“Well, tell me where you most want to propose to her.”
Nolan felt his eyebrows shoot up. “Propose?”
“You are going to propose to her, right?”
“Well…”
“Nolan.”
“Yes. I was thinking about proposing.” He paused. “You’re going to help me propose to Randi?”
Teresa straightened. “Randi is a wonderful person and you should grab her and marry her and never let her go.”
“You know when I say Randi, I mean Miranda Doyle? The cute mechanic. The one that you said wasn’t good enough for me a few weeks ago.”
Teresa frowned at him. “I’m starting to wonder if you’re good enough for her, frankly.”
“Is that right?” Nolan was thrilled, of course. But this was interesting, to say the least.
“It is right. And let me tell you something else, Nolan Phillip Winters,” Teresa said. “If you’re going to live in this town and just sit around and write books and columns, then you’re going to need to give some money to community projects or volunteer for some committees or something. You need to give back. We’re all a part of the people and things that come out of this town.”
Nolan was definitely going to get this story later. But right now, he needed to find Randi. He crossed to his mother and pulled her into his arms. “I love you, Mom. And I would like to have a doctor give you a full psychological workup. But I will give money and time to whatever you ask me to. Now will you please tell me your idea for how I can get Randi back?”
He thought he heard a sniff, but he had to be wrong. Teresa Winters didn’t cry.
“Yes. Let me finish these cookies and I’ll tell you all about it.” But she squeezed him before letting him go.
“Cookies?” He moved back to the table and sat down to the last three bites of pie.
“Someone ate the pie I made.” Teresa got busy with her cookie dough again.
“Why do you need to have sweets?”
“Because I have friends coming over for coffee later.”
Nolan swallowed his bite of pie hard. “You…do?”
“Yes.”
“You and Monica were going to eat a whole pie?” As far as Nolan knew, Monica Williams was the only friend Teresa had.
“I have more friends.”
“Since when?”
“Since about a month ago.”
He wanted to ask her how. He loved his mother, but he knew she wasn’t the most popular woman in town. Instead he asked, “Why?”
“Because someone helped me see that being a part of something can be pretty great, and once I started looking around, I realized I am a part of things here. And I decided to try to enjoy it instead of resenting it.”
“I…um. Wow.”
She looked over her shoulder at him. “It’s amazing what you miss when you don’t call or visit for so long, huh?”
Apparently.
“We have some catching up to do,” he admitted. “But we have a lot of time now. I’m here to stay.”
Teresa beamed at him. “Let’s talk about how to get Randi to say yes. You’re going to need something big. Because it’s been a month.”
Nolan sighed. “Yes, Mom, I know.”
“Fuck this.”
Randi looked around the hood of the car she was working on to see Lela standing there, hands on her hips.
“Are you okay?” Randi asked.
“No. I’m kinda pissed, actually.” Lela walked straight to Randi, took her hand and pulled her toward the door to the waiting area.
Now what? Coach had left about three hours ago and Randi had been thinking about their conversation ever since. It was past closing and everyone was gone, making this the best place to think.
“What’s up?” Randi asked, following her friend.
“Girls’ Night. And you’re coming. But there are some rules tonight.”
“Rules?”
Lela stopped by the small office where she knew Randi kept her personal belongings while she worked.
“Yes. Go in, change your clothes and meet me out here in ten minutes. We’re going to Pitchers and we’re getting tequila, and you’re not going to cry, you’re not going to leave early and we are, by God, making this a great night with lots of fun so that you can get back to liking tequila. And your life.”
Randi appreciated the gesture. “I just—”
“I’m not asking,” Lela told her with a firm look. “All the girls are there. Let’s go.”
Randi looked back at the car she hadn’t even really been working on, then at her friend. The women at Pitchers had been here for her for so long and, more importantly, would continue to be here for her. They were going to grow old together. Sure, Lela and Annabelle and Sadie and Paige and the others were madly in love. But they were still going to be having girls’ nights when they were eighty. They would be there with emergency chocolate anytime she called. They were going to be sharing her blanket, and her spiked cider, at football games until they were too old to climb into the bleachers. And then they were going to line their lawn chairs up by the fence like the old ladies did now. They deserved her time and attention and energy. She wanted tequila to make her think of her friends, not Nolan.
“Yeah, okay. Let’s do it. We’re going to make tequila fun again,” Randi decided. She pulled the ponytail holder out of her hair as she headed into the office. “Let me grab a clean shirt and my boots.” She always kept extra clothes and shoes in the office for just such an occasion. These occasions actually came up quite a bit.
She changed quickly and soon they were walking through the door to Pitchers.
The place was packed and Randi took a deep breath. This was home. Every single inch of this place was familiar and filled with memories. The people here were her people. The music was her music. And she wouldn’t trade this for any party in New York or even Paris. This was where she belonged.
The feeling of comfort washed over her and she happily followed Lela to their table, where Lacey, Paige and the rest of their gang were already sitting. Sadie arrived with a tray full of shot glasses the moment Randi’s butt hit the chair.
