Page 77 of Hard to Score

I take his hand and trace BK on the top of his hand a few times, a ridiculously silly smile on my face the whole time.

“Feel better?” he asks.

“I’m on cloud nine now.”

“Apparently you’re easy to please.”

“Shh. Don’t tell anyone,” I say before relaxing back against him.

Is this what it feels like to be with Drew? Relaxed? Mindful of the past, but not disconnected completely?

Of course I still want to know the truth about the past, the answers concerning what ended our dads’ friendship, but maybe this is what it feels like for us to move forward? Maybe this middle ground we’ve found is enough for us so we can find our own normal.

Because isn’t that what today feels like? A step in the right direction? The beginning of what could be an us?

The best part? I truly feel like he wants there to be an us too.

This has been the most perfect of days in so many ways and as we sit here, I revel in that notion as kids play, moms scold, and dads gripe about all of the crap they have to carry back to the car.

It’s so perfectly normal and I love it.

“At the wedding, you told me I was too afraid to step into the limelight—”

“I was just pissed about—”

“He’s my reason,” he states matter-of-factly. “If I’m in New York, then I’m near my dad. That allows me to help out when things get bad. And I’m not naïve, Brex. They will get bad. I don’t ever want to regret not being there.”

“You’re too good to be second string, Drew.”

He chuckles self-deprecatingly. “I know. And maybe I’d forgotten that. Maybe I’d let that get lost in my duty to my family, but hearing you say it, knowing you believe it, has made me realize how much I put aside my own wants and desires.”

I meter the surprise in my reaction when I meet his eyes. I want to feel relief over his sudden revelation, yet I know there is often a long distance between the epiphany and acting on it. “What do you plan on doing then?” I ask hesitantly.

He shakes his head, his expression serious. “The Raptors won’t get rid of Hobbs. That means in order for me to be QB1, I’d have to be traded to another team. Regardless of how bad I want to be on that field, is that the right thing to do?”

“I don’t think there is a right answer in this situation,” I murmur.

“Our relationship—my dad’s and mine—it’s complicated to put it mildly. But he may only have a year left for all I know. Is me being selfish something I should own or will it be the one thing I’ll always regret?”

I squeeze his hands in response and wonder how hard that would be. To settle for less professionally so you can give more personally.

It can’t be an easy thing.

Especially not on a man’s ego.

Particularly when you know you’re talented enough to make it elsewhere.

So many layers to this man. I’m guessing there are so many more I don’t even understand yet.

“Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me,” I whisper and dip my head so I can press a kiss to his bicep. “I’m here if you ever need a sounding board. I won’t have the answers but at least you’ll have someone you can confide in.”

His sigh is the only answer he gives.

With his arms wrapped around me, we watch as the sun slowly sets into the trees surrounding the lake. We watch the first twinkling of the stars, the first sigh of night rustling through the trees, and simply enjoy the silence.

Because we have each other.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE