Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
AUDREY
DECEMBER
The leaves in Houston don’t change colors until December.
Places that have a real fall and winter are on a way different schedule.
Nash told me the leaves start changing at the end of September in Wisconsin.
Still, this is one of the best times to be in Texas, when there’s that beautiful break between the hellscape of summer and the detrimental freezes of late winter.
Things have been so good between me and Noah.
I go to all his home games and sit with Nash and Chrissy, who have become some of my closest friends.
I learn all about Nash’s overseas volleyball career and promise to go to her games during the upcoming inaugural season of the Women’s US Pro Volleyball Federation.
When Nicole isn’t working, she tags along, and I think she wishes she could get an introduction to a few players.
When the Hurricanes are away, I either go and share a hotel suite with Chrissy, or I stay home and work.
Noah has decided to stay a client even though I gave him a stern talking to about business ethics.
He said, and I quote, “I don’t give a flying fuck.
” Now that I know a bit more about his career, I realize that he actually owns the commercial strip The Lush is in.
He’s more than just a supporter, he’s an investor.
When I asked him why, he told me that real estate is a good investment, and that he is able to keep the rent low for Pia by owning the building.
His kindness for someone he considers family makes my heart swell, and that particular “business meeting” ended with me on my knees for him in the dining room.
“Happy New Year’s Eve!” Chrissy exclaims as she opens her front door for us.
“Come in, don’t let the heat out.” It’s only fifty degrees, but for Houston, that’s cold.
I remember when I was a kid there was a New Year’s that was like eighty degrees and it was miserable shooting fireworks when it wasn’t even a little chilly.
Noah, Nicole, and I step into the house chock full of Christmas decorations.
I can see three different trees just standing in the entryway.
I’m a little surprised Chrissy isn’t the type of person to take them down the day after Christmas, but then again, I can see her enjoying the ambiance until January second.
The house smells like she’s been cooking and baking all day.
Of course, she refused to let anyone else bring anything.
You’d think with all their money they would just cater, but Chrissy loves hosting.
The days between Christmas and New Year’s that are usually an unaccounted for blur are not that way when you’re dating a professional football player.
The Hurricanes played the last scheduled game before the break for the end of the year, so Chrissy and I packed our heaviest jackets and went with the men to Denver for the weekend.
We spent the Saturday living our winter dreams with cute snow outfits and oodles of hot chocolate. We topped it off with a win on Sunday.
I worked all the days between that game and New Year’s because Noah was at practice, so what else did I have to do? I could have spent more time with Mom and Dad, but they are only closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, so they were working too.
I’d been taking turns between sleeping at Noah’s place and mine. As much as I loved waking up next to him, I couldn’t leave the girls alone too long. One morning he suggested I just bring them with me, but moving my pets into his house seemed a little too serious to me.
When we walk into the living room/kitchen combo area, we’re loudly greeted by the rest of the gang.
Jaden is sitting on the arm of one couch looking over Wyatt’s shoulder at a video on his phone.
Nash sits next to them, a mug of what smells like Wassail in hand.
Mack is here, too, fiddling with the remote control, flipping through the channels.
He whips around quickly when he hears me say, “You guys remember my best friend, Nicole?” Nash gets to us first, giving us all hugs in turn.
“Good to see you, girl,” Nash says to Nicole, who in turn points at her mug and asks, “Can I have one of those?” Nash takes her by the hand and brings her to the stovetop where a pot is bubbling away.
“Do you guys want anything to drink?” Chrissy calls from near the enormous fridge.
“We’re good for now,” I call back as Noah and I take a seat on the couch.
I lean over to Wyatt. “How was your first Texas Christmas?”
“I couldn’t get on that flight to Wisconsin fast enough.”
“You got to see your family?”
“Yeah, I left the day after we got back from Denver and flew back last night. It didn’t even feel like Christmas until I saw the snow-covered trees through my parents’ big living room windows.”
I sat back against the couch. “Huh, I never thought about that. I don’t think we’ve ever had a white Christmas here. At least not in my memory. There’s been years where it’s too hot to wear jeans on Christmas Day.”
