Page 15 of Goal Line (Boston Rebels #4)
Chapter Fourteen
LUKE
Drew
Audrey and I have a babysitter tonight. Who wants to go out and grab a drink with us after dinner?
Colt
Jules and I are in.
McCabe
Sorry, we don’t have childcare tonight.
Colt
“We” is still so weird.
Drew
So what you’re saying is, AJ’s there, and even though she could stay with Abby, you don’t want to come out with us?
McCabe
Hmmmm, choosing between getting drinks with you guys or staying home with my girlfriend? It’s a real tough choice.
I laugh to myself at this exchange, because it is weird that McCabe, who always seemed to hate our GM, is now dating her. And it’s so recent that none of us have had time to get used to the idea.
Walsh
Marissa and I have plans, so another time!
Zach
Ashleigh and I might be able to come. Neon Cactus? Or are we branching out?
Drew
Audrey wants margaritas, so you know where you’ll find us.
Colt
Jules says she’s inviting Lauren and Morgan too.
I’m trying to keep up with this conversation. I know that Lauren is Jules and Audrey’s future sister-in-law, because she’s engaged to their brother, Jameson. I’ve met Morgan, too, because she’s my agent’s daughter, but I can’t remember what the relationship is between her and these other women.
Drew
The more the merrier. Hartmann, are you in???
Luke
I’m a maybe. I have plans with Eva so I’ll see if she’s up for it.
Zach
Be careful with the coach’s daughter, Lover Boy.
Luke
Lifelong friends, guys. I have a picture of us together in diapers to prove it.
Walsh
Marissa and I started out as friends. Just saying.
Luke
In diapers?
Colt
Need I remind you I’ve also known Jules since she was just a kid?
Drew
It sounds so wrong when you say that, old man. You were already an adult when you met her!
Zach
He has a point.
Colt
I’m just saying, the friendship line can be crossed quite easily by two consenting adults.
Walsh
Sure can. So be careful, Hartmann. The last thing you need right now is to piss off Coach. And messing with his only child would be...a bad choice.
Luke
You all are the worst.
Luke Hartmann renamed the group Assholes.
“ S o, do you think we need to establish some ground rules or something?” Eva asks as we walk through the Public Garden on our way to the Neon Cactus.
“About tonight?” I ask, bringing my hand to her lower back to steer her around some tourists who stop right in front of us to take pictures of the swan boats on the lagoon.
The Public Garden is beautiful this time of year.
Nothing beats the late spring when the tulips are all in full bloom, but summer in the Garden is beautiful, too.
Tonight, it’s breezy and warm, and the hanging branches of the weeping willows sway above us as we take the path up to the footbridge that spans the narrowest part of the lagoon.
“I guess. Like, are we just acting normal? Or are we trying to play this off like we’re interested in each other so they’ll start to suspect something and not be shocked when we announce we’re married?”
I have a feeling, based on the earlier text exchange I had with my teammates, that they already suspect something’s going on and will be looking for any clues.
Given how hard it is for me to keep my hands off Eva whenever she’s around, I don’t think we need to pretend.
Eva’s so used to how affectionate I am with her that I don’t think she notices. But my teammates will.
“I think that the last thing we want to do is have my teammates raising alarm bells that could get in the way of our plans.”
I still can’t quite believe that I convinced Eva Wilcott to marry me. And honestly, I’m still not quite sure how I feel about this.
On the one hand, it allows me to make sure she’s taken care of and eliminates some potential obstacles to her achieving her dreams. She would never have been able to afford the kind of nanny who can both live with her and travel when she competes after the baby is born.
I’d do that for her if I could, but I know she’d never let me give up my career for hers.
However, I can afford the healthcare and childcare she’ll need.
I’d be lying, though, if I didn’t say I’m nervous as hell about how I’ll manage my emotions and my physical response to her once she officially moves in. The thought of having her in my space all the time, but not being able to have her the way I’ve always wanted her? It’ll be torture.
Still, I don’t regret the offer. It might be torture for me, but it’ll save her. Plus, I’m positive we’ll make a great team when it comes to raising this baby.
“Okaaay,” she says, dragging out the word. I wait, knowing there’s something else she wants to say. “You know what we didn’t decide yesterday?”
I think back to our conversation in my condo before I took her home to Newbury Falls. “No, what?”
“Are we putting an end date on this marriage?”
