Page 9

nine

Miles

“ I f you fuckers don’t start playing well, I’m quitting,” I warn everyone.

Lachlan huffs. “Yeah, because we’re trying to look like fools, just to piss you off.”

I wouldn’t doubt it. “Let’s remember how you were when Ainsley came to watch. You weren’t exactly easy on anyone since you looked like a tool.”

Everett pipes up. “He still does. Now he’s just in love with her, and for some reason, she sees past his ever-mounting flaws.”

“Yes, and yours are piling up, too, which means catch the fucking disc!”

I swear, Everett has dropped more passes than ever before.

“Maybe we should change up who is where,” Killian suggests.

Nothing seems to be helping since we started playing in this league. Maybe Ainsley is right and we’re just terrible. I sigh and look over just in time to see Penelope walking toward the families who are lined up with their camping chairs.

My sister sees her and waves her over.

Great.

Now she’s going to see that we do not, in fact, have big-disc energy. We’re more like floppy discs.

I groan. “Look, I don’t ask you guys for much, but maybe for the next half hour we could step it up? ”

Lachlan looks over and smiles. “Penny’s here.”

“Yes, I’m aware.”

He slaps me on the back. “I’m going to enjoy all of this.”

I bet he is. “You realize your girlfriend is also with her?”

“Yup, but I already got the girl. You’re still trying.”

I’m getting closer. At least, I think I am. She’s resisting, but my hope is to just keep proving it’s at least worth one damn date.

I glance back again to see her with Eloise. The two of them are laughing, and then Eloise points to where we’re standing. I smile a little, and Penny lifts her hand in a small wave. I nod once, because waving would make me look ridiculous and I don’t need to give the guys any more ammo to ruin my chances.

“So you want us to be better so you can get a date?” Everett asks. “What do we get out of it?”

I huff. “Dignity.”

“Nah, I lost that a long time ago when I lost the bet and had to get Brutus to be the official school mascot.”

That was a fun one. “He loves every second of it.”

“Yeah, and I just love spending every Friday night schlepping him up to the football games, where I have to watch and then walk him out for the halftime show.”

Honestly, it was the best bet I ever won. Everett is one of those guys who can’t turn down a dare or a bet. The school’s trusty bulldog, Samsonite, passed away two years ago, and I went to Everett since he’s the town vet, asking if we could borrow his new puppy going forward. The best thing about our home games was Samsonite coming out during halftime. The kids loved it, and he was our lucky charm.

Everett grumbled, said no way, that he had better things to do on his Friday nights, and so I proposed a bet. If he could beat me at a race, I would let it go, adopt my own dog, and call it a day, but if I won ... it was his job.

Spoiler alert—he lost.

“It gives you a purpose,” I say pragmatically.

“A purpose? I’m the fucking town vet. I think I have a pretty big job already. What do you do? Sit in your office and pretend you’re molding the youth? Look around, these kids are all a damn mess, so you’re doing a pretty shitty job.”

“That was fucked up, man,” Killian says, shaking his head. “Anyway, are you two about done? We have a game to finish.”

“I think the game is finishing us. Maybe there’s a mercy rule in this league,” Lachlan says.

“We just need to score once. I can’t have a complete blowout with Penny watching,” I say, willing it into the universe.

“What are you willing to do for it?” Everett asks.

“What?”

“Well, you want it bad, we’re all assuming it’s because Penelope is watching. If you want us to kill ourselves so you can get a date, then we need to be incentivized.”

I really hate my friends. “I’ll pay for your coffee for a month.”

“Two months,” Everett counters.

Killian rolls his eyes. “Let’s not pretend you don’t want to win too.”

Everett huffs. “Fine, one month.” He puts his hand in and we all follow. “All right, let’s give it all we have. I need free coffee.”

We break and try for the one play that seemed to work before. Lachlan takes the disc and flicks it to Killian, who is about ten yards downfield. Instead of going for big gains like we’ve been doing—and failing—we’re going incremental.

Killian catches it and then throws to Everett, who finally catches a fucking pass. Now we need to keep leapfrogging. I line up to take the next one, but the defender is pretty much attached to me. I move right, then left, but he stays with me. Lachlan is catching up and moving, and Everett tosses it to him.

