Page 141 of Playing for Keeps

There was no use dwelling on a past none of us could change.

The only thing we could control was the future.

Luke gave me a tense look. “You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

We walked into the living room together. I sat down on the couch, and Luke sat next to me, his back stiff. Jeez, we looked like two kids sitting in the principal’s office, waiting to be handed a detention.

“Uh…Theo? Uncle Luke and I have something to talk to you about.”

Theo looked up from his LEGO. “What?”

“Uncle Luke…he’s going to live with us, okay? So when you stay with me, Uncle Luke will always be here.”

“Okay.” Theo looked back down at his LEGO.

I took a deep breath and continued. “And Uncle Luke and I love each other. So it’s going to be like it is with your friend Walter, with his two dads. Uncle Luke and me, we’ll hold hands and hug each other and even kiss sometimes.”

Theo’s eyes flew to my face. He looked between Luke and me, blinking.

I waited for him to digest the news, my heart pounding.

“Is he still allowed to be my uncle?” he asked finally.

“I’ll always be your uncle, Theo.” Luke’s voice was hoarse.

Theo chewed his lower lip, thinking. It reminded me so much of Luke’s thinking face when he was a kid.

Theo’s expression brightened. “We can play Beyblades all the time.”

Luke’s throat worked. “Yeah, we can play Beyblades whenever you want.”

“Cool.”

Theo looked down at his LEGO again. Apparently, the conversation was over.

Luke met my eyes and we shared relieved smiles. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. I squeezed back.

I’d worried so much about trying not to screw up Theo’s childhood, about trying to give him a different childhood from mine, I’d missed an important factor.

Theo’s childhood was always going to be different to mine. Because he was surrounded by people who loved him.

Epilogue

Luke

“Congratulations!” Ali punctuated the word by blowing a party popper in my face. I blinked at him. Where the hell had he found that? Were we giving out children’s birthday supplies at this engagement party?

Knowing my fiancé, it was a possibility.

Fiancé. Of all the things Ethan and I had been to each other over the years—best friends, teammates, boyfriends—fiancé had to be my favorite title so far. Although I had a feeling I was going to like husband even more.

I sidled up to my fiancé, who was talking to Jacob and Austin.

He immediately reached out and tugged me in closer. Even though we’d been together for over a year, I still got a thrill every time Ethan touched me. Having spent so much of my life desperately wanting his touch, I was never going to take it for granted.

“Are you responsible for the fact I was just deafened by Ali blasting a small, shrill thing in my ear?” I asked.