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“Can you forgive me?” he asks quietly. The way he sounds… It’s like my answer matters to him.
“Yeah. We both played a part in it. And I’m sorry if I let you down—”
“No, you never have. I don’t want you to ever think you’ve disappointed me.”
I swallow hard when the thickness in my throat won’t go away. That keeps happening too often lately. “Okay.”
He lifts the grill lid and pokes at the burgers. “I talked to Marty on my way home last night. He said you’re coaching for him now.”
“Yeah. I’ll start full time in about a week.”
“He mentioned something too about you taking over for him one day?”
“It’s a possibility. I’m going to take some business classes at the community college and see how I do.”
He pauses with his tongs in mid-air. “You’re going to college?”
“It’s only one class for now, to see if I’m any good at it. Tessa’s helping me sign up for the summer semester.”
He covers the grill again to keep out the cold air, silent. Is he mad?
“Uncle Marty said he’d work my schedule around my classes,” I continue, needing to fill the silence. “And he’ll tell me the best ones I should take, like general business management.”
“Sounds like you’ve got it all planned out.”
Where before I would have left it at that, not wanting to make waves, I instead ask, “Do you have a problem with it?”
He looks up, his forehead wrinkling. “No. It’s just… You made all these plans for your future and I had no clue about any of it. I need to do better about asking howyou’redoing, not how boxing is going.”
I turn my head, catching sight of Danielle and Tessa peeking through the blinds of the living room window. What the hell are they doing? Tessa doesn’t need to pick up Danielle’s bad habits. I put my back to them so I’m not distracted.
“I mean, I’ve usually got nothing going on. It’s only lately things have been happening. Ever since I got roped into Tessa’s study, really.”
He gives me a confused look. “What study?”
That’s right. I never told him about that. I figured he’d only ask why I was wasting my time with that instead of training.
As the burgers finish cooking, I tell him about the relaxation techniques I’ve been learning. It’s probably the first solo conversation we’ve had in years that doesn’t directly relate to boxing, and as we head back inside with the food, a sense of peace fills me I wasn’t expecting.
“You look happy,” Tessa murmurs, pulling me aside before we go into the kitchen. “Everything went okay, then?”
“You mean you couldn’t tell from spying on me through the blinds?”
She bites at her bottom lip, having the grace to look at least a little ashamed. “Danielle said—”
“It’s fine.” See, I knew it was my sister who instigated it. “It went okay. As good as something like that can go, right?”
She nods, looping her arm through mine. “I’m proud of you for talking to him about it.”
She said the same thing the night I’d told him I didn’t want to go pro over the phone, too. “You give me too much credit.”
“And you don’t give yourself enough.”
I lean down, giving her a long kiss. “I love you.”
She beams up at me, her dark eyes sparkling. “Love you, too.”
“Is this what I have to look forward to?” Danielle asks with a smile, interrupting us as she pokes her head out of the kitchen. “PDA every time you’re over here? Maybe I shouldn’t have been so quick to get you two back on track.”