Thankfully he’s able to get it and move forward.

Now I need to do something other than get shown up by some twenty-five-year-old who clearly is in better shape than me.

“Come on, Uncle Miles!” I hear Ethan yell.

I’m trying, little dude.

I move around again, kind of giving this guy a stiff-arm, and am able to break away. I call out to Lachlan, who makes a pretty ridiculous move and tosses it around his defender. It’s a little high and, honestly, I’m not sure I’m going to catch this, but I leap into the air and somehow grab it.

What I don’t do is land.

Instead, I kind of half fall, but on my way down, I flick the disc toward Killian and pray it gets there. I slam into the ground, my breath leaving me for a second, and hear a loud cheering.

I really hope the other team didn’t catch it.

I lift my head up and see Killian with the Frisbee over his head.

Thank God.

Now I can lie here and die.

I drop back to the ground, really fucking hurting for air, and see my three friends’ heads in my vision.

“You dead?” Everett asks.

“I’m not sure.”

“He looks dead,” Lachlan notes.

“Well, he thinks he’s still young, and today is going to remind him he’s not.” Everett again. Always the asshole.

Lachlan looks over at them. “Should we tell him that Penny didn’t even see it?”

“Fuck off.”

They laugh. “Not dead.”

“Did she see it?” All three turn to find her in the crowd, and I groan. “Smooth, assholes. Really fucking smooth.”

Killian, the most mature of this group, chuckles and speaks up. “She saw. She’s watching for a sign of life.”

“I’m going to get up and need you to make sure it looks effortless.”

If I’m going to come out of this heroic event, I at least need to look cool doing it.

“Do you need help?” Lachlan questions. “Because if you do, that’s not exactly going to look effortless. It’s going to make you look like an old guy who can’t get up.”

Everett nods. “I’m thinking you need to kind of spring up. You know, launch yourself like a real athlete.”

I roll my eyes. “I am a real athlete.”

“Really? I don’t see it,” he supplies—unhelpfully .

I can’t stand my friends some days.

“Just back up and let me stand,” I warn.

Wanting to pop up, a little the way Everett suggested, I push myself to a sitting position and then sort of jump up from there. Not the best, but definitely not the worst.

There’s some clapping and I raise my hand, purposely not looking toward where Penny is.

We head to the sideline to get some water, and Ethan and Kai rush over.

“You did so good, Coach. So good,” Kai says with a smile.

“Thanks, bud.”

“We all saw you fall, though,” my nephew informs me. “Mom got video.”

“I bet she did.”

I’m so going to get that footage from my sister before she posts it.

“She posted it online to show everyone how cool you are,” says Ethan, ruining my damn night.

“Did she show the end where I threw it and Killian caught it?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know.”

Which is probably a no, because Eloise lives to make my life hell.

I turn to find my sister and make a motion of slitting her neck, and she smiles and waves with just her fingers.

Yeah, totally doesn’t have that ending on it. I’d bet my left nutsack.

And I really like the left one. Honestly, I like them both.

“I saw it!” Kai says.

“I’m glad one of you guys did.” I rub the top of his head. Everett calls my name as he’s jogging back onto the field. “I gotta go. I’ll see you guys after the game. Don’t leave until we’re done. I need to tell you something.”

I just lied to my nephew and I don’t even feel bad about it. I want them to stay, and I plan to use the rest of the game to come up with a way to spend a little more time with Penny.

We lose in the most ridiculous fashion. The second half of the game was actually not half bad. The Disc Jocks managed to score another six points, and considering we were in a complete blowout, we were feeling pretty good.

Until they had a substitution player.

I don’t know what freaking supplements this man is taking, but I feel like I’ve been kicked around for a solid half hour. This dude ran circles around us and made us look like the old men we’ve been accused of being.

Absolute bloodbath.

“Uncle Miles! We stayed,” Ethan says as he rushes over, and I groan.

I forgot about how I needed to come up with something to tell him.

My brilliant idea to have people stay to watch the massacre. Way to go me.

“You sure did.”

