"I think I’m going to go back to school.”
I glance up at Bri over my coffee mug, feeling all sorts of domesticated as we sit at the kitchen table, eating omelets Bri made for us. I’ve been single for long enough I know my way around the kitchen, but she loves to cook, and I love to watch her flutter around my kitchen.
A big boom of thunder sounds causing Rocky to jump up and run to my bedroom, likely hiding under the bed which is his typical behavior during storms. It’s been raining for a few hours which will make today’s game a soggy mess, but it’s supposed to clear out soon. I hope, anyway. We can play in the rain but obviously not lightning, and while I wouldn’t be opposed to a day in bed with Bri, I’m antsy to get our first home game underway. “Okay.”
“Okay? That’s it?”
“Well, I’m not going to fight it, if that’s what you were afraid of. I think it’s great. What are you thinking of going back to school for?”
“I want to teach, I think.”
“You think?”
She looks out the window, watching as rain slides down the panes of glass. When we were little, Bri loved rainstorms. She even had an old CD of rainstorms to help her fall asleep at night after her dad passed away. “I don’t think. I know, all right?”
“What?” I press when she begins fiddling with her fingers on the table, setting down my mug and leaning over the table.
“I’d like to teach high school journalism,” she says, raising her bright green eyes alight with happiness to collide with mine, but I can see she’s nervous about my reaction. Why, I’m not sure.
“That’d be perfect for you,” I tell her.
A grin splits both our lips and I reach over, squeezing her hand. “I think so, too.”
“What are you nervous about?”
“Nothing, really. I think it’s nervous excitement. I feel a little embarrassed, too. I’m twenty-six and finally figuring out what I want to do with my life.”
“There are plenty of people in their fifties who still have no idea what they want to do.”
“You shouldn’t always know the right thing to say.”
“You’re gonna give all those damn teenagers walking hard-ons.”
She glares at me. “Gross, Grady!”
“They’ll go home at night and jerk off to visions of you. The school office will suddenly have a waiting list to get into journalism class because the boys will want to stare at you.”
“Stop it!”
But she’s laughing and now, I’m turned on again, imagining her standing in front of a classroom teaching.
The weeks since Kennedy went to SI and told them about my and Bri’s past have been chaotic. Having the press around for the beginning of the season isn’t anything new, but this time, the focus wasn’t on the game but on me and Bri. Originally, the agreement with Sports Illuminated was for the reporter, Bri, to shadow me and work with the team for a lengthy expose. When Bri was taken off the story, an agreement was made to publish early. The decision was best for everyone involved. It took the heat off our relationship but also showed the professionalism and integrity Bri has as a journalist. There was no question she had always been the right person for the job.
The pride I felt for her as I read the article was unsurmountable. I know leaving SI has been hard on her, but I won’t lie, having her here with me makes me happy. “I’m proud of you, baby.”
She blushes, so humble. When the article was released, Bri was perfectly happy with giving all the credit to Simon, but I know it made her happy to see her name listed as a contributor. Her voice was throughout the article and reflected her love of not only the school, but me. All of it handled with respect for the program she loves almost as much as I do.
I take her chin between my thumb and forefinger and move it up and down playfully. “Thank you for the compliment, Grady, you’re the best boyfriend I could’ve ever hoped for in the entire world,” I say in a voice pretending to be hers.
She swats me away but rolls her eyes before planting a kiss on my lips.
“I was thinking, you’ll probably need to save money if you’re going back to school.”
She nods.
“Officially moving in here is probably the best way to do that.” I wink. I’m pretty sure it’s a move my dad always uses on my mom, and if I think too much about that I’ll throw up, but I know my girl loves it so for the rest of my life I’m going to pretend I didn’t learn it from him.
She smirks, making a move to stand up with her empty plate. “That might help, if you’re willing to let me stay.”
My arm darts out and I pull her into my lap. “I’m not willing to let you leave,” I tell her, nuzzling my face into her neck.
“Well, to be fair, I’m practically moved in already.”
“Only your stuff that was in the townhouse. You still have the rest of it in Chicago.”
“Yeah, we’ll move it out of there in all your free time,” she jokes.
She’s so cute, thinking I haven’t had this planned and figured out since we got back together. “I’ve got it handled.”
I move her so she’s straddling my lap. Her tiny sleep shorts doing nothing to stop the heat I feel between her legs. The light pink tank top she’s wearing makes her olive skin appear even tanner and dips low, giving me a wonderful view of the top of her tits. I have to admit, it’s a damn good look on her. Threading her fingers through the short hair on the back of my neck, she leans in and kisses me.
“The boys are all over it.”
“What do you mean?”
“You have to take care of your lease and handle all the stuff with your landlord, but Aidan and Reece said they’d move your stuff out. Just let them know where your sex toy drawer is so they aren’t scarred for life.”
She bursts out laughing. “I do not have a sex toy drawer at my old apartment!”
I look at her with my eyebrows raised and she deflates. “Because I brought all my stuff with me,” she murmurs quickly.
