“Come on, Eli, you can do better than this,” Ricky growled as he loomed over him, spotting him on the bench press. “Three more.”

“Fuh-uck.” Eli ground the word out through clenched teeth, his rib cage on fire. But for once in a good way. He pushed through the reps and his arms fell like jelly to his sides as Ricky set the weight back.

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Ricky grinned at Eli. “You’re really improving!”

“Yeah,” Eli growled, scraping a towel over his sweaty body.

“Seems like you have some motivation,” Ricky said, tossing Eli a bottle of water.

Eli looked up at him in confusion. “You mean trying to get back on the roster this season?”

Ricky shook his head. “Nah, I was talking about your new girl. Seems like she’s doing your body good.” Ricky said it casually, but seeing Eli with some chick on the cover of the tabloid had stomped Ricky’s budding crush into a hundred million pieces. He knew better than to catch feelings for his clients. And star athletes.

Eli’s head snapped up. “What did you hear?”

Ricky shrugged. “Not much, just what I saw on the cover of a tabloid in the checkout aisle. The picture spoke though, man. Seems like you’ve got it bad for each other.”

Eli’s mouth had hardened into a thin line. He didn’t respond to Ricky’s comments about Tia.

He was showered and pulling into her driveway not an hour later. He knew she was off tonight.

“Hi!” she said as she pulled the door open, surprised and flushed and happy to see him.

He had to grab her and bring her in for a kiss before another thing happened. There she was, happy to see him. He wondered if that would be the case if she knew that a tabloid had been released with her face on the cover. All because of him. “Hi, baby.”

“I was just making soup. You want some?” She sniffed at him. “You smell like the gym shampoo. You must be hungry if you came from rehab. How did it go?”

Eli followed her into the house and found his eyes glued to her bare feet. Her gorgeous ankles where they disappeared into deep blue leggings. She wore a baggy patterned tunic over top and her hair in a messy bun atop her head. He always liked seeing her in her home. Her natural habitat. For as proper and put together as she was at work, Tia was the master of relaxing in her own house.

Case in point the half drank glass of wine on the island counter and the Alabama Shakes playing over her small kitchen speakers.

“Am I intruding on a date with yourself?” he asked, a grin going wide on his face. One that abruptly fell away when he saw what she had laid out over her counter. A tabloid.

She had her back turned to the stove, serving up soup and slicing big chunks of bread.

“A little bit,” she called over her shoulder, unaware that he was now staring at the tabloid like it was a black widow spider. “But you’re infinitely better company.”

She turned back and skipped a step when she saw what he was staring at.

“They didn’t waste any time, huh?” She kept her tone light, even though she was plenty confused about what she’d just read.

“No. They usually don’t.” He carried the bowls of soup to the table and plunked down beside her. “Tia, I’m so, so sorry.”

She didn’t acknowledge his apology. “They didn’t know my name, the nursing home representative that they talked to wouldn’t give any information. But whoever wrote the article said that it’s safe to assume that we’re serious since we were obviously visiting sick relatives in the nursing home.”

Her eyes were serious and sober and a lick of panic kicked up Eli’s spine.

“I’m so sorry, Tia,” he said again, this time reaching for her hand. “It makes me sick. Truly sick, that they intruded on your privacy like that. And that it taints a really special moment between the two of us. A moment when you let me into your life even further. I’d never want anything to spoil that.”

Tia’s expression softened. “It’s not your fault, Eli. It’s just, this is something I’m gonna have to get used to, isn’t it?”

Eli wanted to give her any other answer than the one he had for her. Any answer. “Yeah. It’s part of the Elijah Bird package.”

“How do you handle it?”

“I ignore it for the most part. And there are parts of my life that I’ve kept completely, almost desperately private.”

Her silver eyes searched his for a second. Ham waddled up to Eli’s leg and set his heavy head on his knees, staring up lovingly. Eli couldn’t help but smile down at the little meatloaf, breaking off a hunk of bread and feeding it to him.

“You invited me to meet your parents,” Eli reflected, almost thoughtfully. “You let me into your life in a real way.”

“Yes…” Tia’s eyes searched his, not exactly knowing where he was going with this.

Eli cleared his throat. “Tia, I can’t promise that I can keep the paparazzi away from us, but if I’m concentrating on it, I can really avoid them. I did it for a long time after my knee surgery.”

