Page 47 of Goal Line

She rests her head back against her padded headboard and sighs. “Yeah. God, I knew that breaking this news was going to be hard, but I wasn’t really prepared for how scared I’d feel.”

I glance over at her and give her a small smile. “Just remember how much easier this is going to be than if you had to tell them the truth.”

“I know,” she sighs as her shoulders sag, calling even more attention to the fact that she’s not wearing a bra. I don’t dare tease her about the double standard—that I can’t walk around in my boxers, while it’s okay for her to sit here in a skimpy tank top without a bra. Another time, that will be funny. But not right now, when she’s obviously on edge about having to break this news to our parents. “I just hate disappointing them.”

“So what you’re saying is, marrying me is a disappointment?” I say it teasingly so she won’t catch the vulnerability in my question.

“No, I’m saying that learning that I’m pregnant and got married in secret without including them will be disappointing to them.”

“Listen, Eva,” I say, turning slightly onto my side so I’m facing her. “How your parents respond is on them, not on you. You haven’t done anything wrong. Yes, you didn’t mean to get pregnant, but you’re dealing with it in the best way you can?—”

She rests her hand on her belly, and her tone is defensive as she says, “I don’t regret this baby.”

I drop my phone onto the bed and reach out to cup the side of her face. “I know you don’t. I only mean that we’re doing the best we can in the situation we’ve found ourselves in.”

She tilts her face into my palm and gives me a small smile. “It’s weird to hear you say ‘we’ in relation to this situation.”

“That’s what it is, though, isn’t it?” My thumb strokes the line of her cheekbone and her skin heats under my touch. “Us against the world. We’ve got this.”

“All right,” she says with a slight nod. “Did we decide on how we want to break the news?”

“I still think my idea of a picture of our wedding rings is the best option. Unless you’ve thought of something else.”

“No,” she says. “You’re probably right.”

Reaching down to grab my phone, I find the photo we took last night, of my hand with hers crossed on top of it, both our wedding rings clearly visible. I tap the icon to add the photo to a text message and ask, “What do we want to say?”

She bites her lower lip, deep in thought. “Maybe,About last night...?”

I laugh. “Are you trying to give them a heart attack?”

“I don’t know what to say! You write it out if you think you can come up with something better, College Boy.” There’s laughter in her voice as she uses the nickname she gave me in the four years after high school. Eva’s incredibly smart and was a great student in high school. She probably could’ve had her choice of any college, and I know she feels a tad insecure that she never got her degree. But there was noway she could have managed it while also skating competitively. She’s taken a bunch of classes over the years, but never fully pursued a degree.

“I don’t think that a sports medicine degree is going to come in particularly handy right now,” I say. “But I’ll give it a shot.”

She laughs and leans in, watching over my shoulder as I type.

Luke

Eva and I made a big decision last night. We’re taking some time to figure out what our lives will look like moving forward, and we’ll be back in Boston in a few days. We look forward to seeing you all and sharing this news in person once we’re back.

Her body shakes with laughter. “That’s ‘selling it’? It sounds like we just signed off on a business agreement. You couldn’t sound less in love if you tried.”

I go back to the first sentence and erase it, then rephrase.

Luke

Eva and I have been keeping our relationship a secret for too long, and last night we decided to make it official. We’re taking some time to figure out what our lives will look like moving forward, and we’ll be back in Boston in a few days. Can’t wait to see you once we’re back.

“Better?” I ask, after I finish adding the last sentence.

“It’s fine for a text, but you better be sickeningly in love with me when we actually see our families again.”

That won’t be a problem.

“Obviously I’ll make sure I can’t keep my eyes, or my hands, off you. But you can’t seize up like a freaking statue, the way you did at our wedding, in front of them either.”

“I didn’t seize up!” she says as she swats my bare shoulder.