Page 31 of Goal Line

“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 mostof 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 thehmmmmfor?” 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.

“Glad you came out,” he says as he steps up beside me. “We all wanted to give you some space after the last game. You doing okay?”

I’m tempted to ask why they thought I’d need space. I’m such an extrovert, such a people person, that “space” is theworstthing you could give me. But they may not know me well enough to understand that yet.

Although, I probably still would have spent more time than normal at home, licking my wounds and trying to block out the sportscasters’ comments about my performance.

I’ve been a player long enough to know that a team can go radio silent for the week or two after playoffs end, as everyone is trying to catch up on their personal lives. We all miss out on a lot during the season, and lots of guys live in the city they play for during the year and then move “home” for the off-season. Even while I know this, it would have been nice to hear from my teammates sometime in the last two weeks and to know that they weren’t all pissed at me.

“I’m fine.”

Drew turns his head to look at me and pauses a beat before he says, “You sure?”

“Yep.”

I’ve got almost decades of Hartmann family training ingrained in me:

Don’t show weakness.

Maintain the family name and reputation at any cost.

Don’t talk about your problems with anyone outside your family.

I already fucked up the first two of those three “family rules” during the last game. I let my one and only weakness—Evangeline Wilcott—get in the way of my game, and I tarnished my family’s name in the process.