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“Me?”
“For making her smile.”
“It’s a beautiful smile,” I tell her as I lead her up the walkway.
She squeezes my hand again. “She looks like her mother.”
Goodness. I already know I’m going to like this woman. Like Charley, there’s a sadness in her eyes, and who can blame her? Now that she has Charley, I hope it fades like a distant memory.
I open the front door, pushing it wide. “Two more for dinner, Nan! I want you to meet my girlfriend and her grandmother.”
Briar pushes Charley forward, and I wrap my arm around her shoulders so I’m standing with our two visitors while my whole family gets up and introduces themselves. Soon, our grandmothers are conspiring in the kitchen while they dish out leftovers. I take a few extra myself while Lex sits in the living room to watch the football game. Briar hangs around the table,sneaking tastes of the dishes here and there until Reid video calls her.
I say hi briefly before she skips outside to talk in private, then park myself next to Charley while she sits with a full plate in front of her. “I don’t remember the last time I had a proper Thanksgiving meal,” she admits.
“Don’t worry, we’ll fix that.” I tuck a strand of hair around her ear. “We’ll stock your brain up with so many new memories that you won’t be able to remember the ones when you were alone.”
“Aww,” her grandmother sighs.
Nan lifts her coffee cup to her lips, looking smug. “That’s my grandson.”
Charley chuckles, holding her hand over her mouth while she swallows some of the food. “I think they’re going to be our biggest supporters.”
I interlock our hands under the table, my heart full. Seeing her close to her grandmother, talking with my father, and playing with my little cousins, the day couldn’t get any better. Something in my soul clicks into place when she peers up at me, face flushed.
I can see us doing this for many years to come. Like we might’ve started our very own tradition.
Later, I sit her down next to me when Reid’s game comes on. Lex sits in the big chair and Briar’s next to Charley. We tell stories about when we were kids. Brady’s name pops up over and over again, and I can’t help but think maybe he had something to do with this.
I look over at Briar when Reid completes a pass, and she’s wiping away tears. She meets my gaze. “Can you believe we get to do this? Watch Reid on TV…on Thanksgiving!”
She doesn’t have to say her next thought because it’s what Lex and I are already thinking. We wish Brady could be here to see this. Doubly so for me because I wish he’d met Charley.
Goosebumps spread across my arms and head, and I already know he’s here.Hi, buddy.I peer over at Charley.Isn’t she pretty?
It doesn’t matter that he can’t answer me because I already know what he would say.She has to be to make up for how ugly you are.
I snicker, and the four of us watch as Reid leads his team to a win.
“The perfect ending,” Briar muses, and I couldn’t agree more.
27
Charley
With the score tied and the game clock counting down, my stomach flips. Coach paces on the sidelines in front of me. I stick by his side in case he needs me, the plans for how to win in my hands.
I scan the field for Cade, watching him line up, his gloved fingers putting his mouth guard in.
Our center hikes the ball to Aidan, and Cade takes off down the sideline closest to us. He jockeys with the defender, then creates enough space. He looks behind him, and I follow his gaze to see the ball spiraling in his direction.
My heart leaps in my throat. He jumps, coming down on one foot…then two feet inbounds right in front of me. He gets drilled from the side by a player from the opposite team, and he flails. Coach reaches out to help catch him, but he barely gets a finger on his shoulder pads. Cade barrels toward me, and I brace myself, using my left foot as a stopper.
As much as he tries to slow down, he runs into me, and I catch him. Well, as much as I can catch someone who is taller, bigger, and actually moving.
We tumble to the ground in a heap. Concerned eyes meet mine, but I’m already laughing.
“We have to stop meeting like this,” he breathes with a chuckle. “You okay?”