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I lifted my shoulders.
“Well, all right.” Wyatt made a turn and headed toward Aunt Tootie’s house. Cars were lining the gravel driveway, and Three-Legged Ed ran beside us when we pulled up. I leaned out of the car, trying to shoo him away, but he kept pace with us, his tongue lolled out to the side in a goofy grin.
I spotted Beckett Miller’s work truck off to the side and lifted a finger. My brows shot up.
Wyatt’s lips formed a thin line. “Yep. He’s sticking it out.”
Penny leaned forward from the back seat. “Aunt Katie said that Beckett is an ‘intolerable, pigheaded asshole.’”
A shotgun burst of laughter erupted from me as Wyatt looked at his precocious little girl. “Penny...”
She shrugged. “What? She said it, not me.”
“We don’t talk like that. Beckett is Uncle Duke’s friend, and he’s doing us all a big favor by working on the house.” Wyatt narrowed his eyes at me while I struggled to get my fit of giggles under control.
He shook his head. “All right, you two, let’s go.”
The weather was still warm, so we gathered in Tootie’s huge yard to dine outside. Penny took off like a shot toward Lee, Ed yipping and bounding after her. Wyatt rounded the car to meet me and immediately tossed his arm across my shoulders and pulled me in close.
I sighed and melted into him as we walked. “Intolerable, pigheaded asshole.” I laughed again.
Wyatt let his lips brush across my hair. “Those two are going to kill each other before the renovation even starts.”
I laughed again, knowing full well that Katie had every intention of making Beckett’s life miserable. “Most likely.”
As we walked up, the conversation flowed over itself, everyone talking and laughing and picking at the small appetizers Tootie had placed on the table. The afternoon sun was warm, and puffy clouds made sure it wasn’t too hot.
The whole scene was picturesque and perfect. If only you could ignore Kate shooting daggers across the guacamole and Beckett completely ignoring her to talk with Tootie about where he’d start working.
Football season was right around the corner. Penny would be starting school, and for the first time, it felt like all the pieces of this broken family were falling into place.
The Sullivans still had some healing to do, but for now they were together. Wyatt had let me into the darkest, loneliest parts of himself, and bit by bit he was letting the rest of them in too.
I looked around at their smiling faces. Katie’s eyes brightened when we walked up, and my heart pinched in my chest. They may be a little lost, a little broken, but they’d welcomed me with open arms. They’d chosen me, accepted and loved me, and claimed me as one of their own.
38
LARK
Three Months Later
We were downtwenty-four to twenty as the final quarter was coming to a close. My palms were sweaty and I felt sick. MMU really needed the win.
“He’s definitely getting fired after this one.” Penny shrugged and shook her head.
“Penny! C’mon. Positive thoughts!” I clamped my teeth together.Positive thoughts. Positive thoughts.
I looked out onto the field from the family-box suite and into the packed stadium that held dueling fans in their schools’ colors. It was Saturday, and just like the ones that came before it, we were here and ready to cheer for our team.
Once the season had started, I’d learned pretty quickly that the most valuable commodity was time. It felt like Wyatt was always being pulled in a thousand different directions, but not once did he ever make our time feel less important. In fact, he’d set some boundaries with the board of directors, and when Wyatt said it was “family time,” he meant it.
Sure, our definition of family had also expanded.
There was a gravitational pull to being part of a community, part of a family. We’d emptied ourselves into being a part of the team and the players’ lives.
Joey, Kevin, and Michael would always be a little more special. I watched with pride as the hulking frame of number twenty-three turned toward the box and thumped on his chest.
Kevin.
