My gaze moves through the glass French doors to Foster fixing Callie a plate while she holds Ellis.
I take a sip of beer, pretending to be indifferent. “Okay.”
“Don’t you want to know where she is?”
Hell yes, but what’s the use in handing my teammate a window into the most complicated corner of my life and asking him to help me make sense of it? Hayes wouldn’t feel right keeping any of it from Foster, nor would I expect him to.
“No.”
“Oh.” He pulls back in surprise. “So, you’re telling me it doesn’t matter that she’s out on a date?”
“With the doctor?”
His grin says he really wants to make fun of me. But Hayes doesn’t kick people when they’re down. “Thought you didn’t care?” He pats me on the back and goes inside.
I take another sip of beer and stare at the grill, thinking about the river cleanup two days ago. The overhang. Her hair wet against her perfect face. The half inch of space between us. How I was less than a second away from kissing her.
If I had kissed her, I would’ve broken Rule Number Two—don’t make promises you can’t keep. Because kissing Penelope wouldn’t be casual. She knows that. I know that. A kiss would’ve been a promise, and I’m not in a position to give it or to keep it.
I think about what she said before the rain started—how she wants more kids, that she’s tired of doing it alone, that there’s no DoorDash for husbands. She said it as though she was confessing something to me specifically, like maybe I was supposed to say something back. I didn’t though. I just stood there in the rain like the man I’ve trained myself to be.
She’s building a life. She’s been building it this whole time, and I’ve been standing on the edge of building my own, hiding behind my rules.
And quickly, I’m brought back to when I made that rule.
Junior year of college.
The bar was named Sullivan’s, and it felt right when I returned to Kingsley to give a commencement speech five years ago and found it closed down. Some things should stay in the past. Sullivan’s had the sense to know it. I just wish I did.
It was one of those nights that starts as three people getting food and turns into twelve people at a bar. Aurora was there, which meant I was divided the way I always was when she was sharing space with my friends. She preferred for us to be alone and had a hard time adjusting when we hung out with others.
“A prince? Decker?” Foster and a few of his teammates met us at Sullivan’s, which was becoming a common occurrence. “Okkkaaay.” Foster gave me a look over the rim of his beer glass before returning his attention to Aurora.
“My mom says I’m destined to have a fairy tale, and Decker’s the guy. I mean, how lucky am I to land a guy who will most likely get drafted?”
Foster wasn’t impressed and had told me so many times that these were not the days to waste on a long-term relationship. But we were different people. I liked sharing my life with Aurora. The problem was the longer we dated, the clingier she became. She wasn’t a bad person. She was twenty-one and in love with a guy who was in love with someone else and couldn’t admit it. I’ve had years to feel guilty about that.
“Let me clarify this for you, Princess Aurora.” Foster squeezed my neck. “The Davises aren’t from a kingdom. There’s no happily-ever-after fairy tale in our past.”
Aurora smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I don’t care about that.”
“Good, because our childhood messed us both up.” He patted me on the chest. “I’m going for another drink. You want one?” He tipped his glass to me, then to Aurora. We both declined, and he left.
“You guys are so opposite of each other. Are you sure one of you wasn’t switched at birth?”
Her comment irritated me. Sure, we were opposite in looks and personality, but he was my brother.
“We’re fraternal, remember? Siblings who shared a womb, not an identical replica of the other.”
“I know, Decker, you don’t have to treat me like I’m stupid.” She got up from the table, and I watched until she disappeared behind the bathroom door.
A few seconds later, Foster slid into the spot at the pub-height table next to me. “I’m not sure about her, Deck. I don’t think she’s the one.”
“You don’t think anyone is the one.” I finished the rest of my beer.
“Because we’re twenty-one and about to enter the draft at the end of the season. This is our time.” He gripped my shoulder and shook me. “Imagine what it’ll be like when we get into the league.”
“Do you think of anything else?”
