Page 23 of The Game Plan

Seems like a safe enough topic.

“Would you like to go first?” he asked, setting his glass down.

“Sure,” she replied, taking a sip. “My parents live in Nashville, along with my older sister Megan and her wife Ashlin, who have adorable twins named Fern and Sloane. I moved to Georgia for college, and after graduation, I moved to Knoxville to work for the foundation, so I go visit them every few months, or they come down here. Since the twins were born two years ago, I’ve tried to visit them more often so I can see them and not miss a lot. They send me lots of pictures, though.”

She dug around for her phone in her bag, then pulled it out to show him a couple of pictures of the twins. “Their birthday is coming up, so I’m excited to go see them.”

He leaned over as she scrolled through the photos.

“That sounds amazing.” He tugged out his phone and opened up the gallery. “That is Ellie, my niece. She’s also two years old.”

She took his phone to look, an adorable cherub blonde looking back at her, the cute little girl sitting cuddled in his lap.

“She’s adorable!” she said, handing the phone back to him.

“Thanks. She’s my older brother Bryce’s little girl with his wife Lynsey.” He locked the phone and set it on the table. “I’ve lived in Knoxville my entire life, so my entire family lives here. My mom was born in Virginia, though, so we do have some extended family up there, but my immediate family is here.”

“What brought your mom to Tennessee?” she asked, shifting things around when the waiter brought out their salads.

“Thank you,” he said to the waiter, before turning back to her. “My dad actually went on vacation with his family to Virginia and met my mom there. He asked her if he could writeher letters, and she said yes. Two years later, he asked her family to come visit Tennessee, he proposed, and they’ve been together ever since.”

Sutton put her hand on her heart. “That is beautiful!”

“It’s my mom’s favorite story to tell.” He took a big bite of his food. “If you ever meet her, she will tell you the story, so act surprised.”

“Noted,” she replied, trying to ignore the excitement at the thought of meeting his family.

She had done a little snooping on social media, especially since Reese followed all of them.

Lynsey mainly posted pictures of herself and Bryce, and some with Ellie but always with her facing away from the camera, which Sutton thought was pretty smart.

His mom posted mainly family photos of her and her kids but not that often, so there weren’t any recent ones but a lot from when Reese was younger.

He was definitely cute in high school, and I probably would have wanted to date him then. He might not have dated me, though.

“I do have to say, though, that my mom will lose her mind when she finds out you went to Georgia. Bulldogs aren’t welcome in the Vaughn household.”

Sutton set down her silverware. “I could say the same about the Vols in the Cooke household.”

His brows shot high. “Your parents are Georgia fans too? In Nashville?”

“They are. My parents actually met at the University of Georgia their sophomore year of college. They started dating not long after that, then moved to Nashville after they got married when my dad got a job here. They’ve lived in Nashville my entire life, but red was always the color we wore.”

He put his head in his hands. “A travesty. I meet a beautiful woman, but she wears red.”

Sutton rolled her eyes, the compliment rolling off her as she replied, “Red is the best color there is.”

“Now that’s where you’ve crossed the line. Tennessee orange is best.”

“We’ll just have to agree to disagree on that one.”

He chuckled and held up his hands. “All right. We’ll call a truce. How is your salad?”

She looked down at the food, then back at him. “Delicious, of course. Yours?”

“The same. I can’t wait for our dinner, though.”

“How did you know about this place?” Sutton asked, taking the final couple of bites to clear her salad plate. “I didn’t even know it was around here.”