Lightning flashes in the sky as the rain continues to pound against the windows but it does nothing to distract me from her admission.
I still beneath her. “You mean to tell me, when you moved your stuff out of that townhouse and into our home, you brought with you an arsenal of sex toys and we haven’t been playing with a single one of them!?” I’m shocked, and quite honestly, a little hurt. I don’t need the help, but damn, it would be fun and knowing she even had them to begin with is such a fucking turn on. Kind of like looking at her, holding her hand, kissing her… I look toward the spare bedroom where she dumped her belongings. It’s all happened so fast that it was easier for us to store it in there rather than us moving things around in the master bedroom.
“Not an arsenal, Grady! You make me sound like some sex pervert!”
“If the sex swing fits,” I tease.
“You’re seriously so annoying sometimes!”
“Why? Because I know you better than you know yourself?”
She huffs but can’t contain her smile. “Well, aside from thinking I have a sex swing.”
“You can show me your stash tonight to celebrate the big win.”
She frames my face with her hands and looks back and forth between my eyes. “Go get ‘em, Coach.”
Grady
“Thanks, Mac. I can’t tell you what this means to me.”
Coach Mac grins then reaches out his meaty palm to shake my hand. His hands were always so huge to me. I look down at where we’re joined, expecting it to still feel that way. I’m reverted right back to my senior year in high school when he congratulated me on signing with my dream school to play college football.
I shake my head and blow out a breath, looking out over the field I called home for four years in high school. The field I once thought I was the king of, had the world at my fingertips. If I’d known less than ten years later I wouldn’t be playing football anymore, but coaching it, and for the very same team who scouted me when I played here… well, I don�
�t know how I would have reacted. Timing is a funny thing. When people say things like “It’ll happen when it’s right,” at the time I usually want to deck them.
It’s true though. Bri and I, our timing wasn’t right six years ago. I hate to admit but I think it would have been my fault, too. I had never been denied anything. My life wasn’t easy, per se, but it definitely wasn’t a struggle.
“A lot has changed, hasn’t it, Grady?”
“It has, sir. But I wouldn’t be here today if it hadn’t been for you. You and Bales. You’re an inspiration for me. For how I lead my team. I can’t thank you enough.”
“You know, when you used to run onto this field, I watched in awe. It seems to me you have it in your head that you were this cocky kid, but you were so far from it. You weren’t cocky, you were confident. There’s a difference. Your confidence is what led you to where you are today. I’m proud I had a small part of it, but even more proud to see you’ve become someone I can only hope my grandkids play for one day.”
“It would be an honor,” I tell him honestly.
“You do right by her, Grady. I always knew you’d come full circle. When things went south after it took so long for you two to finally get your shit together, man, it was hard to see from the outside.”
“It wasn’t a picnic from the inside, either,” I admit.
“I bet not. She was your biggest fan. Every Friday night, we knew exactly where she was sitting because we would watch you look for her. Did you know she would yell plays to me?” He chuckles when I smile. I’m not the least bit surprised. She texts me during games, telling me what to do. “Yeah, if she thought we were running the wrong play or if we were down, she’d scream the loudest, tell me what I was doing wrong.”
The thought of it warms my heart. “It got to the point where she would text me in the middle of the game. Bitch of it is, she was always right. Never seen a girl so dedicated to the game before. I suppose you had a little bit of a hand in that, though,” he murmurs. He’s staring off into the stands, lost in his memories.
“Nah, she loved the game before I came along. You have to know, though, she always thought a lot of you. I always hoped you’d be coaching my kids one day.”
“You’d better get on with that part of your life quickly then, boy. I don’t know how many more seasons I have left.”
“Who knows, maybe by then, I’ll be tired of coaching over there and want to come back to my roots.”
“Always welcome, but I’m not holding my breath,” he chuckles, slapping me on the back. I’m not either. At one point, it would have been a dream come true. Now, though, my dreams have shifted. “Now, go finish this business once and for all.”
“Thanks again for letting me come here tonight.”
“Glad to be a part of it. Long overdue, if you ask me.”
“Can’t argue with you there.”
I watch as he lumbers slowly across the field, leaning down to a couple electrical cords on the ground and plugging them in to a strip before raising a hand in the air, giving me a thumb’s up. Twinkle lights illuminate all around us, up the goal posts, along the benches on the sidelines, up and down each yard line.
When I told my mom what I was planning, she enlisted my dad to bring over the scissor lift to raise me up to get the lights all the way to the top. She also tried to go waaaaaay overboard (shocker). Reining her in wasn’t easy, but I gently reminded her it wasn’t about her, in a nice way, of course. When she mentioned something about a marching band and cheerleaders, though, even my dad blew the whistle, calling a time out.
Bri has never been an over-the-top kind of girl. Hell, I met her because she wanted to hang with the guys. Mom meant well, her ideas coming from her heart, but no one knows my girl like I do.
I’ve been planning this day since I was eighteen. No way am I going to let anyone—even my mom who I love second to only one other person—take over.
