Page 45 of Catching Kyle (Football Heartthrobs #1)

“You’re a good man,” I tell him. “I’m sorry for getting defensive.”

“No harm done,” he says. “Let’s get back to dinner.”

When we get back to the kitchen, Silas is on his second slice of pecan pie, and Michael and Ma are still wrapped up in conversation. Ma looks up at us, then glances down at her watch. And then she panics.

“Oh, shoot,” she says. “The show. It starts in ten minutes.”

Jimmy puts his arm on my shoulder, his grip strong. “Guess we all got lost in that conversation.” He winks at me, reminding me of all that he said. This homophobic world can make me do crazy things. Maybe, but I’m stronger. No one is going to get in the way of me and Michael. No one.

“Let’s grab our lanterns and get to the community center,” she says.

Michael stands. “How can I help?”

“You two have that cabin rented?” Jimmy asks. “I think you and Kyle should head there.”

“Oh, yeah,” Silas says. “This whole thing is real romantic. We wanna make sure you guys get the full experience.”

Jimmy raises his eyebrows suggestively. “Alone.”

“You boys are the worst,” Ma says. “But yes, you two go on alone. Kyle, this is a tradition they recently started. You’ll love it.”

Michael looks at me. “You ready?”

Defiant, I close the distance between us and kiss him on the lips in front of my family. “Let’s go.” I won’t betray him .

Ma hands us this giant cloth lantern and a lighter, then tells us to hurry on down. When we reach the cabin and look out the back porch, I’m surprised to see dozens of people crowded on the dock of the community center across the lake.

“What do we do?” I ask.

Michael holds up the lantern. “Your mom was telling me: we go on the back porch, someone at the community center will say a few words, we light the lanterns, then let them go onto the lake.”

“Sounds easy enough.”

On the back porch, the sun has just set, but there are lights from the community center that illuminate us, even here. Michael and I sit down on some wicker chairs. Then, a voice comes on over a microphone.

“Welcome to our annual Thanksgiving Lantern Festival,” a female voice says.

She explains how residents of Glamour Springs, as a way to build camaraderie, like to come together around big holidays.

So, on Thanksgiving, they decided on a celebration where everyone thinks of one thing their grateful for and one wish they have.

Then, they light their lantern and set it out onto the lake.

Supposedly, rumor has it that the combination of water, wind, and smoke drifts your gratitude and wish to whoever can grant it.

When the moment is ready, Kyle and I kneel down at the edge of the porch and put the lantern between us.

“What are you grateful for?” he asks.

“You,” I say, without needing to think twice.

He smiles. “You stole my answer. What about your wish?”

Looking at him, how happy this trip has made him, how happy he is with me—how happy I am with him. I don’t think I can answer it.

“I have everything I need,” I say.

“You sap,” he says, laughing.

“What’s your wish?” I ask.

He smirks. “That’s private,” I say.

I glare at him. “Come on. You asked me mine.”

“If I tell you, it won’t come true. ”

I reach out and hold his hand. “Fine,” I say. “I’ll let you do the honors.”

Michael lights the wick in the center of the lantern.

The flame ignites quickly, and the glow behind the cloth casts both of us in a deep yellow.

We let our lantern go into the lake and push it toward the center.

Around the lake, other cabins have pushed theirs in, and dozens of lanterns are being dropped into the lake at the community center.

As the lanterns drift toward each other, a chilly wind brushes by, and Michael and I snuggle up together. Soon, the string quartet my ma mentioned starts playing at the community center.

“White Christmas,” Michael says.

Seeing how handsome he is, I take a selfie of us with the lanterns in the background.

Then, I hold him close as the melody plays on, so grateful for this time with him.

Grateful that he came to Glamour Springs, that I met him.

Before I met him, I never knew that this was the life I always wanted: love with a man, a cozy night on the porch surrounded by twinkling lights and perfect music.

Inevitably, our lips find each other. Michael and I have made a lot of love, and we’ve tended to have a way of doing it. One of us takes charge, and the other obeys. But tonight, I wanna try something a little different.

I kiss him harder, and he wraps his arms around my neck. Something vibrates in my pocket—my phone, likely—but I ignore it.

“I wanna improvise tonight,” I say. “I want both of us to call the shots. I want to listen to each other, a back and forth. Like we’re dancing in bed.”

“Has anyone told you how poetic you are?”

I smirk. “You, just now.”

My phone rings again, and this time, Michael notices.

“You need to get that?”

I roll my eyes. “Probably my mom saying we forgot something.”

“She gave us enough dessert to last us until the end of time,” I say. “I think we’re both good.”

But when my phone rings again, both of us get uneasy.

“Maybe it’s something urgent,” I say .

“You’re probably right.”

I pull my phone out, and when I see the name, I regret not having made a wish. Because I could really use some courage right now.

“Who is it?” Michael asks.

I stand up. “Timmy,” I say. “I’ll handle it.”

“I’ll stay here and watch,” he says.

I nod and make my way inside, my heart racing. I take a deep breath, then pick up the phone.

“Hey, Timmy. What’s up?”

“You little shit,” he says.

And my stomach sinks to the floor.

“You almost had me fooled,” he says. “But I know everything now.”