Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 85157 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85157 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Ashton
Ashton Carmichael plays with a whole lot of heart, only I’m not sure if he always realizes it.
It had been a few days since our double date under the guise of two dudes playing chauffeurs. It wasn’t my proudest moment, lying to Kenny for the second time. The whole night I’d wondered what it would be like to reach out and hold Beau’s hand the way Kenny held Lori’s. To claim Beau as my own. What was the worst that could happen? Some asshole might talk shit, but if they were that kind of person, why did I care in the first place?
But then I thought about football…the shit I’d heard in locker rooms, the lies I’d had to tell myself for years…the possibility of getting my career back and proving everyone wrong about me, that I wasn’t some fuckup who put dumb shit ahead of my career. That I took football seriously. That I was worthy.
Of course that scared me deeper into the closet again. I wanted to prove everyone wrong, even if it was only for one more season before I left on my own terms. But did getting football back mean losing Beau?
Lori’s parents hadn’t asked a word. No one had taken a second glance at us all night. Maybe we could do this. Maybe Beau and I could keep going the way we were. I could go back for a year, prove the headlines about me wrong, and then live openly with Beau.
Okay, so maybe I was imagining a nonexistent fairy tale where two men rode off into the sunset together, but still.
Grumbling at myself, I went into my old room, which I’d turned into exercise space, and worked out. I’d jogged with Beau that morning, but ever since the phone call from my agent, I’d been hitting it extra hard.
When I felt like my muscles might give out on me, I showered, then headed to a meeting I’d scheduled. My brain turned to mush while I talked and signed papers for two hours, which obviously meant I needed a chocolate éclair. I mean, I worked out twice already. I deserved it.
“Hey, Beth,” I said to Beau’s mom as she put baked goods into the glass case by the register.
“Hey, you.” She leaned over the counter and kissed my cheek, the way she would have with Kenny or Beau.
I closed my eyes, savored the feel of her. This woman who treated me like her son…who loved her boys and accepted them.
“Beau’s working, right?” she asked while handing me my treat. She just might have been one of my favorite people in the world.
“Yeah, he is. Where’s Kenny?”
“He’ll be here in a minute. He’s walking down from the college.” Fever Falls Community College was a few miles up the street, which made it convenient for them. A couple of customers came in, and she told me, “You can sit down for a bit.”
I did while waiting for her to finish, studying the pinks and browns she’d decorated with. A few minutes later the bakery was empty again, and she sat with me at the small, circular table.
I felt her eyes on me as I finished eating. For some reason, I couldn’t make myself look at her, afraid of what I’d see, of what I might show her. There was a heaviness to the moment that felt different from any of the other times I’d been with her.
“I know it might sound strange, but I’d like to thank you.”
I wiped my fingers on a napkin and frowned. “Thank me?” She had nothing to thank me for.
“Yeah. You’ve brought a light into my boys’ lives—both of them—that had been missing. Kenny has always had Beau. That’s never been a question, but…well, I’m sure it’s different having your brother than someone you don’t feel has to be there. You make Kenny feel special, like he belongs to something outside of his family or events that are all tied back to having Down syndrome. Football, the center, his friendships are all in his life because of that. And you’re not. You’re there because you just want to be, and I’m not sure if you know how special that is.”
My tongue felt like it swelled, preventing me from speaking. It was one thing to hear something like that from Beau, but to hear it from his mom? There were no words to describe what that meant to me. I opened my mouth to try and find some, but she shook her head, stopping me.
“Let me finish first because I feel like this part might be even harder for you than the other. I don’t know if you see just what you’ve done for Beau. It’s hard to put into words really. Well, I guess I could take a page of your book and say Beau’s always been a bit of a Cranky Campbell.”