Page 77 of Penalty Kiss

I kept my opinions muted. Dee was still grieving for the relationship with her sister that had been lost, even though it had been a toxic one, and that process wasn’t likely to be done anytime soon; nor should it. It was my job to support her with how she felt rather than tell her how to feel, although there were times when I had to remind her that she had never done anything wrong.

Other than turning down my marriage proposal twice.

But that was another story.

She’d said yes the last day of the season, when Athletic had finished second in the table, the club’s most successful season ever. The women’s team had ended the season fifth, which they were almost happy with, but they had won the cup, a first for them.

Moving in with me had become a no brainer. She and Toby were here more than they weren’t, and the nights they weren’t here, I was in Dee’s tiny house, which had almost made me grumpy when I had a huge place and sofas I could spread out on at home.

She wrapped her arm around my waist, pressing a kiss to my shoulder, which was as high as she could reach in bare feet. “We’ll go shopping tomorrow when Toby’s at school.”

“Can’t we do online shopping and spend the day doing something else?”

There was still half a term to go before Toby’s school broke up for summer, which gave me and Dee approximately six hours to spend having adult only time. That novelty wasn’t going to wear off any time soon.

“No. There’s other stuff we need too.”

That was me told. Under the thumb was one of my favourite places though, as long as it wasn’t in the bedroom, or other rooms that we were using for adult activities.

Dee had officially moved in yesterday. She was keeping her house and letting it out to a single mum and her daughter that she knew from Toby’s school, although she’d told me at least three times that she wasn’t keeping it in case things didn’t work out with us. She’d said that she wouldn’t be moving in unless she thought that we were it, and I believed that, knowing what my Sunshine Sparkles was like. Although she’d also said that after living in a house the size of mine, she couldn’t move back in her old place anyway.

And financially, she wouldn’t need to.

She’d had a stellar season. The club had offered her an improved contract and she’d picked up endorsements and sponsorships that meant she could stop worrying so much about what she was going to do after football.

I’d offered a few suggestions, ones that would give Toby a cousin, which had made her smile rather than hit me, so it looked like we might have the start of a plan, but we’d see. It was a good half a decade away, at least.

“What’s the other stuff? We can’t need anything else.” I knew I was whinging, but the thought of traipsing round the shops was not a good one.

“We need to sort out the guest rooms for your mum and sister. That means we need furniture.”

She had a point.

“What do I get in return?”

“How about a competition?” She beamed at me.

I frowned. I was never quite sure what the outcome of these would be. “What’s the competition?”

“We can each guess how long the shopping will take us. The person closest to that time wins.”

“And what does the winner get?”

She stepped closer to me, wrapping her arms around my neck, one of my hands entwining round her hair that was in its usual ponytail.

“What else? A kiss.”

A kiss. It was all it ever took.

It was everything.

The End