Page 94 of Pucked Up

I just grinned and turned to kiss Boden again. “Happy?” I murmured against his ear.

“No. It’s more than that,” he whispered back. “It’s everything.”

He was right. It absolutely was.

EPILOGUE

BODEN

Three Months Later

“It’s the end of an era.”Tucker swiped his hand under his eye and turned to me. “I can’t believe you’re leaving.”

Rolling my eyes, I hit the joystick on my chair and tipped the box in my lap onto the dolly. “Dude. I’m moving like six miles north of here.”

“Yeah, but…this was our place. Ourhome.” Tucker looked actually distraught.

“You haven’t lived here in forever.Andyou’re going to have a room at my new place.”

Tucker sniffed. “It won’t be the same.”

“No.” I reached for him and pulled him close. “Things have to change as they get better. We can’t be those dipshits in this crappy-ass bachelor pad anymore.”

“We would have lived better if you were less uptight about living off your dad,” Tucker said.

I shrugged. “Well, now I can live off my contract money, and you can live off the money you make coaching Jonah’s team all the way to the playoffs.”

He grinned, but it faltered after a second. “I’m gonna be okay at that, right?” He sounded nervous. “I know I’m not the most passionate player anymore, but…just. I don’t know. Tell me we’re going to be okay.”

My legs were still struggling after the weeks of packing and prepping to move into my new place, but I found the strength to undo my straps, then stand up and pull Tucker into my arms. We were both not the most balanced people, but together, we were steady.

“You’re going to be amazing. It’s everything we ever wanted, right?”

He nodded, then bit his lip. “Do you think Ford will be okay? I mean, with Deo and Hugo…”

“I think that Ford will figure out himself and what he wants. Maybe that means he won’t settle down with anyone. It doesn’t matter as long as it’s what he’s choosing.”

“You’re the best, Dad.”

I shoved Tucker back so hard he had to catch himself on the wall, and I dropped back to my chair and strapped my legs back down. “Go finish the kitchen, son, or you’ll get your ass whooped.”

Flipping me off, he turned and headed to do as I asked, and I headed outside to find Ford, who haddisappeared for the last fifteen minutes. He said he was making some space in the back of the borrowed pickup he’d gotten from Cooper, but he was nowhere to be found.

Hugo and Amedeo were still on a lunch run, and Jonah and Micah were having a lightsaber-style fight with their canes in the side yard.

Pushing myself down the driveway, I swore I heard something. I turned my head, my right side better than my left, and then yeah. It was there. Ford’s voice. I wheeled forward and found him crouching down behind the neighbor’s car.

“…just figure it out when the time comes. I don’t want you to panic. It’s not going to be like that, okay? I’m not going to boot you out just because—oh shit.” He saw me and stood, his face flooded with panic. “I gotta go. Mhm. Yeah. Catch you later.”

I stared hard. “Who was that?”

“What? Nothing.”

“Ford!”

He glanced away and took a breath. “It’s…I have something going on. But please don’t ask because I’m not going to tell you, and I already feel like shit about it.”

“Are you being safe?”