Chapter 25
Teddy blinked when he heard his name.
“What’s up?” he asked Nate, who was watching him with an amused expression on his face.
“Do you want to do the cones for the kicking stations?” his brother asked.
“Oh, yeah, sure.” Nate had already asked him to do that.
Teddy strode towards the goalposts, ready to mark out where they wanted the kids to practice kicking from. He paused.
“You might need the cones for that …”
Teddy closed his eyes.
“What’s going on?” Nate asked.
“Nothing.”
Nate’s eyes narrowed. Yep, that had come out too defensively.
“How far away is Eloise?” Nate’s girlfriend usually walked over with the children who were staying at Kathleen’s Place. Teddy grabbed the stack of cones his brother offered him.
Nate didn’t move. “At least ten minutes away. We’re here early, remember?”
Right. They’d arranged to meet early because Teddy was coming straight from the kinder. It hadn’t made sense to go back to work afterwards. Dr Nolan had even signed off on an early finish for him, further proof that his opinion of Teddy had really improved.
Nate continued, “Besides, she didn’t work today. Owen and I thought she and Alice could use a treat, so we organised for them to go to their favourite day spa, get massages and manicures and stuff.”
The way his brothers loved their girlfriends was so wholesome and—Teddy rubbed his chest—inspiring.
“Are you okay, Ted?”
“Fine, fine,” he mumbled, leaning down to place a cone on the boundary of the goal square and then straightening it so he could avoid Nate’s gaze.
“Sure?”
“Mmmhmmm.” Down went another cone.
His brothers couldn’t have made it more obvious that the key to their successful relationships was showing up and showing their feelings.
It was clear from all his conversations with Jessica that it had been a very long time since anyone had shown up for her.
And that just wasn’t right.
Or fair.
Everyone deserved to feel special or cared for, or, hell, even as a bare minimum, considered.
Who was considering Jessica? Who was making sure she smiled every day? Who was looking out for her?
A cone hit him in the side of the head.
“Earth to Teddy?”
“Ow. What was that for?”
“Please. Your hair softened the impact.”
Look, yes, Nate wasn’t wrong.
“Give me those”—Nate reached out, plucking the stack of cones from Teddy’s hands—“and follow me.”
He led Teddy over to one of the team’s sheds on the sideline and gestured for him to sit.
“What’s going on with you?”
It was remarkable how much Nate looked like Lulu right now. Arms folded across his chest, a frown tugging at his lips.
“Is it work?” he asked.
“No. That’s all good now.”
Teddy leant back, his shoulders pressing into the tin of the shed.
“Is it the program you want to apply for?”
Teddy shook his head, opened his mouth, and snapped it shut.
Nate sat next to him, stretching his legs out in front of him. “So, it’s Jessica.”
Teddy closed his eyes and was immediately overwhelmed by memories of their night in the treehouse, looking at the stars.
She’d been so different. Not that the way she was at other times needed to be improved.
Teddy liked every version of Jessica, even though he wasn’t supposed to develop feelings for her.
Not real ones that stretched far beyond the realm of friendship, the parameters of their agreement.
“Did you guys have a fight?” Nate guessed, and a dry, humourless laugh slipped past Teddy’s lips.
They’d never had an argument. Christ. They’d never even kissed, and here he was, all torn up over her.
“No.” He cleared his throat. “Nothing like that.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
The problem was that there wasn’t a problem.
And—he swallowed—with his new perspective on how his actions affected others, Teddy could acknowledge that he was also responsible for why things had never worked before.
He’d fooled himself into thinking he was nothing more than his reputation.
But now? Teddy James had caught feelings.
Again, for someone he hadn’t even kissed. The rush of anticipation that always followed his thoughts about finally kissing Jessica was dampened by the reality of his situation. Because what if Jessica didn’t want him the same way he wanted her?
Sure, she blushed when he flirted with her. Let her cherry lips curl into little half smiles he thought about too much, particularly when he was in the shower.
What if she were perfectly content to fake things for a little while and then give him a high five and send him out the door with nothing more than a ‘thanks, see you later’?
“Ted?”
He dragged his hands through his hair, yanking the hair tie loose before huffing out a long breath.
“Holy shit,” Nate said.
“What?” Teddy raised his eyebrows and, unfortunately, his tone.
“You’re in lo—”
“No, I’m not.”
Nate chuckled, knocking his shoulder against Teddy’s affectionately. “Would that be such a bad thing?”
Yes.
Yes.
Maybe?
“You’re dating. You get along with her kid. What’s the problem?”
The problem was that they weren’t really dating, and they were getting married in less than three weeks.
The problem was that he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Wondering what she was doing. If her eyes were bright and teasing. If she’d smiled that day. Really smiled. The ones that made her eyes go all crinkly, her cheeks flush.
The problem was that all his confidence had gone missing.
“It’s too soon.”
Nate tilted his head. “Says who?”
Unable to come up with an answer that involved words, Teddy lifted his arms and gestured at the large space in front of them.
“Ted. Do you remember the advice you gave me when I was fucking up everything with Eloise?”
Teddy tipped his head back and groaned at the sky. “Should’ve known this good deed was going to bite me on the ass.”
Nate gave him a teasing shove. “Shut up. It was true, especially what you said about doing things in my own time. Not overthinking everything. That it was ‘okay to feel my feelings’.”
Nate was right. Teddy had said that. But it had been advice for Nate back when any fool could see how much his brother had cared for Eloise. There was a reason people in Wattle Junction had been talking about their inevitability for years. Nate and Eloise had so much history.
“It’s not different, you know,” Nate said, like he was reading Teddy’s mind. “Feeling this way is a good thing.”
How could Teddy verbalise this properly? “I don’t want to disappoint her or come on too strong and disappoint myself.”
This time, Nate’s laugh wasn’t teasing. It was quiet and maybe even a little bit nostalgic. “I get that, Ted. Everyone who’s ever taken a chance on lo—” Nate clamped his mouth shut when Teddy shot him a warning look.
“I don’t know how to do this.”
Nate shook his head. “Just be yourself and do your best. It’s that simple.”
Teddy tried to break some of the seriousness of this unexpected heart-to-heart by rolling his eyes.
“Whatever, man.” Nate laughed. “If you want this, you can do it.”
“Teddy!” called a little voice behind them. Both brothers turned and watched as Jessica and Sam ambled over towards them. She’d insisted on riding over on her cargo bike.
“I mean, you could’ve offered her a lift. That would’ve been a start,” Nate said.
“I did! She’s independent.” Teddy wasn’t totally clueless.
“Ah,” Nate said as he returned the little boy’s wave.
“Ah, what?”
Okay. Now there was plenty of humour in Nate’s laugh.
“Stop enjoying this so much,” Teddy chided.
“Maybe you could show her how you feel by doing something nice for her?”
“I’d already thought of that! I have a plan and everything.” Teddy’s voice was indignant.
Nate slapped him on the chest. “Then you were wrong before, mate. You do know what you’re doing.”
Nate was right. He needed to calm down. Trust himself.
And that plan he’d been too scared to put into action? He’d start working on its execution tonight.