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“I have to be crushing you.”
“No, you’re keeping me warm.”
I’m unsure how long we lay together, but the heat from our lovemaking eventually drifts away and the chill of the night gives us no choice but to get dressed. We finish our wine, eat the snacks, and hold hands as we head back to the car.
“What about all the stuff we’re leaving behind?” I ask when he climbs inside the car with me.
“I have people coming to pick it up.”
We sit together in silence as his driver takes us to Tyler’s house. I think about asking to be taken home, but my lover will question me too closely if I do. Though I know I’m in love with this man, I can’t tell him, can’t give him my secret. So I accept what he’s giving me, and hope it will be enough. It has to be enough.
ChapterThirty
Olivia
“Let’s go, Nolan. You’ve got this!”
I sit back and watch as Tyler coaches his Little League baseball team. He wasn’t hard to find once I called his oldest brother, Blake. The man sold his little brother out in an instant.
Why hasn’t Tyler shared this with me yet? Insecurity fills me again. Even though he’s good to me, almost too good, I’m still scared. It’s too good to be true.
This team is obviously important to him so I hide in the corner to watch him coach these young kids. He’s good at it, very good. The boy hits the ball and flies around the bases. Tyler’s out in left field smiling as Nolan scores a home run.
“All right, kids, last batter,” Tyler calls.
I watch in confusion as the young boy to his left begins creeping up behind him. What’s happening here? The kid gets a silly grin on his face as he tugs on a loose string hanging from Tyler’s shirt.
The batter connects with the ball and the kids run for it while the batter rushes, base by base, toward home. Tyler looks at the boy who’s finding such amusement in pulling on the string, and he ruffles his head. The kids are dashing back to the dugout when Tyler’s eyes connect with mine. Letting his assistant coach begin packing the equipment, he jogs over to me.
“What was that about?” I ask, embarrassed at getting caught. “I mean with you and that little boy.”
“That’s Albert,” Tyler replies. “He’s been fascinated with the string on my shirt all day.”
“You seem to enjoy coaching.” He’s quiet for a minute, looking as if he wants to say something, then one of the children runs up to us with a gigantic smile.
“Coach Astor, I got my report card today,” the boy says, holding out the piece of paper and waving it.
“How did you do?” Tyler asks, kneeling down.
“Only one B. All the rest are As,” the boy burbles.
“Nice job, Bobby.” Tyler high-fives the kid. The rest of the team members pull out their report cards. After a chaotic few minutes, Tyler bestows a brilliant smile on the members of his team.
“All of you are not only passing but also on the honor roll. Do you know what this means?” he asks.
“Yes!” everyone shouts.
“Pizza time,” Tyler tells them, and the kids begin rushing toward the two vans waiting in the parking lot.
“Pizza time?” I ask. Tyler looks a little uncomfortable when he answers. “They get a reward for doing well in school.”
“You’ve changed over the years haven’t you, Tyler?”
He looks puzzled, and I bite my tongue. I don’t want to reveal my humiliation of that life changing night to him. Finally, he speaks. “You’ve made a lot of assumptions about me. Lots of people make those same assumptions, but everyone changes as they grow up. We have to be a little bad for a while so we know how to be good.” Then he winks and moves in closer, his words quiet so no one else can hear. “However, if it’s an asshole you want, I can be that too.”
“Oh, I know you can be that, Tyler. But I didn’t say that’s what I want.”
“Sometimes I don’t know what you expect from me.”
