Page 130 of The Wrong Game

Zach had his own tough decisions to make over the holiday season, and I’d heldhishand through that — although, if I was being honest, I was so happy with the choice he’d finally made.

Doc’s Bar was still alive and well — and Zach was the new owner.

Once the paperwork was finished, Doc had flown to St. Croix, and he hadn’t been back since. Still, he called all the time to check in on us, and we kept his spirit alive in the bar with all the same décor the patrons had come to know and love. But, with my help on the back end of everything, Zach had been able to make some improvements with the extra cash we’d saved during tax season — making the bar his own, too.

And we were busier than ever.

I’d even started helping out as a bartender on some nights of the week — especially throughout the summer when the Cubs were on fire. But we had a pact — every Saturday night, we took off work to go to family dinner. And, now that fall was back, every Sunday was ours for football.

The rest of the staff could handle the weekends.

“Ew,” Belle said, smacking my arm and dragging my attention away from Zach. “Quit staring at him like you’re taking his clothes off without any of us being any the wiser. His mother’s right here.”

I chuckled. “Don’t tell me not to ogle my man.” Zach looked at me then, and he grinned, casting me a wink before turning back to his conversation. “I mean, have you seen him? You know you’d ogle, too, if he was yours.”

Belle made a gag sound, but she smiled, leaning into me with a sigh.

“You two make a pretty good team, you know that?” she asked.

I found his eyes from across the tent again, and I sighed the same as her. “We really do.”

An hour before kick-off, we started packing up our tailgating supplies and filing into the stadium. Zach and I had the same season passes from last year, but we’d purchased four extra in the same row for the home opener, wanting to celebrate the first game of the season with our closest family and friends. We were all jazzed up as we made our way inside, stopping to get beers and sodas before making our way down to our section.

When we made it to our row and started squeezing past the few people at the end, I smiled at the familiar faces in the seats next to ours.

“Oh, we hoped you guys would be back!” Janet said, standing with glossy eyes and wrapping me in a hug as soon as I was close enough. “It wouldn’t be the same without Hot Dog and His Girl.”

Zach and I both laughed at that as Zach leaned past me to hug Janet next.

“We’ll never live that down,” he said, waving at Ron once Janet had taken her seat again.

Ron just nodded our way, but there was a hint of a smile on that old man’s face.

“Internet sensation that was,” Janet said. “My sister down in Utah even saw it on TV. She said it was the cutest thing she’d seen all year.”

“Should have seen him trying to get out of it later that night,” I said. “Thatwas the cutest thing.”

Janet blushed, laughing as she nudged me with a wink. “Oh, I bet it was.”

We all took our seats, chatting as we waited for the game to get started, and shortly before kick-off, Zach’s phone lit up with Doc’s face on the screen.

“Well, if it isn’t the island man,” Zach said, holding the phone up so both his and my face could fit in the screen.

Doc grinned from the other side, a tropical paradise spread out in the background behind him. I couldn’t hear the ocean with the crowd around us, but I knew the sound from our other calls, and Rita was there at his side, too, her dark skin shining in the sun.

“How’s the weather there, champ?” Doc teased.

“Cool, breezy, and fall-ish. Don’t you miss it?”

“Not even a little bit,” Doc answered, putting one arm around Rita and tucking her into his side. She waved at me from where she snuggled into him, and though she never spoke much, it didn’t take more than a look at the two of them together to see how happy they were in love.

“Doesn’t feel the same without you here for the season, Doc,” I said.

“Ah, maybe the Bears will actually win it all this year. We got so close last season.”

“Gah, why you gotta bring up sore subjects?” Zach said. I frowned, too, remembering how we’d lost the second game in the playoff race, losing our chance at the big game.

“Hey, we’ll get ‘em this year,” I chimed in.