“I remember,” Tia said, her eyes holding his but a bit of peach colored her cheeks. “I was really anxious for information on how you were doing, and there was basically nothing. It was like you went dark.”

Eli nodded. “When there’s something that I really, really need to keep private, I can do it. I know because that’s what I did then.”

“You were trying to keep your recovery process private?”

Eli nodded. “Yes and no. I needed to keep my recovery process private, but not from the knee surgery.” He raised his eyes to hers, knowing that he was about to tell her something that his dad, Kat, Jay, Marcus, and Coach Best were the only people on earth who knew. That and a highly specialized team of doctors. He blew out a deep breath. “After I blew out my knee, the surgeon who was performing my reconstructive surgery noticed a tumor on my tibia while in surgery. I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma within the week.”

Tia’s eyes went ice still. But her hand tightened on his. Eli knew she was likely racing through everything she’d learned about the cancer in med school.

“I went through two more surgeries that week and then started chemotherapy soon after.”

“Was it completely resectable?” Tia asked in a voice Eli had come to recognize as her doctor voice.

Eli nodded. “They removed all of it, it hadn’t metastasized. And I responded well to the chemo. I mean, as well as anyone can respond to having low grade poison constantly pumped through your body for months.” He scraped his hands over his powerful chest. “But I’m cancer free now. The chemo drastically reduces the risks of a recurrence, though you never know. So diligence is the name of the game for the next decade or so.”

Tia was quiet, staring him in the eye but not really seeing him. All she could think was that he’d been sick, so sick, and she hadn’t been there. Of course she hadn’t, considering they hadn’t reconnected yet at that point. But still, the doctor in her winced at the fact that he’d needed her and she hadn’t been by his side. “Oh, Eli.”

“It’s okay, Tia. Honestly, I think it hit the people around me harder than it hit me.”

“Oh, Eli.” Her hand found its way to his cheek. “Don’t belittle what you went through. It must have been terrible.” She paused, wondering if she should say what came to her next. “Your mother had osteosarcoma.”

Eli’s eyes shot to hers. “You remembered that from high school?”

She nodded. “I wish I had been there with you, Eli.”

Neither of them knew if she was talking about when his mother died or when he’d battled cancer. Maybe she meant both times. He leaned in to kiss her, found that he simply had to. “I had good surgeons working on me, baby.”

“I wish I had been there as your girlfriend.”

And he had to kiss her again. “You had plenty to deal with at that time, trust me. I think it all worked out for the best.”

He couldn’t believe how much lighter he felt. He hadn’t realized that he’d felt as if he were withholding it from her. And of course, he had. He’d been withholding it from nearly everyone in his life. “I tell you all this to make it clear that there will be things we can hide from the public eye. It’s possible.”

Tia nodded. “It’s not terrible.” She nodded her head to the gossip rag still back on the counter. “But I don’t like it. I don’t want to be in tabloids. And I don’t want people to know the personal details of my life. Least of all my patients. I wouldn’t want anyone to question my skills because I’m linked to a playboy. I’ve worked very hard to get where I am.”

“I totally understand.” His words were as kind as he could make them. But it didn’t mean there wasn’t icy steel in his gut from what she’d just said. Linked to a playboy. Jesus. What did she think of him?

***

He was still chewing over those words a few days later as Eli mashed avocados for guacamole. He stood in his kitchen, absently sipping a beer as Marcus grilled on the deck out back and Jay chopped vegetables for the salad.

“You think I’m a man-whore?” Eli asked Jay out of the blue.

Jay let out a bark of laughter as he tossed some carrots over the lettuce. “Uh. I plead the fifth.”

“Come on, man, I’m serious. I’m worried that Tia thinks I’m a man-whore.”

Jay stayed quiet for a second. “You’ve been doing a lot of self-reflection recently, Eli.”

“Yeah. So?”

Jay shrugged. “Nothing. I just think it’s a good thing. That she’s good for you. As long as you’re not beating yourself up too bad about the things you can’t change.”

“Like the fact that I used to be a man-whore.”

Jay bobbed his head. “Like the fact that you used to be a man-whore,” he agreed.

“Shit. Why didn’t you slap some sense into me?” He diced garlic and squeezed lime over the guac.

“Come on, Eli. You were fresh off of chemo. I was just happy you were up and kicking. I didn’t give a shit what it was you were doing. Or who.”

