“I’ve heard that,” he said. “If you come, just pull for me a little bit.” He pinched his fingers together a little.
I laughed. “Yeah, I can do that. But don’t tell Coop.”
Evan took the couple of steps separating us and held out his hand to Preston. “It’s nice to meet you, Preston. Take care of him. He’s the best.”
Preston shook his hand and nodded. “Thank you, Evan. I plan to. And good luck tomorrow.”
He looked at me, and I stepped out of Preston’s death grip on my hip and hugged my friend. “I’ll text you and let you know if we can make it. I’ve missed my friend.”
Evan stepped back and nodded.
“Yeah, me too, Nick.” He pointed to the living room. “I’m going to say goodbye to your parents and Nickie. It was good seeing you, Nick.”
“You too, Ev. Thanks for stopping by.”
Evan raised his hand to wave and left us in the kitchen. When he was out of earshot, I turned to Preston and shook my head. It was impossible to be mad at him.
“What?” he asked, shrugging his shoulders. “He’s a good-looking guy, and I wasn’t taking any chances.”
I slung my arms around his neck and leaned into him. “You’re ridiculous. Do you seriously think I have eyes for anyone but you?”
He pulled me closer and kissed me. “I hope not. But I’m not twenty-eight anymore.”
“No, you’re not. But you’re my perfect forty-five, and I love you.”
Preston relaxed and kissed me slow and deep until Nickie interrupted us. “Hey, come on. You can snog later.”
We both laughed at her Britishism and followed her to open presents.
CHAPTER26
PRESTON
“Run, run, run!”
I was thoroughly amused as I sat watching Nick get into the game, cheering and groaning like all the other fans. The amusing part was that we were sitting in the midst of the San Diego Sunrays fans section. And the Sunrays didn’t have the ball—the Pirates did.
All his chants were brought on when Alex Hayes threw a lateral pass to Marcus Monroe, who then pulled up to launch it downfield to Greg Foster. To say the fans around us were not amused was an understatement.
I put my arm around his shoulder and whisper yelled into his ear. “You remember we’re sitting in the middle of the Sunrays’ section, right?”
Nick smiled and shrugged. “I told Evan I had to pull for my friends. But,” he said, enunciating the ‘but’, “Iwillcheer every time Ev catches the ball, or makes a play. ”
I just looked at him. “That won’t be confusing at all,” I deadpanned.
Nick laughed, but kept his eyes on the field. The next eruption from him came when Alex Hayes scored a touchdown on a quarterback keeper.
“Watch this,” he said, elbowing me. “That’s Dominick.”
The kicking team lined up for the extra point. The center snapped the ball to the holder and Dom moved forward to kick it dead center between the uprights. The Pirates fans went nuts, and of course my cheerleader was right there with them.
The Pirates were up by ten, and the fans were going crazy. “Why is everyone going crazy after an extra point?”
Nick grinned. “He hasn’t missed one since he started playing. Almost two complete seasons, and he’s never missed a field goal or an extra point. He’s got the highest accuracy percentage in the NFL. There’s talk he may go to the Pro Bowl.”
Evan’s mom put her arm around Nick and drew his attention away. I watched as she said something that made him laugh. She was obviously fond of Nick, just like her son.
I stood with my arms folded across my chest like a bouncer outside a bar and scowled as I watched the kickoff. Looking around, we were close enough to the suites to see inside as the Pirates’ families celebrated. There were little kids and lots of moms, but I finally found the one I was looking for.
