Page 173 of The Fall

I tap my putt in for the finish, and Blair marks my score on the tiny pencil card. “That’s your best hole yet,” he says.

We move on to a pirate ship with a moving gangplank, and Hayes slings an arm around my shoulders while Lily lines up for her first shot.

“Ice cream after?” he asks. “Loser buys.”

“I guess I’m buying. I’m pretty fucking awful at this.”

“You are spectacularly horrendous,” he agrees. “But a sundae with spoons for two should cheer you up. I’m sure Blair will be happy to share.” He slaps my back and ambles off to cheer on his daughter while Blair and I linger beneath the shade of a palm tree.

“Thanks for the lesson,” I say, letting my shoulder bump his.

“My pleasure.”

His pinky hooks around mine. It’s a small, ridiculously high-school point of contact, but my heart rockets as if we’re doing something far more intimate.

Later, we’re in Hayes’s backyard, digesting ice cream and sunshine. Lily is laughing somewhere in the house. We’vealready had our Nerf war, and she’s shown me her new tumbling routine from gymnastics, hurling herself back and forth across the living room floor. Now, Blair and I are hanging out with Hayes, the both of us nursing Gatorades while Hayes works the grill.

“So,” Hayes says, flipping a burger. “This is fun, huh? Usguys.” He drops exaggerated emphasis on his last word.

“Burgers done soon?” Blair asks.

Hayes snorts. “That’s what you want to talk about?”

“What else would we be talking about?”

“I don’t know, buddy. Best friend. Best teammate. Maybe you havenewsfor me?”

Grease pops on the grill. Hayes’s eyebrows climb and climb, and he looks between us.

Blair takes another sip of Gatorade, casual as anything. “You tell me. You’re the one making announcements.”

Hayes’s face splits into a wide grin. “Fucking finally.”

“What do you mean, ‘finally’?”

“Are you kidding me?” Hayes shakes his head.

Blair scoffs. Hayes laughs outright, then holds out his fist to me for a bump. “Remember that video review we had where you two sat so close together that I was afraid you were going to melt into one person?”

Blair blinks. “When?—”

“That was—” My cheeks are burning. We haven’t sat together during video review all season… except for this past week. “That was two days ago.”

Hayes flips a burger with unnecessary flourish. “And remember when you guys couldn’t keep your eyes off each other in practice? And you were all over each other on your drills?”

Blair chokes on his Gatorade.

“Is it that obvious?”

“Painfully.” Hayes grins. “You two flirt so fucking weirdly. And you took your sweet fucking time figuring this out.”

“So who else knows?” Blair asks.

Hayes shrugs, scooping the burgers onto a plate. “Nah, only me. I’m the only one who’s been paying attention to you two. And no one is going to know about this from me, so as long as you guys cool your jets in public, you’re good. You two figure out what you want, then you can decide who knows what.” He points. “But for what it’s worth, the guys are gonna be cool about it. Nobody is going to care, you know that, right? I mean, they will care because they’re nosy bastards who love gossip, but nobody’s gonna give you shit about it.”

“Thanks,” Blair says.

Hayes waves his spatula. “Don’t make it a thing. Just be happy, for fuck’s sake.”