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“And when she’s here next month, none of you better mention this conversation.” Miles looks around the room and points at each of us.
I hold up my hands. “My lips are sealed.”
“FYI, men who are pigs do change when it comes to their one,” Lee says. We all stare at him, and he holds up his hands again. “At some point, you will all be on my side.”
“Where? On your island of rom-coms?” I laugh.
“You do know I’m with all the women on the island, right?”
“Fuck that. I like girls who love horror movies anyway.” Chase does lunges back and forth across the room.
“Twyla loves them,” Miles says.
“I know,” he says, grunting when he turns to come back our way.
I cross my arms and stand in his path. “You do? How do you know that Miles’s sister loves horror movies?”
Miles’s eyebrows furrow as we wait for the answer.
“We talked about one once,” Chase says.
“And when did this occur and did you have clothes on at the time?”
“Fuck you, Banks,” Miles yells.
I hold up my hands. “I’m just giving shit back to him.”
“Well, she loves rom-coms too, so she’s not the woman for you.” Miles eyes Chase.
Chase laughs. “Yeah, Cavanaugh, I have a thing for your engaged little sister.” He shakes his head and turns away from us, doing his lunges.
I glance at Lee because Chase is saying all the right things, but it seems off. Miles grabs a set of weights and holds them at his sides, lunging with Chase while asking about some protein he’s been using, apparently oblivious to what Lee and I see.
We move on to talk about our prospects for this coming year and who we think might make it on the team through training camp. When we’re done working out, I tell the guys I’ll order from the health-nut place around the corner and have it delivered. They have great protein bowls and smoothies on their menu.
After I’ve placed the order on their app, we head upstairs to the main floor to hang out in the family room until the food arrives. We aren’t there for more than a few minutes when Violet and Theo arrive home. Theo rushes from the front door to the back of the house, probably having seen everyone’s cars in the driveway. He barrels into the room at full speed.
“Hey, guys!” He jumps on the couch and wedges himself between Lee and Chase.
Theo loves hanging around the guys from the team. I think he looks at them like pseudo dads or maybe even big brothers. But they’re always happy to show him attention and he soaks it right in.
The three guys all say hello and give him high fives or fist bumps. Then Violet walks into the room and everyone quiets. Jesus. Could they be any more obvious?
“Guys, this is Violet Park, Theo’s nanny.” I gesture in her direction but don’t make eye contact because I’m afraid she’ll see something in them, like guilt.
“Hi, everyone.” She raises her hand.
They thaw from their frozen state and say hello, waving. I take care of introductions, and it’s almost comical how clueless she is to who I just introduced her to. She has no idea who these men are and how reputable they are in football.
“How was the park?” I ask, acutely aware that the guys are studying our interaction to razz me later.
“It was good. Theo saw a friend.”
“Kale,” he says, playing thumb wars with Chase.
“Yeah, they sometimes get together. He seems like a good kid except for his lack of wanting to get dirty.”
She laughs. “He wasn’t into the sandpit.”