Eli sighed. He often forgot how hard that time had been for Jay and Marcus. They’d gone from sitting in hospital rooms with him to tailing him to NFL parties. The ultimate wingmen, just trying to keep up with their friend who was hanging on by a thread.

“Fair enough.”

Eli heard voices at the front of his house and smiled at the fact that Tia just let herself in these days. No more knocking at his door. He really liked that.

“In the kitchen!” he hollered, making Jay damn near jump out of his skin.

“Hi!” Tia appeared in the doorway moments later and immediately crossed over to him, her eyes bright and dancing with happiness. She kissed that brightness right into him. Laura and Jace followed after.

“Hey man,” Jace said, giving Eli the universal man hug back slap.

“Glad you could make it,” Eli said evenly, even though it was still a little strange for him to imagine Jace Overshire settled down with a girl. Especially with Tia’s little sister. But as he imagined that Jace could probably say the exact same thing about him, Eli swallowed back the thought.

Marcus came in the back door of the kitchen with a plate of steak and grilled fish. “Just in time.”

His smile was genuine, if not a little distracted. He’d been pulling late nights on the Sandino case and it wasn’t going well. There was way more red tape than he would like and he’d recently gotten the feeling that there was even more to the story than he’d thought. Sandino wasn’t just bringing drugs into the country, he was fairly sure. He thought, with an awful, clenching dread, that he was also trafficking people. It made Marcus itchy and constantly half a thought away from the case. But he was determined to relax tonight. He hadn’t let himself take a breath in days.

Tia walked over and kissed his cheek, and then Jay’s. Laura did the same and all the men couldn’t help but smile at the sweet, pretty sisters. So different from one another and also so much the same.

They ate on the back deck. It was finally, just barely, warm enough to enjoy the evening outside. Summer was on its way.

“I love this time of year when the temp is pleasant but the mosquitoes aren’t out yet,” Jay said, leaning back in his chair and tipping his head up to the night sky.

“This guy hates mosquitoes,” Marcus said, debating and then reaching for another strip of steak. You only live once.

“Doesn’t everybody?” Laura asked.

“Sure, but Jay’s hatred is extinction level.” Eli filled his plate with salad, automatically refilled Tia’s glass of wine without having to ask.

“You try living in the tropics and tolerating that shit,” Jay replied.

“Where did you live in the tropics?” Jace asked, his red hair shining copper under the moonlight.

“All over. Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, St. John, The Cayman’s, the D.R. All over.”

“The Bahamas,” Marcus added pointedly.

“Oh, were you in the Bahamas when Hurricane Clara happened?” Laura asked. It had been the biggest storm in fifty years and people still talked about it, even all these years later.

“Yeah,” Jay answered gruffly, and Marcus regretted bringing it up.

A short silence settled over the group before Laura broke it again. “You two need girls,” she pointed at Marcus and Jay.

Something pained flitted over Jay’s face and something sharp and regretful flitted over Marcus’s.

Damn, Laura thought, landmines everywhere with these guys. Well, in for a penny. “Unless you’re gay? With each other?”

“I wish,” both men grinned and said at the exact same time.

The group laughed.

“Seriously,” Jay said. “My life would be a hell of a lot simpler if I could just shack up with this guy and call it a day.”

Marcus grinned, shaking his head at the thought. “Nah, you’re a rolling stone, I’d never want that kind of uncertainty in my life.”

Eli couldn’t help but chuckle at the look on Jace’s face. The younger football player was almost certainly more used to the hetero machismo of the locker room. Eli, on the other hand, had grown up with Marcus and Jay and was glad for it. None of them saw anything wrong with being gay and weren’t offended by Laura’s words in the least.

Still, Laura couldn’t help but see the look of strange despair that came across Jay’s face as the conversation drifted on to other topics. Maybe it was because she’d made out with him one night a lifetime ago, or maybe it was because even though she was desperately in love with Jace, she wasn’t dead. But Laura found herself wandering back out to the back deck as the others cleaned up the kitchen.

Jay sat on his own, his eyes still on the night sky. Eli’s house was far enough out from the city that stars were glittery jewelry over top of the world.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t even hear her plunk down next to him. Laura, with the full understanding that what she was about to do could only be categorized as prying, plunged in anyways.

“So, what’s her name?”

“What?” Jay looked up in surprised confusion.