I try not to react physically, even though it feels like she just slapped me. “I didn’t think we were?”
Grabbing the hem of my button-down, she stops walking and pulls me to the side of the bridge. We’re right at the top, where people often stop to take pictures or enjoy the view, and as she steps back to the railing of the bridge, I rest my hands on either side of her, boxing her in.
“Luke.” My name quietly rolling off her lips has a shot of longing traveling up my spine. “I don’t want you to be stuck with me, and with a kid who isn’t yours, just because you’re a nice guy.”
Using the fingertips of my right hand to push her hair behind her ear, and balancing my weight on my left, I lean down so I can quietly say, “I think I already told you, there’s no one else in the world I’d want to do this with. I’m choosing to be stuck with you.”
I glance down and don’t miss the way the goose bumps spread across her cleavage. Good. I want her to be somewhat affected, given what she does to me.
She doesn’t move her head, doesn’t turn to look at me, where I’m frozen with my face right next to her cheek. Her voice is hollow when she asks, “What if you change your mind?”
“I’m not going to change my mind. But if something happens and either of us wants out, I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
She sighs. “We could always tell people that we realized we were better off as friends.” Glancing over then, she gives me a small smile—the kind that turns her lips up slightly but doesn’t crinkle the corners of her eyes like a happy smile would—as I pull back slightly.
Even while I know that I shouldn’t get my hopes up and that agreeing to be just friends is the safest option, there’s no world in which I believe that. I’m not marrying her because I expect this to turn into more. But if somehow it did, I’m pretty sure my life would be complete.
“We’re going to have a baby together, Evie,” I say as I cup my hand and run it along her belly, feeling the slightest bump beginning to emerge. “And we’re going to do what’s best for this kid.”
“And what’s that?” she asks, a slight shiver racking her body.
“We’re going to create a loving home to raise this Baby Squash in. We’ll figure it out as we go, just like all couples do when they’re first married or first become parents.”
She leans forward, resting her forehead on my chest. “You’re sure about this?”
“I’m sure.”
“You’re too good to me. You know that, right?”
“There’s no such thing as too good when it comes to you, Evie.” I dip my face to kiss the top of her head, and when the sweet peach scent of her shampoo hits me, I realize I’m close to being noticeably turned on. “Let’s go.”
Taking her hand, I lead her across the rest of the bridge and over into Beacon Hill. The Neon Cactus is a bit of a dive bar, and I’m not quite sure why the Rebels started hanging out here this season, but I can tell it’s not what Eva expected when I pull open the door and guide her in.
Her gaze flicks back and forth across the space as we pause to let our eyes adjust to the darkness inside, and she lets out a low “hmmmm.”
Shellacked wooden walls are plastered with neon signs and trimmed with Christmas lights. The back area of the bar has multiple pool tables, and the front has booths lining most of the perimeter, with a large bar occupying the center of the space.
My teammates have pushed together a long row of tables along one edge of the room, and it’s still early enough that the bar is otherwise fairly empty. Just a few couples are scattered around, and a rowdy group of twenty-somethings play pool in the back.
“What’s the hmmmm for?” I ask.
“I should have pictured it like this from the name,” she says, “but somehow, I imagined it to be a bit more swanky.”
“Are you disappointed?”
She lets out a genuine laugh as I guide her toward the table of my teammates. “It’s perfect.”
Colt, Jules, Audrey, and Drew are sitting along one side of the table, so I pull out the seat for Evie that’s opposite them.
She’s going to love Jules—they have the same tough exterior that hides a soft heart.
She and Audrey have somewhat similar personalities, and if Evie and I weren’t getting married and telling people this baby is mine, I’m sure she and Audrey would bond about the whole single mom thing.
Audrey raised her son, Graham, alone for five years before his dad, Drew, came back into the picture.
I still don’t know the whole story, because it all happened before I was traded to Boston.
As I introduce Eva to my teammates, I’m shocked at how totally normal Drew and Colt are acting.
I don’t know what I expected hanging out with them this first time after we lost—but it wasn’t the same easy camaraderie we always have.
As I suspected, Eva hits it off with Audrey and Jules.
Sometimes it can take her a bit of time to warm up to new people, especially in unfamiliar settings, but the three of them are instantly chatting away.
Excusing myself, I head to the bar to get us some drinks, and it’s not until I rest my elbow on the long wooden bar top that I realize Drew’s followed me.