Chapter 36
Theo
One week later
“
W hy the fuck did you never tell me any of this?” Ryker grumps from the seat next to me. We’re currently all lounging in Elio’s and Jasmine’s new house, who are throwing me a party for winning the championship game.
“I didn’t tell anyone,” I point out, while leaving out the fact that Marcela knew before he did.
Ryker scoffs. “And you say we’re besties.”
“Aww, Ry guy, we’re still besties. Don’t you worry. You’re never getting rid of me,” I say with a wink.
“Lucky me,” he mutters, turning his gaze towards his wife who’s standing with Marcela, Jasmine, and Aurora near the kitchen.
“You know, now I feel like a jackass for doing this for you when you hate football,” Elio complains as he sets down a charcuterie board on the long, white granite-top island.
“We thought of canceling it after seeing your post-game interview, but we’d already made the travel plans to come here,” Camille gives me a shy smile, as if them wanting to celebrate would offend me.
“Listen, y’all, you had no idea. In fact,” I pause, grabbing a hold of my beer to raise it above me. “Let’s toast to the fact that I’m done playing forever.”
Everyone settles around the island, and raises their glass. “To no more football!” we all shout, clinking our cups together.
I throw the rest of my drink back, before setting my empty beer bottle down.
Everyone falls back into their conversations as they pick at the food, while I take a moment to soak it all in. My eyes move to each person in the room, reflecting on how far we’ve all come in these last four years.
Aurora’s about to open Fields to Court Athletics this upcoming March, and is heading to the Olympics in Paris this summer. I still remember the day we first met and how in awe of her pure talent I was.
Cameron places a hand around her and pulls her closer to him. Before they met, all she ever cared about was volleyball, and I’m so happy they found each other. They bring out the best in each other and I’ve always loved being at the forefront to witness it.
Jasmine passes by them, making her way to Elio who’s holding a spoon out for her to try his soup. Jasmine’s growth since we met is inspiring, having gone from a situation similar to mine where all she did was please her parents, to opening up her dream business.
She gives Elio a thumbs-up, letting him know it’s good and he gives her a smile that lingers.
When he catches me staring, he gives me an annoyed glare and I shoot a wink back at him. He likes to pretend he hates me because I might be the reason her dad found out about them, but I know he loves me.
Camille comes over and slides onto Ryker’s lap, who’s sitting beside me watching a video on his phone that she’s been working on, and I’m more than happy everything worked out for them after what happened with her family.
Ryker went from baseball being the center of his world to Camille taking the spotlight. He’s been crushing it in the first few months as a rookie, and so is Camille, being the content creator for his team.
They couldn’t be more perfect together.
And the fact that I got to officiate their wedding on an island off the coast of France, because she was a literal runaway princess? Yeah, I don’t think anything could top that moment in my life.
Besides marrying my girl. That will definitely top it.
I soak her in, watching as she laughs and mingles with our friends. She never liked socializing before, but I love how comfortable she is around them. It makes my heart full seeing her come alive like this.
She makes her way over to me, and I pull her onto my lap.
“Did I tell you that you look beautiful tonight?”
“You have, three times already. But thank you.” She blushes, her eyes shining with love as they stare into mine.
I open my mouth to tell her it’ll never be enough, when Elio speaks up. “Theo, did you know that your dad was applying for a coaching job?” he asks, looking up at me from his phone.
My stomach twists at Elio bringing up my dad, a lifelong response my body’s accustomed to, even though things aren’t like they used to be.
“Yeah, he was interested in taking over for the coach at Aspen. Why?”
“The news just broke online that ex-quarterback Randy Miller is returning to the world of football as the head coach at Aspen, starting next year.”
“I’m happy he got it,” I reply, meaning it.
Our relationship was far from perfect, but we were working on it.
He’s going to start living a life he enjoys, as am I. He said that if he got the job, he’d be handing over the farm and house to Allison and would move closer to Aspen.
I’ve asked Allison if I could come more often and start taking care of the place with her, and she agreed. I think what I like most about this option is that I can still change paths if I want to. I can change my mind and change it again. Knowing that nothing is holding me back is the best feeling in the world.
We spend the rest of the night laughing over card games, old memories, and plans for the future. A future I’m finally excited about.
We’ve all come from different backgrounds. And all faced unique challenges. We’ve all made mistakes and learned a lot about life and ourselves. The one constant thing is that we did it together. The eight of us have a bond that can never be broken, no matter how much we stray when life takes us in different directions.
We’ll always have the love and support here for each other.
It’s something I’ll never take for granted.
I kiss the side of Marcela’s head and wrap my arms around her waist. “How are you?”
Her smile is effortless and real when she says, “I’m happy, really happy. And you?”
“I’ve got everything I’ll ever need right here.”