“The woman who’s got you staring off sadly into the infinite universe.” Laura waved her hand at the stars.

“Ah.” Jay cleared his throat and strongly considered lying. After all, he’d never even told Eli and Marcus about her. But for whatever reason, tonight, after seeing Eli absently playing with Tia’s hair and Jace smiling at Laura when she didn’t even notice, well, Jay was especially bummed tonight. “Mari. Her name is Mari.”

“And why isn’t she here with you tonight?” Laura asked. The terrible sadness in his voice was alarming to her. She hoped against hope that this woman hadn’t died.

“It’s complicated,” Jay replied as hurricane force winds whipped through his memory. A broken shutter winging past like a dead bird on the wind. The snap of a broken bone. Pain, an infinite ocean of pain. Salt water up his nose. Her hands on his face. Her eyes so sad. He cleared his throat. “Lot of external circumstances that made it so we couldn’t be together.”

Understatement of the century.

“Huh.” Laura stared at the sky as well. If Jay Brady, hottest, nicest, calmest guy on the planet couldn’t make it work with somebody then what hope did everybody else have? “And you’re not dating other people?”

“Nah.” He took a swig of beer. Something he rarely, if ever, drank. But tonight it tasted good. “I’ve tried. But I’m not good for anybody right now. It always just ends up with me feeling like an asshole and her being hurt as hell.”

A horrible thought crossed Laura’s mind and she shifted away from Jay in her seat, unconsciously moving closer to Jace in the kitchen. “Oh god. You’re not secretly talking about me, are you? Like you didn’t just make up her name?”

Jay threw his head back and laughed, really laughed. And it felt good. “No, Laura. I haven’t been pining for you since we kissed in the back of a car once ten years ago. Even if it was a damn respectable make out sesh.”

“Phew.” Relieved and once again enjoying herself, Laura grinned at him before becoming thoughtful again. “You know, Jay, seems to me that external circumstances are easier to overcome than internal ones.”

He rolled his head over the back of the chair to look at her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that you want her and she wants you, right?”

Tan skin flashed through Jay’s mind. A hand fisted in a sheet. A gasping breath and black hair spilling in the moonlight.

“Yeah.” His voice was gruff with the memory he only let himself think about every once in a while.

“Then the other stuff? That’s gonna work itself out, Jay. You’ll find your way back to one another.”

Jay sighed and looked back at the stars. Laura didn’t know how literally he needed that sentiment to be true.

“Come in for dessert!” Tia called out to the deck, and Jay and Laura made their way back inside.

Tia scooped vanilla ice cream onto warm slices of cherry pie and passed them around to everyone. The night had gotten chillier, so they sat in Eli’s kitchen, leaning against the counters.

“Eli, you didn’t invite your pops?” Jace asked. “I really liked talking to him last time I saw him. He gave me some great ideas on places to camp around here.”

Eli nodded. “The man loves the great outdoors. He used to drag the three of us to every campground in the area when we were kids. Especially after my mom passed. It was just the four of us.”

“And sometimes my mom would come too,” Jay added. “She was invited tonight too, but she was busy.”

“So was my dad,” Eli said, swallowing down half a slice of pie all at once. Then, as if a thought occurred to Marcus, Eli, and Jay all at once, the three of them looked up at one another. And then, obviously deeming it ludicrous, they all looked away in unison, scoffing.

Tia stayed the night. But the others trickled out little by little. Marcus hung on the longest, seeming to want to cling to the night of relaxation. When he finally rose, stretching, to make the trek out to his car, Tia and Eli were curled up together on his couch watching the season’s first lightning bugs out the back window.

Eli rose too, to walk his friend to the front door. When he got there, Marcus turned to him, brought him into his chest in a gruff, tight hug. “You’re lucky, man. To have found that woman.”

Marcus’s eyes were focused on Eli’s intently. “Lucky,” he repeated. “But that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve it.”

And then Marcus was off, into the night, his dark hair dissolving in the shadows. Eli blinked after him, shaking his head. At some point, they were gonna have to talk about Marcus’s misguided beliefs about himself and women. Eli was starting to suspect that Marcus felt he didn’t deserve happiness with a woman, or some such crap like that. Eli shook his head as he wandered back to the living room to find Tia asleep on the couch.

He bent and picked her up, carrying her back to the bedroom. If Eli deserved this kind of happiness, then Marcus sure as hell did, too.