Page 76 of On Merit Alone

I felt happiness bubble inside my chest. “So you all wore the number one growing up? That is so cute! Where are those pictures? I know there must be some.”

“Framed somewhere, I'm sure,” he huffed.

“So eleven because…”

“To carry my two idols on my back,” he explained.

“Don’t tell my brother, though. He has no idea I used to look up to him too.

Anyway, I was away from home for a day and missed it.

They told me I had to change my number, and those two idiots wouldn’t leave my mind.

I played my first season as an adult with them on my back.

When I got drafted I could have changed back, but I had already grown attached to the idea.

When I missed them and when they couldn’t be there in physical form, they were there with me in other ways. ”

I blinked, not expecting so much. Not expecting to feel so seen in his own journey. “You could have told me that when I told you about my parents’ numbers.”

He bumped my shoulder. “Wasn’t my time to talk.”

“But you’re—” I swallowed, realizing just now that my throat had gone dry. “You’re like me.”

“Ah, Six.” His strong hand touched my cheek again, wiping under my eyes and actually coming away wet this time. “We were always alike. That’s why we work so good.”

And then his lips were on mine. Not urgent or rushed. Just the sweet press of his heart sinking into mine. I just closed my eyes and let it sink.

Later, two unlit sparklers appeared between us.

Lisa was behind us giving her son some kind of eyes I couldn’t read.

Ira knew exactly what she was requesting though, and a second later he was on his feet, holding his mom’s hands to help her down as she replaced his seat.

She simply handed me a sparkler and then held her hands out in front of her, saying, “Light ‘er up, son.”

Rolling his eyes, Ira didn’t fight his smile as he fished out the light from his pocket and lit our two sparklers. Then he was stepping away, his hand going to my shoulder and squeezing as he began to pass behind me. “I’ll let you two talk. Mom, no weird stuff, okay?”

“No promises,” she sing-songed, smiling brightly over her shoulder as we both watched him make his way up the driveway shaking his head.

Sighing deeply she relaxed into her spot and watched the stream of sparks in front of us for a moment before saying, “I meant nothing by you not being a model, you know?”

“Oh!” I reared back, looking at her shocked. “Oh, I know, Mrs. King. I didn’t think you did.”

She smiled over at me, but I could tell she was just gearing to look at my face. Blinking over it she seemed to nod. “I just noticed you were down here crying so, I thought I might apologize for saying that earlier.”

I laughed softly. “I promise I’m not a crybaby. Even if you had meant it, I don’t think that would have brought it out of me. Just, sometimes he overwhelms me. Not in a bad way. Your son is amazing, I just can’t seem to hold it in with him.”

She smiled like I didn’t just dump a load of unprocessed emotion on her. “You love him.”

My heart seized and that warmth I felt earlier seemed like a bottled vile of something precious.

I tucked my chin to my chest, sure that I was showing my heart all over my face.

I wasn’t ready to show my hand to this woman before it was even dealt to Ira.

Though the Kings did seem to know how to figure me out pretty well already.

“I, uh—I’m really grateful I met him,” I said. “Grateful to know him, and I hope I never learn a time when I don’t.”

The breath she sucked in was audible. Labored in a way, but when I looked up at her she wore a watery smile. “Thank you.”

“For what?” I smiled but shook my head, confused.

“For bringing out this side of him,” she said. “I’ve never seen him like this before.”

I looked up at the sky. “I-I haven’t known him any other way… so I’m not sure what’s changed.”

“Well,” she started with a smile. “He’s the youngest, you know. And he acts like it. He loves to stir up trouble, and he’s never taking things seriously. Or at least, that’s what he wants us all to think. But he’s always had that serious streak in him, too. ”

I nodded, knowing exactly what she was talking about. Picturing that shadowed figure above me in the gym telling me to rest, or that look in his eye when he was totally in the zone on court. “Is that what you meant then? When you didn’t think he would be with another player?”

Warm fingers curled around my forearm as she reached over and gave it a squeeze. “Smart girl, you. Yes. I always thought he’d end up with someone who lightened him up when his mind got heavy. In a way that basketball can’t, I mean.”

I winced. There’s no way I was that kind of girl. No wonder she sounded so disappointed when she met me.

“No, honey. Don’t take that the wrong way.

What I mean is, that’s what I thought would happen.

” Setting her burned sparkler aside, she did the same to mine and then took both my hands in hers.

“But what I always hoped would happen, was that he found someone he could be that side of himself with. Someone who could handle that intensity and give it to him in return. Someone he could be all of himself with, not just the fun parts.”

“I, uh—” I didn’t know what to say.

She smiled. “I always knew when he finally found someone to love, he would love hard. I just prayed to the lord it would be for the right person. And I think you, little Miss Merit Jones, might be that exact right person.”

“Oh no, he doesn’t?—”

“Mom.”

Both of our heads snapped up to see not only Ira, but his brother and brother-in-law as well. My King looked sheepish with his hands in his pockets and his eyes peeking subtly through his eyelashes. The others looked smug as they shook their heads.

“We tried to tell him that you’ve only been talking for like thirty seconds, but he wouldn’t listen,” Isaac snorted.

“Yeah, well…” Ira shot a glare over his shoulder. “Every time mo m has talked alone with somebody’s partner, they come back crying and—Well, I don’t want her crying.”

The silence—albeit silence peppered with people trying to cover up their smiles with their hands or coughing into their shoulders like they found something awfully funny but didn’t want to share with the class—spoke volumes.

“She’s a big girl?—”

“No—” he snapped, then closed his eyes, collecting his composure even though it had hardly cracked. “Sorry, just—don’t pry, alright?”

Patting Lisa’s hand I stood and replaced that hold in Ira’s, giving his side a little elbow as I settled into it. I let my breath seep in a short sigh before I went for it.

“Ira’s just being protective. I, um—you see, I don’t—” Blinking upward, I cursed the stinging in my eyes.

I thought I could do this. Thought I could simply say a sentence in which my reality resided.

But unfortunately I still couldn’t. And as disappointing as that was, I brought my eyes back down to find just what I needed waiting to help. Just who.

A large hand spanned the length of my back, smoothing up and down over the muscles in a long soothing motion.

“Six doesn’t have any family around. It’s a tough subject and I wanted to make sure Mama Nosey wasn’t prying into it.

But… turns out she wanted you all to know. So be gentle about it, yeah?”

Lisa was up and gathering me in her arms in an instant. “Well then. I'm glad you ended up here today. Family or not, us Kings don’t have any issue making room in ours.”