Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
ALICE
“Ican’t believe you found us a drive-in to come to tonight.”
“Did you want to do something else tonight?”
“What? No.” I laugh. “I didn’t think they existed anymore.”
Declan kisses the palm of my hand as he backs the truck into our designated spot. “This might be the last one.”
“What’s playing tonight?” I ask.
He shrugs a shoulder. “Beats me. I figured it’d be fun since we’re getting ready to hit the road.”
I sigh as the two of us get out to prepare the bed of the truck. Declan tosses pillows and blankets from the back seat and I spread them out before us.
“Do road trips get easier?” I ask, hopping down so the two of us can go grab some snacks.
“For who? Me or you?”
“Me.”
The Black Diamonds were lucky to have a stretch of home games to start the season, but now they’ll be on the road for two weeks.
Declan smiles at me as we wait in the concession line. “Does that mean you’re going to miss me?”
“I mean, kind of.”
It’s weird. I never missed Declan before now. But living with him these last few months, I’ve gotten so used to always having him around.
Even with long practice days and the preseason, he was gone while I was at work. We’d come home and talk about our days and have dinner together. We settled into a nice rhythm.
Not having him around is going to be a change.
“It’s like you like me,” he gloats.
“Yeah, yeah.” I try to shove him away as we reach the counter, but he doesn’t let me go.
“We’ll take the nachos, pretzels, sour straws, and two waters.” Declan looks down at me. “Anything else?”
“Is that all for you?” I ask.
“For both of us,” he says.
“Add in popcorn and we’re good.”
Declan hands over cash, then drops a twenty in the tip jar as a box of food is pushed our way. He takes it and I grab the water bottles as we weave our way through the cars back to the truck.
Extending a hand, Declan helps me up.
Cars fill in the space around us as we dig in to all the snacks. As the sky turns to an inky velvet, the lights turn off and the movie starts.
The first of the double feature? An animated movie for kids that has the adults laughing almost immediately.
“I wish I had known you in high school,” Declan says.
I tear off the end of a straw. “Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”
“Maybe we would’ve started dating then and I could have taken you here on dates. Pretended to be really cool and try and kiss you.”
“Would I have gotten your letterman jacket?”
“No one else I would have given it to.”
He smacks a noisy kiss on my cheek.
“You know I was not cool in high school. Probably not very cool in college either.”
“Well, I know one thing about you.” Declan laughs.
“What’s that?”
“You never could hold your liquor.”
I snort laugh, trying not to choke over the sip of water I took.
“If I could, do you think we would have met?” I ask.
“I hope so. I mean, can you imagine if we hadn’t?”
“I don’t even want to think about that. I’d ruin your shoes ten times over if it meant we got to meet.”
“Worth it, Froggie.” Declan pulls me close. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be tonight than with you.”
I snuggle in, leaning against him. A cool breeze blows through. The mountains reach up behind the movie screen toward the night sky.
Everything about this moment is perfect. Happiness burns bright inside my chest. With the smell of impending fall hanging in the air, it seems like more than just the seasons are changing.
Things with Declan have never been better.
When we decided to stick this out for a year, I thought we’d be living together, but separately. Keeping our lives as they were.
They’ve merged so effortlessly, that I don’t know how I’ll ever go back to not having him like this. Maybe we were always waiting around for each other and that drunken weekend in Vegas was just the catalyst to become more.
Declan is my person. Even before he became my husband, he was the one that I celebrated everything with. The wins, the losses, and everything in between.
It’s easy to ignore the outside noise when I’m with him.
The guys in the league that are tarnishing the good names of other players? Easy.
Repeated emails and calls from my father wanting me to go work for him? No big deal.
Everything is right with Declan, and I want to hang on to this feeling for as long as possible.
“You’re awfully quiet tonight, Froggie,” Declan says.
I tilt my chin up, resting it on his chest. “You know you’re not supposed to talk during movies, right?”
He taps me on the nose. “You know no one can hear us, right? And this movie is almost as old as we are.”
“Fair. I want to enjoy our night together before you leave.”
“I don’t know if you know this, but there was something invented called the telephone. We can use it to talk to each other.”
“I think I might have heard of it.”
“Play your cards right tonight and I might just give you my number.”
Swinging my leg over his lap, I link my fingers behind his neck. His hands move automatically, settling on my hips.
“If I play my cards right, hmm?”
I twirl my fingers through the soft locks of hair at the nape of his neck. The low lights scattered around the open field of the drive-in reflect back in his blue eyes. Ones that are filled with desire.
“I mean, I can’t just give it to you,” he states.
I ghost my lips over the shell of his ear. “Do you think if we make out I might be able to get it?”
The corner of his mouth cocks up in a grin. “Froggie, you can get anything you want.”
“Then I can’t wait to see what later will get me.”