Wyatt visibly frowns. “Ugh, that sounds disgusting.”
“I think over time you get used to it. It’s the same as the saying about home being where the heart is. Christmas is about the people you’re with, not the weather.” He only grunts in response, saved from a reply by Nash sitting back down with her steaming mug clutched in her hands.
“I didn’t know if we’d see you tonight or not,” I say to her.
“I’m so glad I got to come home for the holidays. There really was no reason to stay in Rome since the season is over, and when next season starts in January, I’ll be playing here.”
“I’m so excited for you. I’m going to be at every home game.”
She barks a self-deprecating laugh. “You’ll be the only one in the stadium.”
“Nonsense,” says Noah. “It will be her, me, Wyatt, Jaden, and Mack, and no one else.”
Mack turns up the volume so loud we have to end our conversation. He points to the TV. “The game is on.”
I look sideways at Nash. “Because what else would football players do on their time off if not watch college football?”
She shakes her head. “They can’t go one minute without it.”
At halftime when I get up to use the restroom, I spot Nicole and Mack standing close and talking over what remains of the amazing Zuppa Toscana soup Chrissy made. Nicole is quite literally batting her eyelashes; something I’ve never seen her do for any man, but I don’t interrupt. I just slink by.
When the game ends after three overtimes, with whatever confusing rules college football has for overtime, the girls gang up to choose the next activity.
We all stand, arms crossed in front of the TV. Chrissy is—obviously—our leader. “When Harry Met Sally has the ultimate New Year’s Eve scene.”
The men acquiesce knowing that in two hours they’re going to be able to go outside and blow things up. But when I look over at them, while Billy Crystal runs through the streets of New York to get to Meg Ryan, they’re all enraptured.
Finally, it’s fifteen til midnight and it’s time to go out into the cul-de-sac and get ready to blast in the New Year with my friends—new and old. We all bundle up, except Wyatt, who walks out in his jeans and T-shirt.
We carry folding chairs out to the front lawn so those of us who don’t want to shoot fireworks can sit and watch. Before all the fun begins, Chrissy comes out of the house with a huge bowl.
She motions for us all to gather around.
“In Latin America, a New Year’s tradition is to eat twelve grapes to bring good luck, so I went and got exactly ninety-six grapes for us.
” She walks around us and hands each of us our grapes.
I sit in the lawn chair next to Nicole and eat mine.
We watch all the guys eat half their grapes at one time.
I put another grape in my mouth. “So I saw you chatting with Mack during the game.”
“Chatting?” Nicole says. “What is this, Love Island? We weren’t having a chat, we were just talking.” Her fake British accent is horrible.
“I was just curious.” I laugh.
“Nothing honestly, he’s not exactly my type.” I open my mouth to ask her exactly what her type is because she never had many dates in school, but I’m interrupted by the start of the countdown.
“Ten!”
I get up and make my way over to where Noah stands.
“Nine!”
Part of me wishes we were having a cozy night on our own at Noah’s house, but I think this is a memory I’ll look back on lovingly in the future when things look so different.
“Eight!”
I touch Noah’s arm, “Hey.”
“Seven!”
He turns those green eyes on me, lit up by people shooting their fireworks off early. “Fancy seeing you here.”
“Six!”
“Funny, I was just about to say the same thing.”
“Five!”
He leans down and kisses me. “You literally have five more seconds until midnight.”
“Four!”
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t wait. You look so beautiful.”
“Three!”
I can feel my cheeks flush under his gaze.
“Two!”
Finally, we both join in on the count. “One!”
Fireworks burst in the sky, so many of them it almost drowns out the cheers cropping up all around the neighborhood.
Noah takes my face in his hands and brings his mouth to mine.
The kiss is slow and easy, exactly how it feels to have the entirety of a new year ahead of you.
No rush to do anything or go anywhere, there’s still 365 days left for that.
Right now is just for savoring the feeling of his lips on mine and the burnt smell of sulfur in the air.
I look up at him after we pull back. “Happy New Year,” I say.
He just smiles and kisses me again, and for the first time in five years, I truly do feel like this year will be a good one.