Page 132 of Only Between Us

Josie props herself up behind me to watch, and Mom and Dad grin wide. I can’t help a satisfied sigh as Siena descends on Leo with merciless tickles, growling and roaring in an apparent T. rex imitation as the kid shrieks with delight.

Tonight’s been an excruciating glimpse at what our life together could be like if this works out the way I want it to.

In that easy way of hers, Siena swept my parents off their feet within the first half hour. Josie kept shooting me excited looks throughout dinner. And Leo… well, the kid looks like I delivered him his new best friend.

I can’t believe I found her the way I did. Who the hell meets thelove of their life, their future wife, the mother of their children, catching an errant pass on a football field?

Who the hell manages to convince someone like Siena Pippen to fake-date them, only to fall wildly in love with her in the realest way?

What kind of wonderland did I stumble into?

Siena and Leo are now in a roaring contest, each working to outdo the other in length and pitch as the rest of us watch and laugh. Mom is in hysterics on Dad’s lap, who turns a knowing gaze on me before tipping his head toward the French doors leading out back.

Colton takes over Siena’s position in the roaring competition and she sits beside Josie, laughing. I squeeze her knee. “Gonna step outside a minute. You okay in here?”

“More than okay. Go brag to your dad about me.”

I touch my lips to her ear. “I want some of that growling later tonight.”

She laughs. “Yeah? Does that do it for you, Attwood?”

“I already told you—youdo it for me.”

I kiss the top of her head, catching Josie’s delighted look as I follow my dad through the doors. By the time my eyes adjust to the darkening sky, he’s sitting at the large wood-top table overlooking the lawn. Dad sinks low in his seat, relaxed with the glass of white wine he’s been nursing since dinner.

Most people who meet Sara and Rory Attwood tend to say Josie and I take after my mom in the looks department. Our bone structure is all her. But my dark features are all Dad, with his thick dark eyebrows, near-black but graying hair.

“You’re looking good, old man. Still hitting the gym five days a week?” I drop into the chair at the head of the table so that I can look at him while keeping an eye on Siena through the glass doors.

“Not so much these days. But I could still kick your ass at a hundred-meter dash.” He swirls his wineglass and sets it down without taking a sip. “Tell me about training camp.”

“It went as well as I could have hoped for. Coaches seemed happy with my performance.”

“And you? Were you happy being back there?”

A pad of paper and pen sit on the table from earlier, when Mom scribbled down our take-out order. I reach for the pen and twirl it along my fingers. “I really was. I gave it all up too quickly the first time around. I love that coaching team. I’ve never played with the kind of chemistry I have with Cam, and I think we’d have a real, honest-to-God shot at the championship this year. It was the best I’ve ever felt on a field.”

Through the doors, I watch Mom push a fresh, hand-sized brownie on Siena, who wisely relents without much of a fight. She’s grinning at Josie, who’s speaking. When they both lapse into laughter, and Mom looks on with a quiet giggle to herself, I know I’ve struck gold.

I’ve always known, but now Iknow.

Siena fits seamlessly in every single part of my life. With my friends, my family, in my home. Even early on, when I didn’t want her there, she carved herself a spot in my heart. Widened it until there wasn’t a single part of me where she didn’t belong.

And the idea that she’d let her guilt win, wouldn’t let us keep this? It’s eating me alive.

“We were all nervous to meet her,” Dad says suddenly.

“Yeah? Why’s that?”

Inside, Leo is showing off a plastic T. rex toy to Siena, whooohsandahhswith perfect enthusiasm. I don’t know how she put her finger on his T. rex obsession earlier, but I wasn’t surprised.

“They don’t really teach you how to interact with your son’s pretend girlfriend.”

“Yeah…”

Wait—what?

Dad looks amused as hell. “Come on, you talk to your mom more than I do, and we live in the same house. You really thought we’dbelieve you went almost an entire year without mentioning a girl you were seeing?”