CHAPTER 39
RILEY
I wrapped the afghan around my shoulders tightly to block the cold night breeze. Brady was beside me on the back porch steps. Dinner had gone well, and Bryony was tucked in bed. She’d enjoyed having a new face around to perform for and entertain.
Between her and Grandmamma, I wasn’t sure what Brady thought of my family. Bryony had kept giving him buttered corn bread, which he ate like a champ, Grandmamma had asked him three times what his name was and if he’d seen Thomas, and then to end the night, Bryony had made him a pallet by our bed and told him to stay.
If I sat back and tried to see us through someone else’s eyes, we resembled a zoo. Dad had chuckled through all of it. Mom had kept apologizing under her breath. But Brady had smiled and assured everyone he was having a good time.
“Are you about to vomit from all the corn bread?” I asked him.
“I’m a growing boy. Bryony knows that. She was just making sure I ate enough.”
I laughed at that. “Death by corn bread.”
“It wasn’t bad. I enjoyed it. Was a nice break from my house. This was real. I used to think mine was real, but now that I know what a complete façade it is, I can appreciate the real thing.”
“Have you thought about how to handle it? Are you going to confront your dad or tell your mom?”
He sighed and ran a hand through his already messy dark hair. “Yeah, and I don’t know. I have to confront him, and I have to tell my mom. Both I need to do. But the idea of how much pain she’s going to be in kills me.”
I wondered about Maggie. How all this would affect her. She had found happiness in their home. Now this was about to explode.
“Are you going to wait until after the championship?”
He shrugged, then shook his head. “No. I can’t. This is more important than football. My mother gets in bed with that asshole every night. Hell, he could be giving her a damn STD.”
I hadn’t thought of that. But I doubted that would happen.
“She’s married, so that’s unlikely. It seems to be an affair for both of them.”
“She’s a whore. She could be having an affair with several men. And I hate to say this, but he could be doing the same. Who’s to say she’s the only one?”
Good point. I didn’t argue that. My stomach twisted at the thought. Just when I thought I couldn’t get any sicker.
We sat there awhile staring out at the stars with our thoughts.
Gunner was okay with me and Brady. His girlfriend wanted to be my friend. This should all make me happy. But the way Brady was hurting, nothing could make me happy. His world was being ripped apart. There was nothing I could rejoice over at this point. Nothing that would fix that.
“I’m worried about Maggie. She’s just now settling in and living life. She’s found security, and I’m about to blow that shit up in her face. With me, I’ve never had tragedy to face. Life has been easy. So fucking easy I am soft. For Maggie, she’s been through so much already. Now the only family she has left is about to explode in front of her. Her mother was my dad’s sister, so does that mean she has to go with my dad when he leaves? Because he will leave. My mom won’t have to go anywhere. I’ll make sure of that. But Maggie should get to stay with my mom. Fuck,” he muttered, dropping his head into his hands. “This is so hard. How do I figure out the right thing to do in all this? So many people’s lives are going to be affected. Not just mine. How do I protect them?”
He was just seventeen. He shouldn’t be having to protect his mother and cousin from this. It was too much responsibility, and it was unfair. I reached over and linked my hand with his. It wasn’t much, but it was all I had. In life, sometimes there was nothing that could comfort you. Nothing to take the pain from your chest. But a simple reminder that you weren’t alone helped. If just a little.
“Do you think he even considered us for a moment? Me, mom, and Maggie? Or did he just think about himself?”
People were generally selfish. People who cheated on their spouses were the most selfish people I could think of. Yet it happened all the time. It seemed to be the norm now. Maybe we as humans were getting more selfish.
“I think if he’d taken a moment to consider who all he was hurting, he would never have done it.”
Brady nodded. “So he’s a selfish bastard.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. Because the truth was the truth.
“I can’t remember if football was my dream or my dad’s. All I can remember was having a football in my hands since I could walk. But did I choose that or was it forced upon me?”
He was questioning everything now. I didn’t blame him. He hated his father because he was hurt. Wanting to rid yourself of everything to do with the person who’d hurt you was common. It made sense.
“Do you love football? Does being on the field fulfill something inside you? Does throwing a pass and seeing it land in the receiver’s hands make you feel like you accomplished something?”
He didn’t reply right away. I waited in the quiet for him to think about it. Finally he sighed. “Yeah.”
That was his answer. “Then it’s your dream. No one can take your dream, Brady. They can share it with you or want to be a part of it, but at the end of the day it’s yours. You did it. You achieved it. It’s yours. No one else can lay claim to it.”
He turned his head to look at me. His eyes were almost too pretty under the moonlight. I didn’t tell him that, though. I figured he’d take offense to be referred to as pretty in any way.
“Can your parents see us?”
I shook my head. “No. Why?”
He leaned in and pressed his lips to mine while his hand cupped my jawline. It was gentle yet took my breath away. I let the cool night air engulf my now-heated body as I leaned into him. His taste was always minty. His lips always soft yet firm. In this moment I wondered where I’d be right now if Brady Higgens hadn’t walked back into my life. He was changing me. Teaching me. Opening my world back up.
When he pulled back, it was just a breath of distance. “What would I do without you?” he asked.
I had just been thinking the same thing.
“Fate stepped in and we won’t ever have to know the answer to that question.”
He grinned and pressed one more kiss to my lips. “I need to send fate a thank-you card. Or a fruit basket,” he teased against my cheek as he brushed a kiss there.
Smiling, I wondered why it couldn’t be this easy. This simple all the time. Just us. No pain or turmoil. No disaster waiting just ahead. But then it wouldn’t be life, would it?