“That was brutal,” Ethan says with a smirk. “It was like when I played that war video game with Dad, which I’m not supposed to talk about, and all you saw was blood and guts because the other side was better than him. That’s what it reminded me of. They just kept killing you guys. Over and over and?—”

I lift my hand to stop him from letting me know just how bad it is as my sister and Penelope get close. “I get it.”

Ethan, the unhelpful one, continues, “I’m just saying you guys suck. Really bad. I thought you were good? When did you stop being so good?”

“Just today, which is ironically when I decided you’re not my favorite nephew anymore,” I mutter.

He chuckles. “I’m everyone’s favorite and I’m your only nephew.”

“You’re also a pain in the butt, you know that?”

Ethan smirks. “Mom says it every day.”

“Hey there, big brother,” Eloise says with a little too much pep in her voice. “Interesting game there.”

“It was,” I agree .

Giving Eloise the least reaction is going to get me out of this quickly—I hope.

“I’m glad I came,” my sister says with a smile.

“I bet you are.”

She laughs and then Penny comes up beside her. “I’ve never seen an Ultimate Frisbee game before. I had no idea it was so competitive.”

“Some more than others. This wasn’t a normal game,” I try to explain.

“No?”

“Normally, it’s not such a blowout.”

Eloise snorts. “What he means is that when they played against the college kids, they were great. Now that they had to enter a professional league ... not so much.”

I glare at my sister. “Thanks for the clarification.”

“You’re welcome.”

God save brothers from sisters.

“Anyway,” I say tersely, hoping Eloise catches on. I’m sure she will, but won’t care regardless. “You’re taking the boys tonight?”

“I am,” answers Penny.

“Great, well, if you need anything, I’ll be home.”

“Thanks.”

“I hope you need something.” And I wonder why this woman isn’t falling at my feet? I’m a clown and embarrassing even for myself.

“Good to know,” Penny says as she tucks her hair behind her ear. “All right, boys, let’s get going.”

“Thank you again, Penny. I can’t tell you how much I need this,” Eloise says, sincerity ringing in every word. “I’ll come get him or I’ll have Miles bring him home if that’s okay?”

I guess she just assumes I have no plans for tomorrow.

“Sure, El, I’d be happy to interrupt my day to do you another favor.” I let the sarcasm flow.

“Good, I knew you would.”

Penelope fails at trying to hide her smile. “Perfect. Just text me and let me know.”

Both boys give me a hug, and then Ethan squeezes his mother. Eloise takes his face in her hands and gives him a reminder of what she expects as a report back on his behavior. She reminds me so much of Gran when she does that. She was the queen of threats before we got in trouble.

Which Eloise always did, and then Gran was great at follow-through.

“Bye, everyone,” Penny says as she takes the boys.

“Bye.”

When she’s about halfway to her car, my sister laughs and slaps my chest. “You like her.”

“What?”

“Oh, don’t play dumb. You really like her.”

“I think she’s beautiful, kind, and that’s about it,” I say, moving to grab my bag.

“Give me a break, Miles. I know you, and I also think we still have that weird twin thing, because I could feel how uncomfortable you were just then. You like her and you’re not sure how to proceed with her.”

“I have a plan,” I defend myself.

“You really don’t, but that’s okay, I think it’s just a male thing. Doug had no plan to woo me, and if it weren’t for me basically letting him know we were going to start dating, I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t have happened. So I’ll intervene for you.”

I laugh once and scoff. “You will do absolutely nothing .”

“Look, consider it a ... charitable offering. You’re single, no kids, a bit of a loser because you don’t even date ... it’s okay. I’m here. I’ll help.”

“Eloise, the absolute last thing I want is your help with this. If Penelope and I start anything, it’ll be between us and not with your meddling.”

Her lips part and she gasps. “Meddle? Me? Never. It’ll be helpful guidance.”

“It’s unwanted.”

“Too bad.” She takes my face between her thumb and other fingers, pinching my chin like Gran did. “I just want to see my big brother happy.” She releases me. “And I’m going to do just that.”

“Eloise, you just had a baby. You’re married to an unstable human and have a six-year-old who is either a genius or in need of an intervention. Do you really think my love life is another thing you need to add to your plate?”

“I do.” She kisses my cheek. “Now go home and shower. You smell like ass.”

I once again ponder why I decided to live close to family after the marines.