I look up to the press box above the stands. Cole gives me a bunch of hand signals rather than a simple thumb’s up like a normal person would. Then he reaches down, lifts Anderson and raises a tiny hand, giving himself a high five with Anderson’s fist.
I stand there, head tilted back as I watch my big brother laugh at his own dumbassery.
“You know you love me!” he shouts through the microphone piped through the sound system.
“So glad he discovered that was available,” I mutter.
“Five minutes and counting,” Cole warns over the speaker. I’m not even sure why he’s in there other than him wanting to be here and he figured if plan A failed then he’d be ready with plan B.
I give him a thumb’s up to which he replies, “My hand signal was better, little brother.”
Bri and I have only been officially back together for about six weeks now. Most people would have probably waited a little while longer to propose to their girlfriend, but I’m not most people. And… it’s not as if we just met. We were simply in a holding pattern for… well, six years.
Energy courses through my blood, and I’m not sure if it’s from nerves or excitement. Maybe a little bit of both.
“One minute to launch,” Cole says, to which I cup my hands around my mouth and shout, “I know!”
“Just trying to help!”
I groan, wondering if this was the best idea. He’s going to have a front seat to the entire show tonight. He’s also getting more and more like my father every day, so the likelihood he’s planning to do a live broadcast tonight to the entire family is very good.
“Grady?” I spin when I hear Bri’s voice behind me. She’s looking around the field with a bright smile on her face. “Is this what you wanted to show me? When did they start stringing lights all over the field for homecoming?”
Homecoming week has no major significance to our relationship other than it was the first dance we danced together at… where I was holding her closer than a friend should. But it’s today’s date that’s significant.
“Nah, they don’t do this for homecoming.”
She turns her head to the side, and I take her hand in mine, the sign I’m ready for the rest of my plan to start to unfold.
The beginning notes of Can’t Help Falling in Love meet my ears and I take a deep breath as a few members of Liberty High’s class of 2010’s orchestra and choir start joining us on the field. I may not have wanted to have an entire marching band, but figured I’d take a little page out of Mom’s romance book.
“What’s going… Grady?” Bri asks, her eyes filling with tears.
Bri
I suck in a breath as Grady drops to a knee in front of me. He smiles, and rubs the tattoo on my wrist, looking at it for a moment before returning his beautiful blue eyes to me again.
“On this exact day sixteen years ago, a spunky girl with long dark hair stole my heart right out of my chest and never gave it back. I once thought our road was completely mapped out for us. I’ve never been so happy to be wrong.”
The choir begins singing Wherever You Will Go when something out of the corner of my eye catches my attention. A light is on in the pressbox, illuminating Cole and Mia. Cole waves over Mia’s head, Anderson in one arm, the other he wraps around Mia once his hand is done flailing. He kisses her on the head and I choke down a laugh because I see all our family come out from behind white boards they’d been hiding behind right in front of the box.
“Seriously. They couldn’t stay away,” Grady grumbles.
I press my lips together and cup his cheek, bringing his attention back to me.
He wraps a hand around my wrist, kissing the inside of it.
“As I was saying, I’m glad I was wrong about what I thought our life plan was. Because waiting for you only made my love for you grow deeper, stronger. I didn’t even know it was possible because, Bri Jameson, I’ve loved you for over half my life. It’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done and comes as natural as breathing. I’ve asked you a lot of questions before, but this is the only one that matters.”
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br /> I press a hand against my heart, hoping to still it from leaping right out of my chest.
DJ Cole switches it up from the live music our old classmates were playing. You and Me now piping through the speakers, and I’m full on crying because it was the first song we ever danced to at a homecoming dance. We weren’t together at the time, but we both wanted more, we were just too scared to say it. The fact he remembers all these details of our past together makes me fall a little deeper in love with him.
“Bri, will you allow me to love you for the rest of our lives, and do me the honor of being my wife?” His blue eyes are shimmery when he asks, “Will you marry me?”
Before he’s finished asking I’m already nodding my head. “Yes! Yes, yes yes!” I shout and the “crowd” cheers.
Grady slides the ring on my finger, but I don’t see it through the blur of tears. Nor do I care. I remember my mom telling me when Andy proposed her ring could have turned her finger green and she still would have gladly worn it knowing the meaning behind it. I get what she meant. Hell, it could have been a piece of yarn or a blade of grass for all I care.
“I’m gonna be Mrs. Grady Ryan!” I shout, and it sounds like a herd of elephants are coming down the bleachers.
Grady lifts me up and spins me around, peppering my face with kisses. I wrap my legs around his waist, not caring that our family is being given a free show and kiss the hell out of him.
“Sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever heard you say,” he growls quietly, burying his face in my neck.
“You’re going to be my husband,” I whisper into his ear, and I feel wetness hit my skin. From tears or his tongue, I’m not sure.
“You keep talking like that, and our family is going to be getting the X-rated version rather than PG-13.”
He gently places me back down on my feet and takes my face in his hands. “You said yes.”
“There was no other answer to give.”
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