“Glad to see you,” she said with a wink.
“Here’s to making tequila fun again,” Lela said, lifting her glass.
Randi joined in the toast and shot back the drink. It burned in its old familiar way and she found herself smiling. Did it make her miss Nolan? Sure. But would she have skipped over the tequila body shots if she’d known how things were going to go? No way.
“Another,” Randi said, and all the girls cheered.
They followed up with beer and girl talk and laughing and thirty minutes later, Randi was feeling a lot more like her old self. Comfortable. Happy. Where she belonged.
That feeling lasted another three seconds.
“Randi.”
Randi watched her friends’ eyes widen just before she turned. Slowly. With butterflies swooping in her stomach.
Teresa Winters was behind her.
“Um, hi, Teresa.”
“Hi.” The older woman gave her a big smile. “I have something for you. I was going to bring it to the shop but someone stopped by the house and I didn’t get a chance to get there before you left.”
Randi straightened. “You have something for me?”
Teresa nodded and pulled a wrapped rectangle out of her big purse. She handed it to Randi, but when Randi tried to take it, Teresa kept hold of it.
“Do you love my son?” Teresa asked.
Randi didn’t answer right away. She took a deep breath, wet her lips. Breathed again. But then she couldn’t help it. She missed him, she was angry with him, she was hurt. But she couldn’t deny how she felt.
“Yes.”
“Good.” Teresa let go of the package.
Randi knew what it was immediately. It was a book. “Um, is this from Nolan?”
Teresa nodded.
Randi swallowed. The book. The reason he’d pushed her away. “I don’t—”
“Just look at it.”
Randi lifted her eyes to Teresa’s. “I love him. But I don’t know if things will work out.”
“I know. And going back to San Antonio was a crappy thing to do. If it’s any consolation, it might be the first crappy thing he’s ever done.”
Randi actually laughed at that. Of course Teresa thought that. But Randi had to admit she might have a point. “I’m not sure that I’m consoled knowing that I’m the reason he was crappy for the first time.”
Teresa smiled. “I know how that sounds.”
Randi just nodded, her gaze dropping to the wrapped book. Even without looking at it, the book was making her heart pound and her stomach twist.
“I really think you want to see this,” Teresa said, her voice gentler now.
She was going to unwrap it. If nothing else, because Teresa Winters had started opening up in the past month—she smiled at people when she passed them on the street, she’d actually skipped the last Chamber of Commerce meeting, and rumor had it that she’d started a book club, inviting a few other women her age over for coffee and book talk, and even baking for them. Their first selection had been Nolan’s first book, of course, but they had since read Eat, Pray, Love and a couple of romances.
So Randi would look at the book because Teresa had brought it to her.
But damn, she didn’t want to.
She’d seen the cover for the book on Amazon and had teared up. The photo was of the Titans field at night, taken through the uprights, with the tall lights shining brightly. Upright was already selling well in the pre-order period, and when she’d read the first few pages that they showed online, she’d had a hard time breathing. The dedication read To Coach. Because no one writes books about guys who play it safe.
Finally she took a deep breath and ripped the wrapping paper off.
But it wasn’t the book Nolan had written about Coach Carr in her hands.
This book was also by Nolan. It also featured a photo of the Titans field, but this one had the players huddled up in the center of the field, the stands full of their fans behind them.
It was called The Boys of Fall.
Randi looked up at Teresa. “What is this?”
“His other book.”
“Other book?”
“He wrote it at the same time he was finishing Upright. He’s self-publishing this one. And that is the first copy. It goes on sale tomorrow.”
Randi didn’t know what to say. She turned the book over.
The Boys of Fall. A collection of essays about small-town football—the victories, the defeats, and the fans that make it all matter.
Randi swallowed hard.
“These are the stories we’ve told him,” Teresa said. “All the people he interviewed, behind the scenes stuff, but…”
Randi looked up.
“But mostly the stuff you told him,” Teresa said. “The stories that made him love football. And you.”
Randi shook her head. “He doesn’t love football.”
“He loves Quinn football. Now. Because you helped him see that very little of it is actually about the game. And you helped him know all of us better. You helped me know everyone better.”
“Really?”
“I got to beta read the book. He figured I’d be the harshest critic of anything about Quinn.” She shrugged. “I liked it.”
Randi breathed deep, her eyes stinging.
“Read the dedication,” Teresa said, opening the front cover.
“Oh my God, read it out loud,” Annabelle said.
The words blurred and Randi had to blink. She finally shook her head. “You read it.” She handed the book to Annabelle.
“Out loud,” Lela added, leaning onto the table eagerly.
Annabelle cleared her throat. “The fifty is where anything can happen, things can go either way, and it’s all about who wants it more. It’s all about possibilities and desire at the fifty. Miranda Doyle.”
Randi felt her heart thump and a tingling start at her scalp and travel to her toes.
Annabelle and Lela looked at her, their eyes huge.
“You said that?” Lela asked.
Randi nodded.
“Wow, that’s really good,” Annabelle said.
