Page 80 of Goal Line

“We’ll see,” Jules says, then turns to me. “My brother, sister, nephew, and I lived in our family’s brownstone in the South End together. Then Jameson moved in with Lauren, and Audrey and Graham moved in with Drew. Audrey and I run our business out of the office in the basement of the brownstone that Colt and I now share.”

“There’s no rush to figure it out,” Audrey reminds her.

“Figure what out?” a man’s voice booms from behind me, and we all turn to find Drew and Colt.

“What are you doing here?” Audrey asks her fiancé, her brows lifted as she rushes on, “And where the hell is Graham?”

“Relax, babe,” he says, affectionately reaching out and tucking her hair behind her ear. “Taylor’s with him.”

“Who’s Taylor?” Lauren asks.

“Our downstairs neighbor,” Audrey explains.

“She was very happy to babysit for a couple hours, especially since her mom is right there too, so I could accompany my future brother-in-law to this fine establishment.”

“This fine establishment where you knew we’d be,” Jules says, her dry tone matching the roll of her eyes. But she doesn’t look annoyed in the least that her fiancé is crashing girls’ night.

“Exactly,” Colt says, scooting around to her side of the table and planting a kiss on her head.

“Oh my god,” Morgan sighs. “You all are making me sick.”

“Hey,” Lauren says with playfully narrowed eyes, “it’s justthem.”

“Yeah, until Jameson shows up.”

“He’s not showing up. He’s home with the twins.”

“Uh-huh,” Colt says, and Lauren’s bright blue eyes shift his way.

“Are you serious right now?” Lauren asks, and Colt shrugs.

Morgan glances over at me. “See, I’m happy for you and Luke, but when I first met you, I was initially excited that you two werejust friends, because I’m perpetually surrounded by people who are sickeningly in love. AJ was supposed to be my new single friend, and now she’s with McCabe, so it’s just me, I guess.” She says it with a laugh, so I know she’s not throwing herself a pity party or anything, but it probably does suck to be the only single girl when all your friends are happily in relationships. Even though mine andLuke’s is not real, I don’t think she’s ever believed that we’re just friends, and I’m having a harder time convincing myself of that now too.

“So there’s no guy in your life?” I ask.

“Nah. There was this guy for a while, but he ended up being a dick.”

“Yeah, most guys are.”

Morgan’s gaze sweeps around the table, where Jameson’s just come up behind Lauren, accompanied by McCabe, who’s got his arm wrapped around AJ’s shoulders.

“Maybe,” she says. “But there are obviously good guys out there, too.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

EVA

Eva

What are you doing right now?

Luke

Why? Miss me already?

Out of habit, I almost type out, “You flatter yourself.” But then I remember what he said about being in love with me his whole life. Have I been pushing him away this whole time, and he’s gone along with it because he thought it was what I wanted? My stomach turns over at the thought that maybe in protecting myself, I’ve been hurting him.

I glance around this corner of the bar where Morgan and I are chatting with Jules, Audrey, Lauren, and AJ. But there’s no mistaking the way Drew, Colt, Jameson, and McCabe are hovering around the table like they can’t bear to be away from their significant others. The drag of McCabe’s handacross AJ’s hip, the way Colt never lets Jules out of his sight, the way Drew can’t stop playing with the ends of Audrey’s long brown hair. All of it has me wishing Luke was here, too.