Page 11 of Playing for Keeps

Yep, it appeared Luke and I were trying to find out just how much tension you could pump into ordinary words.

And still we stared at each other.

As kids we’d had staring matches all the time, our goal always to make the other laugh first.

Now, with his deep brown eyes locked onto mine, I had the wild idea of pulling a face with flared nostrils and crazy eyes—the same face that had always made Luke dissolve into laughter.

Yeah, not sure my funny face was exactly what this situation required.

“Hi, I’m Jonathan.”

I happily broke the death stare between Luke and me to glance at his boyfriend, who was offering his hand.

That’s right. Social conventions. When you greeted someone cordially rather than trying to melt each other with your eyes.

“Ethan. Nice to meet you.” I shook Jonathan’s hand.

“Yeah, you too. You’re Theo’s father, right?”

“That’s right.”

I decided to focus on Jonathan instead of Luke, because Jonathan wasn’t giving me death vibes like his boyfriend was. Call me crazy, but I preferred to interact with people who didn’t look as if they were mentally choreographing the dance they’d like to do on top of my grave.

“Theo looks so much like you,” Jonathan said.

“I know. I always wanted my own mini-me and now I’ve got one.”

Jonathan smirked. “You definitely do.”

There was a moment of silence, and I scrambled to fill it before it became too awkward.

“So, you guys just got back from Japan, huh?”

“Yeah, we arrived on Tuesday.”

“You have a good flight home?”

“It was pretty smooth. Long though.”

I rocked back on my heels.

Growing up, I’d felt as if I had an extra sense that could pick up on Luke’s moods. He wasn’t a guy who wore his heart on his sleeve, so you needed to know what to look for.

It appeared my Luke mood detector still worked because even as I focused on his boyfriend, I could sense prickliness radiating from him.

We really needed to get the shit between us sorted out sometime soon.

I turned my gaze to him. “And you’re joining us soon, eh? The team is excited about it.”

Luke ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah.”

“Coach Clark is a good guy. You’ll like playing for him.”

“Great.”

“And the guys are lots of fun.”

“Brilliant.”