Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 122219 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 611(@200wpm)___ 489(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122219 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 611(@200wpm)___ 489(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the holiday—baseball and family.
Avery smirked my way as she headed toward the front door. “Don’t get your hopes up, Nathan. I get Jackson on my team, and you have Willow.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What’s wrong with having Willow on my team?”
“I’m pretty sure the girl has never held a baseball bat in her whole life.” She smiled my way. “But don’t you worry, I know you’re not a sore loser.”
“I am a sore loser. I am the sorest of losers,” I pouted. “Maybe I should get out there and give Willow some pointers before we get started.”
As we headed out the front door, I saw Yara, Alex, and Willow pulling up to the property. Little Teresa was in the back seat with Willow.
Willow hopped out and rubbed her hands together. “Are you ready for some football?!” she shouted.
Oh, hell.
We were going to lose.
Everyone began to arrive, and the size of the crowd was outstanding. We had easily over sixty people laughing and joking around with one another. Cameron brought his father along with him, who seemed to be doing much better than he had been a few months ago. The other day, Cameron told me that Adam landed a new job at a construction company—Matthew’s company, to be exact. Leave it to Avery’s father to offer a hand toward a guy who needed help.
“Is it just me, or does your brother have a stick up his butt?” Willow asked me at one point as she walked over to me with a smile on her face.
“Let me guess, Evan?”
“Yeah! I asked him if he had any vegan hot dogs to toss on the grill, and he said that wasn’t a thing. To which I told him it was indeed a thing. To which he said not on his grill. To which I told him he should expand his mind a little. To which he told me that he didn’t need to expand his mind because it was expanded enough. To which I said ‘I bet you’re a Aries.’ To which he said ‘I don’t believe in astrology.’ To which I said ‘that’s a very Aries thing for you to say.’ To which he said ‘go away.’ So here I am now.”
I laughed. “That sounds about right. Evan’s a bit hard around the edges.”
“He’s grumpy.”
“Yeah.”
Willow glanced over at him, a small smile still on her face. “And he frowns a lot.”
“It’s his signature expression. He’s not much of a people person.”
“But he’s a good person?”
“One of the best.”
She paused for a moment and shrugged with a hopeful expression. “Anyway, I’m looking forward to kicking the ball with you later, teammate. We are so going to win!” she said before she danced off. I wasn’t being dramatic, either—she danced away. Willow always seemed to be floating off in a dancing manner. As she pranced away, I looked over at the grill, where I found Evan watching Willow dance away. His grimace was still apparent, but curiosity was there, too. I hadn’t seen my brother appear curious about a person in a long time.
Wait a second.
Did Willow just say kick a ball around?
Cameron came rushing over to me before I could comprehend what she said.
“Hey, Coach P? I have a question for ya. I was just wondering…” He grew bashful and shrugged his shoulders as he wore his catching glove on his right hand. “Is Priya single?”
My eyes moved from him to my niece, who was tossing a ball up and down on the field, laughing with Yara and Alex.
I gave him a stern look. “Yes. She’s single until she’s in her nineties. Don’t get any ideas.”
“I don’t know, Coach,” Avery said, walking up behind me. “Rumor has it, Priya was asking about Cameron, too.”
Cameron’s eyes lit up. “Seriously?”
“Yup. You should go see if you can give her some tips on throwing. I bet she’d love that,” Avery stated.
“Gee! Thanks, Coach K! I’ll do that.”
I turned and gave Avery a stern look. “Why would you do that?!” I whisper-shouted. “Now he’s going to think she likes him.”
“She does like him. I think it’s cute.”
“It’s awful. My sweet niece…liking boys.” I shivered. “That’s traumatizing.”
She laughed. “Don’t be so dramatic. But speaking of…I think it’s time we tell everyone about us.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yeah. I think so.”
We’d spent the past seven months secretly dating one another. We wanted the privacy of getting back together without too many outside voices getting involved. She still had her apartment, but I figured that was good. It gave us time to grow closer to one another. One day, she’d be living with me for the rest of her life, but I wasn’t in a rush to get us there.
Okay, I was in a rush. If it were up to me, we’d be married tomorrow.