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We got back to the house and he swooped me into his arms, carrying me up the stairs and putting me on the bed.
He smiled at me. "Are you in the mood? How much do you think you can take?"
"I can go all night, baby," I said.
He snuggled down next to me, happily grabbed the remote control, and scrolled through the channels until he found HBO.
Then I sighed contentedly as the new season of Game of Thrones started, and I held on to the man I loved for dear life.
Epilogue
CHASE
"What do you mean, you booked another trip to Disney? You just took the boys last month!"
I sighed as my mother explained patiently that her grandchildren had made her promise to take them back to see something called The Electric Light Parade. It involved an octopus and took place outside at night. Or something. I stopped listening.
"Fine," I said, cutting her off. I knew she just really wanted to go again. "Just work it out with Ave."
"I will, honey. See you this weekend for family dinner! Reggie and his wife are coming, right?"
"Right. And Cole and Jenny."
"Looking forward to it!" Martha sounded positively gleeful. She'd been on cloud nine ever since Avery and I had gotten married and had kids. She said grandkids were her happy ending.
Speaking of the kids, I heard a crash from the living room. "Watch out!" one of the boys yelled. I heard another crash.
"Did you guys knock over the crystal swan again? Knock it off! That has sentimental value!" I hollered.
"I kind of hope they knock it over," Avery said, coming up and wrapping her arms around me from behind. "Since you bought it for me as an April Fool's joke."
"Babe. I watched you pine for it. It was the least I could do."
Our oldest son, Finn, whizzed by us wielding a Nerf gun. "Onward, soldiers!" he cried. His two younger brothers, Brodie and little Eric, followed him. There were more crashes.
"That swan's not gonna make it," I said.
"Probably not." Avery leaned up and kissed me.
"Mom! Can we have lunch?" Brodie cried, interrupting us. "I'm starving!"
I rubbed my stomach and looked at my wife hopefully. "Chase's kind of hungry, too."
She laughed and rolled her eyes. "I know—because you're always hungry. You're all always hungry!" She headed back to the kitchen. She spent a lot of time in the kitchen. Good thing she seemed to like it.
Things had worked out better than I could have ever asked for. We hadn't won that last super bowl title, but I did get Player of the Year. Which was a nice touch. Since I'd retired from the NFL, I was now a consultant for WRX. I got to go to all the Warriors games and then they paid me to dissect them on TV. It was a pretty sweet gig. I never had to miss my kids' practices. I got to coach their Little League teams. And I got to spend all the time I wanted with Ave.
She made me lunch every day. And breakfast, and dinner. God I loved that woman.
Jessica and Pax had gotten married and had, remarkably, stayed that way. Probably because Pax had smartened up and insisted on a pre-nup. Their series got cancelled after one season. They'd been on the reality-series juggernaut ever since, appearing on such gems as Survivor: The Celebrity Edition, The Amazing Race, and several celebrity cooking competitions. They were fierce competitors. The other contestants often seemed afraid of Jessica, which was smart.
Lila was still living in Boston. Avery had made peace with her, but Avery always seemed to make the best of everything. I still wasn't happy with Lila. But after she'd successfully completed a rehab program, we'd bought her an apartment. And a car. And paid for her to go back to school. And yet, she still managed to be pissy about it. She wanted a Lexus, but I'd bought her a Honda. But that was as close as I'd gotten to justice.
So far.
Eric was thrilled that we'd named one of the boys after him. He flew up from California all the time, happy to play the doting uncle.
He was still single. He told me that he was considering going the escort route.
