Epilogue
GAVIN
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” I ask my wife as Jordan tosses my camping stuff in the back of his truck. Austen holds both our hands, and we swing our son between us.
“Tempting, but Daisy and I have big plans of watching TV and ordering takeout.”
“And sleeping in,” Daisy adds.
I lean forward to kiss Violet, stopping an inch from her lips. “Who is going to protect me from the bears and other wild animals, or keep me warm in my sleeping bag?”
“Did you say bears?” Emily asks.
Ah, shit. I glance down at the four-year-old girl clutching on to Daisy’s leg.
My son stands a little taller as he drops my hand to take Emily’s. “Don’t worry. My dad is bigger than anything out there.”
Austen is only three months older than Emily, but he’s been her protector and confidante since birth. They’re more like brother and sister than second cousins.
A smile tugs at my lips as I give the little girl with blonde ringlets a reassuring wink.
Daisy squats down to hug Emily, and then our kids race off toward the truck.
“She’ll be fine,” I promise a nervous-looking Daisy as she watches her daughter climb into the back of the truck after Austen.
“I know,” she says, but she doesn’t sound convinced. “She’s going through a phase where she’s scared of everything.”
“We’ll keep a close eye on her.”
“Thanks, Gavin.” Daisy follows after our kids, and I hang back to say bye to my wife.
“See you on Sunday.” I steal another kiss. Nine years of kissing her whenever I want, and it never gets old. “To be continued, Mrs. Leonard.”
She and Daisy stand at the curb and wave us off as we head on our annual camping trip.
This has become our yearly tradition. One weekend every summer, up in the mountains, catching up and unwinding.
It’s changed over time. Different locations and different people.
Sometimes Violet and Daisy have come along, other times, they haven’t, especially when Austen and Emily were babies.
And these days the cooler is filled with as much juice as it is booze, but I look forward to it all the same.
Occasionally Jenkins and Liam even make the trip.
Two hours later, after a stop for lunch and another to pick up food and ice for the weekend, we arrive at the campsite. A familiar vehicle, mine, catches my eye. As I look closer, I see some of my buddies and teammates. I glance over at Jordan. “What’s going on?”
“Happy birthday, man.” He opens his door and hops out. “Welcome to the dirty thirties.”
Scanning the site, I find Violet and Daisy staring at the truck.
“Did you know your mom was coming?” I ask Austen.
One side of his mouth tugs up at the corner. He has the same lips as his mom, the bottom one is just a little bit fuller and always sticks out. “She said it was a surprise.”
I get out of the truck and walk toward my sneaky wife.
She meets me halfway with a smug smile. “Fancy seeing you here.”
“What is all this? My birthday was months ago.”
“I know, but you were busy, and we didn’t get to properly celebrate.”
“Oh, we celebrated.”
Her cheeks flush. We brought my thirtieth in with a bang. Lots of them.
“We did, but your friends wanted to do something since a lot of them didn’t get to see you.” She laces her fingers behind my neck. “You’re really surprised? I thought for sure you’d figure it out. I had to look away every time I lied about not coming.”
“You are a spectacularly bad liar, but I had no idea. This is amazing. Thank you.”
“Welcome.” She drops her mouth to mine in a quick kiss. “Lots of people want to say hi to you.”
“They can wait.” I pick her up and slant my mouth over hers.
“Gross,” Austen mutters. “Are you two going to do that all weekend?”
Laughing, I pull away and set Vi on the ground.
“Yep.” I scoop him up and lift him onto my shoulders, and the three of us head to the campsite.
My mom sits in a camping chair, and next to her is Dr. Chase, with one hand resting on her thigh. He stands when I get close, and we shake hands. “Good to see you, Gavin. Congrats on the season.”
“Thanks. Good to see you too.”
I set Austen down. My mom pulls him into a hug first and then me. Dr. Chase, or Theo as I’ve been instructed to call him a million times, stays close, watching my mom with a lovey grin on his face.
They got married last year after dating for several before that. I like him, but more importantly, I like the way he treats my mom. She’s never seemed happier.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” I say to them as we watch Austen run off to his mom.
“We aren’t staying the night, but we wanted to come by and say hi.” She places a hand on my scruffy face. She hates the short beard I’ve grown. “Your dad is coming by later too.”
“I don’t know how you guys pulled this off.” My gaze drifts to all these people. They had to drive long distances or hop on a plane to be here. I spot Liam from afar and he lifts a hand in a wave.
“This was all Violet,” my mom says. “You found a good one.”
“The best.” She and Austen are attempting to set up the tent.
It does not look to be going well. The woman can design and sew a dress in minutes, but she’s still hopeless outdoors.
She’s still doing it, too. The designing part, I mean.
She’s worked on movie sets and created custom gowns for celebrities.
She just started her own clothing line, primarily dresses of course.
“I better go help,” I tell my mom. “I’ll be back.”
I get stopped on my way, first by Liam and then Jenkins and Noah.
Some of my NBA teammates are here, too, and I introduce everyone.
It wasn’t an easy road, but thanks to Dr. Chase (I mean Theo) and a lot of hard work in rehab, I battled back from the knee injury, played my senior year of college, and decided to go pro.
My dad was happy. Though I think he truly might have been either way. Our relationship is better than it’s ever been, but I won’t lie, sometimes a reporter asks me a question about him or compares me to my dad in some way and my hackles go up.
But then I go home to my wife and son and remember that I get to decide every single day to be the husband and father that I wanted.
“Need a hand?” I ask when I finally reach them.
“I think we got it.” Vi blows out a breath and steps back.
“Should we try it out?” I nudge Austen, and he scrambles inside, all too eager. He loves camping. He even has a tent in his room where we often find him hiding away with a book.
The three of us sit in the middle of the tent. Austen explores the small space while I wrap an arm around Violet.
“What do you think?” she asks.
“That I love you. That I’m damn lucky. That this tent used to seem a hell of a lot bigger.”
A small laugh escapes her lips, and she leans forward to kiss me.
“And that life with you… definitely, not the worst.”
Thank you for reading Hating the Player!
Want to catch up with the girls before they start their junior year of college (Daisy got a tattoo?!)?
Then signup for Rebecca’s newsletter to receive an exclusive bonus scene.
Want to find out what happens when Dahlia gets trapped in an elevator with the football star who makes her forget how to string two words together?
Find out in Scoring the Player, the next book in the Campus Wallflowers series.