Page 52 of Pitch Prince

“I know. I just don’t know what to call him.”

I ruffled Logan’s hair. “I’ll let you figure that one out then. But yes, he’s staying tonight. We’re watching films and he promised he would make tea just how you like it.”

The game was brutal. Both Wales and Scotland played dirty at times and I could tell that the ref was getting frustrated with the amount of dirty tackles and rough play. But Rhys was like a knife on the field, slicing through every attempt the Scottish players made to take him out. When Wales won by a comfortable enough margin to ensure Scotland would find it difficult to recover the rest of the tournament, I tried my best not to look too elated. My man was the best fucking player out there. And he was shooting for the stars.

The only disappointment in our relationship was the distance. Sarah and I were sharing the kids every other week now, and Rhys wasn’t getting any time off rugby at all. So I was travelling from Edinburgh to Cardiff most weeks, except for the rare weekend, maybe twice or three times in a year, where Rhys would be playing near Edinburgh. But we were making the distance work, and he was staying over tonight for a quiet movie night, as it was my weekend with the kids. I couldn’t wait.

We filtered from the stadium, Finn uttering a quick goodbye before heading over to the changing rooms to meet with Garrett and Wesley. I wasn’t sure if there was something he was avoiding telling us, but that was Finn all over. He’d withdrawn himself little bit since his big scandal, and it made me sad to see.

***

Rhys

“How’re my favourite kids?” I asked as Logan and Olivia ran toward me, their father just behind. Logan ran full force and smacked into my legs and Olivia caught herself before she got to me and held out a hand to shake. Thirteen year olds were weird.

“Got this for you,” I said to her. I grabbed the rugby ball from my bag that had been signed by the Cardiff and Edinburgh players. “I know you’re a fan, so…”

Olivia closed the distance and hugged me, ignoring the squeals of her brother who was trapped between us. “Thanks,” she said.

“No problem.”

“That was really nice of you,” said Callum. His beautiful deep Scottish voice felt like home, and I knew that my recent big decision was the right one. Not that Callum knew about or had agreed to it. But he would.

“We heading home, then?” he asked. Callum took my hand and let the kids lead the way to his flat, not far from the rugby field.

My heart was beating at a million miles an hour. Did I tell him now? Was it worth breaking the fragile peace? Or did I wait for the kids to go to bed? Or…

“I’mmovingtoEdinburghnextseason,” I let out in one breath.

“What was that?” Callum asked, though I suspected he knew what I’d said and needed confirmation.

“I’m…I’m moving to Edinburgh in the new year,” I said. “If you want me to. I won’t come up if you’re happy with the distance as it is, or I can find my own flat if you think it’s too soon to move in together…but I’d like to give a proper go of this.”

“But what about Cardiff?” Callum blurted. “Wait, no, that came out wrong. I’m thrilled that you want to move to Edinburgh, but…are you sure? Cardiff raised you.”

“I’ve spoken to Garrett,” I said. “Nothing stopping me for playing for Wales if I keep playing well for Edinburgh. But they’ve been scouting, and gave me a very good pay offer when I hinted I’d be willing to make the move. To be closer to you. To close that distance. If you want, though. If you don’t want me to-”

“I. Am. Fucking. Thrilled.” Callum stopped me in the middle of the street to grab my face and kiss me — just quickly, before he had to let me go to keep an eye out for the kids several steps ahead of us. “You want to move in with me, right? No point buying a place up here when you’ll be spending every night with me anyway.”

I could feel myself blushing as I often did around Callum. “Yes. That sounds good to me…though I’ve got goldfish who need a place to stay too.”

And we walked, hand in hand, to his little flat, where we cuddled up on the sofa and watched crap Disney films all night with the kids. I was home. And always would be.