by putting him in the number one slot and what…trading you?”
“That’s the thing. I totallycansee that. It happens all the time.”
I rub his arm. “Well then, you’ll get traded and maybe it will be the best thing to ever happen to you.”
He snorts. “No. I need to be here for my family.”
Seems like there’s no convincing him. He’s choosing to think this way until something happens that forces him to see things differently. I can’t push him.
I squeeze his arm and try to smile. “They’re lucky to have you in their family.”
He lifts a shoulder. “Hey, you know what I said about not dating during the season?”
“Uh huh.” Nerves flick along my skin.
“It’s not a hard and fast rule.”
“Oh, so it’s just a soft and slow rule?”
His lips twitch. “Yep. It’s barely even a rule. And if some circumstances were to present themselves and make things different…”
“Then this barely even a rule might go out the window?”
“Out the door. Out the window. Through the roof.”
“That’s such a flimsy little rule, then.”
“It’s the worst.” He makes a little gagging noise and then smiles, his gaze taking me in.
“So, where does that leave us?” I have to ask because I’m still, frustratingly so, incomprehensibly so, doubting this could actually happen. That Taysom and I could make a go of this…thing…whatever we have between us.