Randi chuckled in spite of the swirl of emotions going through her. “Thanks.” She looked at the book. “I can’t believe he used that.”
“And I’m not done reading,” Annabelle said.
Randi sat up straighter. “Okay, go on.”
“He signed it,” Annabelle said. “And it’s amazing.”
“Read it,” Lela said, almost bouncing in her seat.
“It says, To Miranda, M—”
Randi grabbed the book.
“Noooo!” Lela protested.
But Randi could barely hear her because she was reading Nolan’s words.
To Miranda, Marry Me.
“Come on,” Lela said.
Randi handed it to her.
“Oh my God!” Lela looked up at her.
“I know,” Randi answered.
“But…oh my God!”
“I know.”
“So how do you say yes?” Annabelle asked, looking around. She focused on Teresa. “Is he coming? Is he hiding somewhere?”
Teresa looked at Randi. “You know what to do.”
She did. “Okay.”
“What?” Lela asked, looking back and forth between them. “What’s happening?”
“I have to go,” Randi said, sliding off the stool.
“What?” Annabelle asked. “Where?”
“Can we come?” Lela asked.
Randi laughed, the truth of the situation finally fully sinking in and the joy bubbling up. Coach had known about this. He had to. He’d come to be sure she was in the right place emotionally to accept it. Either that, or he was magically able to just know when someone needed to talk to him.
That was entirely possible too. Randi had always thought he had a magic touch.
“This is kind of a private thing,” she told her friends.
“I want to see him get on his knee!” Lela said.
“I want to see you say yes!” Annabelle added.
Randi laughed and grabbed her purse. “I’ll tell you all about it later.”
They both slumped in their seats.
“Well, at least come back for celebratory tequila,” Lela said. “That should make you like it again.”
“Okay, but Tucker might not like you sucking tequila out of my belly button. That’s how Nolan and I do it,” Randi said, feeling lighter than she had in a month.
Lela grinned, then laughed. “Oh, I think Tucker might like that a lot.”
“Come to think of it, I could use some tequila and belly button practice,” Annabelle said, waving Sadie over to the table. “I’m going to need a bottle of tequila to go.”
“Make that two,” Lela said.
Sadie already had one in hand. And a lime. She grabbed the salt shaker off the table and passed it all over to Randi. “I’m sick of you not liking my tequila anymore.”
Randi lifted an eyebrow. “How did you know that this—”
“It’s a small town,” she said with a shrug.
“A small town that knows what goes on in my living room when I’m there alone with my boyfriend?”
Sadie nodded. “Yeah, when your boyfriend is good friends with our boyfriends.”
Randi didn’t care one bit that everyone in town knew about the tequila shots. Or about anything else at this moment other than getting to Nolan.
“Go get him, girl,” Sadie said.
Randi took a deep breath, gave her friends a smile and turned toward the door.
Teresa stopped her. “Thank you for loving my son.”
Randi felt her throat tighten. “I can’t help it.”
Teresa smiled and stepped out of the way.
Ten minutes later, Randi walked through the tunnel that led from the parking lot into Nicholas Carr Stadium.
<
br /> Nolan was sitting on the fifty yard line, legs outstretched, leaning back on his hands.
She didn’t miss a step.
When she got to midfield, she stopped. “You thought you could get me back with just some pretty words?”
He looked up. “Um, yeah. I’m good with words.”
“Yeah. You are. It would have been nice to have a few of those over the past month.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I know.” He swallowed. “I’m really sorry. I just… I honestly kept thinking that I’d find a stopping place and I’d call you, and then I wasn’t sure what to say until I could tell you I was done and coming home. And then when I was done and coming home, I just wanted to get here. And tell you in person.” He looked miserable. And sorry. “But you are in every word of that book, Randi. Writing it made me fall in love with you all over again.”
“It’s been a month,” she said.
“I know.”
“So you’re going to have to do better than words.” She was lying. His words were exactly what she needed. Like how much he loved her. How amazing he thought she was. And that he wanted to marry her.
But she handed him the tequila and the lime, then stripped off her shirt and stepped forward, her feet on either side of his knees. She sank down onto his lap.
He gave her a smile that was filled with joy, love and amusement. “Tell you what, I’ll show you with actions, but I’m going to need some words from you.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Oh yeah? Words? As in plural?”
His big hands went to her back and he brought her in until their lips almost touched. “You’re right. I really only need one.”
“Ye—”
“But let me say a few first,” he cut her off.
She leaned back, unable to hide her smile. But she nodded. “Okay.”
“I’m sorry. I was wrong about the book and the stories you told me. Those might not have been what New York wanted, but they are what I wanted to write about. They made the book that I wanted to write. And that’s the kind of book I want to keep writing. About people and relationships and connections. I have more ideas and I’m going to keep going with them. From right here in Quinn. And I love you. You’re amazing and I want to spend every day of my life making sure you know that. I want to be with you forever. Here, in Quinn. Forever.”
Her heart was thundering, and she wanted nothing more than to wrap herself around him and just be with him. But she nodded. “Good.”
Full Coverage: Boys of Fall Page 17