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“Thanks,” she said, patting my shoulder as I stripped off the oven mitts. She shooed me away. “Go see your family.”
“Come meet people,” I said to Wy, holding out my hand.
He nodded as he carefully eased off the stool and gingerly settled onto his feet. His knee was still not fully healed, and he probably would have the brace for a few more weeks. As he smiled at me, I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze.
“There are more jerks like you, huh?” he asked, winking at me.
Snorting, I nodded. “Come on.”
A burst of laughter tore through the house from near the front door.
“They’re loud,” Wy said with a grin.
“Yeah.” I shrugged, feeling more at ease as he squeezed my hand.
The day was an explosion of people into our home. My cousins ranged in age from five to twenty-five, and there were thirteen of us. My aunts made all of us cousins go out to the cars to unload the food they’d brought with them. Then the guys from the team who weren’t going home for Thanksgiving started to arrive. Miloševic, Cloutier, Thane, Morin, Holmes, Lovely, Olsen, and Harvey all showed up at more or less the same time, so at the end of everything we had twenty-nine people packed around the long formal dining table. The younger kids were at the table in the kitchen having a blast sneaking dessert first, just like I used to when I was a boy.
And everything about the day was perfect, especially with Wy smiling in a seat next to me.
After we ate, everyone went outside to play football. My aunts, Elissa, and Wy picked sides and cheered. Things got heated, and we decided to call it quits when Miloševic picked up Holmes and dumped him on his back in the mud, which everyone decided was a double foul in touch football. No one had bothered to keep score anyway. Laughing, we went inside to find clean clothes for Holmes.
Wy was yawning and looking tired by the time the sun sank toward the bare trees, and the football game was switched on as people went back to the food for round two. Everyone piled into the living room to drink spiked cider and beer, and cheer for their team. I chased Thane and Morin off a couch, and no one batted an eye when I pulled Wy down at my side.
“This has been really nice,” Wy murmured. He slid over so that his thigh was flush against mine. I wrapped my arm around him, and he dropped his head to my chest.
“Yeah, it has,” I said with a sigh. Someone scored—I hadn’t been paying much attention to the game—and everyone erupted into boos or cheers. Lovely and Cloutier exchanged money, so there must be some betting going on. I grinned. Wy nuzzled closer to me, and I planted a kiss on his temple. Before long he was snoozing.
Glancing around, I caught Elissa’s eye, and she smiled at me. Warmth that had nothing to do with the weather slid through me, and I gathered Wy a bit closer.
“Love you,” I whispered into his ear.
He grumbled and cracked an eye in my direction. “Love you, too. Now stay still. Pillows don’t talk.”
I snorted out a laugh as more groaning filled the room while the Texans whooped with joy—their football team must’ve scored.
Dad came over and shocked the hell out of me when he ruffled my hair. “Your uncles and I are going up to the office. Do you want to join us?” he asked, smiling. I hadn’t seen him this happy in a long time, and part of me unclenched that I hadn’t realized was tense.
“Busy, but thanks for asking,” I said, then chuckled. “Elissa probably won’t like you smoking cigars in the house.”
Dad shrugged and winked, then wandered off with my uncles, who were shooting guilty looks at their wives.
I rolled my eyes.
Wy let out a happy little sigh. A couple of months ago I never would’ve thought this would be my life. I’d hated Wy, and he’d hated me. I pressed another quick kiss to his temple. I’d never been happier to be wrong.
There was laughter nearby, and when I glanced up the guys from the team had turned around and were taking pictures of us.
“What are you doing?” I asked, flipping them off.
Thane shook his head and smirked. “Updating the team Snapchat.”
I rolled my eyes as my phone vibrated, probably with a hundred different photos of me and Wy cuddling on the couch, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. “We are co-captains,” I snarked.
“Of course you are,” Olsen said, winking at me.
“Oh no! Run, you fuckers!” Holmes shouted at the TV, his attention stuck on the football action.
“There are children present!” my aunt Bea said, but she didn’t sound too upset.
There was another roar as someone scored. No, I couldn’t think of anywhere else I would want to be right now. I had my family, Wy, and the team.
This was perfect.
