Chapter 35
It was early, and Caleb was still asleep.
Jamie slipped quietly from the small suburban house and walked down the street in the direction of the church Caleb had pointed out the day before, on their way home from the hospital.
Jamie insisted that Caleb sleep in before heading back to the hospital to watch the Chelsea game together. The girls played Arsenal today, and, if Sally and Ang’s texts were anything to go off of, today was going to be very emotional. For everyone.
Caleb was adamant about watching the game with his father. It seemed that was the one thing he and his father could talk about without sniping at each other: sports. A safe topic for them both, even if Derrick didn’t know much about women’s football.
But it was something, and Jamie wanted to hold on to as much good as possible this week, especially since Derrick’s health was declining so quickly.
According to Bri, it could happen any day now.
Jamie blinked back tears as he walked down the cracked pavement, past rows of white and brown houses. It already smelled like summer, even though it was only May, and he appreciated how warm the morning felt for barely seven o’clock.
A few neighbors called out cheerful “mornings” as he passed, rocking gently in their chairs with mugs of coffee.
Jamie found that he quite liked it here. If Caleb wanted to come back for medical school, Jamie would gladly move.
Then again, he’d follow Caleb anywhere.
A gust of wind lifted his curls from his face, and he found himself stopping in the middle of the pavement, staring up at the wide blue sky. A few pale petals drifted down from a tree.
He imagined Caleb making this walk to school as a child.
Leaving the house with his sisters, racing down the street together, laughing and running without noticing the wind or the falling petals.
Then he pictured Caleb in high school. Older and quieter, growing into the thoughtful man Jamie knew now.
A younger Caleb, walking to school to see the boy he liked. Perhaps carrying his football gear to play a sport he loved on a team that didn’t treat him as an equal.
Jamie’s chest ached as he forced himself to keep walking, rounding the corner toward the small church and its graveyard. Caleb had told him he passed this place every day on the way to school, always joking about not walking too close to the graves or the ghosts would grab you and drag you under.
Jamie smiled softly to himself. He wished he’d known Caleb then. He wished he’d always known Caleb. Now that his heart knew the man, he didn’t think it could survive without him.
As he walked slowly between the gravestones, his phone buzzed in his pocket.
Ellie
Did you do it yet?
Jamie rolled his eyes at the three ring emojis she tacked onto the message and typed back a quick not yet, before patting his pocket—something he’d already done at least seven times this morning, just to make sure the rings were still there.
In an ideal world, he would have planned something grand with candles and flowers and all of their friends gathered together.
But Jamie decided when they’d landed in America that this wasn’t about orchestrating the perfect moment.
It was about showing Caleb how loved he was and that Jamie wasn’t going anywhere. Ever.
Following the narrow path beneath a large, shady tree, Jamie finally found the stone he’d been looking for.
Marlene Adeyemi
His heart jumped straight into his throat, and, quite irrationally, he suddenly felt nervous. The grave looked newer than most, well-kept and tidy. He wondered who tended to it.
“Hello, Mrs., erm—” Jamie cleared his throat as he lowered himself to sit cross-legged beneath the tree. “Well. Marlene,” he tried again softly. “I’m not quite sure what you’d prefer me to call you.”
The wind rustled the branches overhead, shifting the light across the gravestone. A bird chirped somewhere above him, and Jamie took it as encouragement to keep going.
“I just wanted to come and pay my respects. I know Caleb misses you very much, and… well.” He pushed his glasses up his nose and glanced up toward the bird. “I want you to know that I’m going to take care of your son. And I wanted to ask for your blessing to ask him to marry me.”
Jamie slipped the small ring box from his pocket.
“I hope you would—or do—approve of me,” he continued.
“All I want is to take care of Caleb in any way I can. See, he’s going through a rough time right now, and…
” Jamie squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before continuing.
“He means everything to me, Marlene. He’s been there for me through so much.
So much, and I promise that, even when things get hard, I will always be here. No matter what.”
The trees rustled again, a stronger gust making his curls fall across his forehead. His phone buzzed in his pocket, probably Caleb wondering where he’d disappeared to.
“Right. Before I go…” He fumbled with the ring box, popping it open and carefully lifting out the larger ring.
“I wanted to show you. Since, well...” He laughed nervously. “I couldn’t afford brand-new rings, so I got the old ones engraved instead.”
Jamie held the ring up toward the gravestone, then immediately felt foolish and pulled it back to inspect it himself. The engraving caught the soft morning light.
Along the inner wall, in fancy swooping script, were the words: I love you in every universe.
Sliding his glasses off, he wiped quickly at his cheeks. “Your son is the world to me,” he whispered to the birds and the trees and the quiet morning air. “I promise I’ll spend every day trying to make him the happiest man on Earth. Or... in the universe.”
His voice caught.
“I’ll never stop choosing him. No matter what.”
He looked down at the ring in his hands before lifting his eyes back toward the headstone.
“Is…is that okay with you?”
The wind stirred the branches above him, sending a small flurry of pale petals drifting down. One landed softly against the stone beside Marlene’s name.
Caleb had come to terms with the fact that his father was going to pass in the next few days.
The trip had been emotional, to say the least, but he was grateful he’d come. If nothing else, he’d finally found some closure with Bri. It seemed Mike had been a really good influence on her, and a few nights ago, she’d even told him she loved Jamie and she was happy for him.
They had decided together that the best way to spend the remaining time with their dad was to stick to safe topics. Like sports.
Which was how he found himself standing in the hospital room, hunched over the tiny television in the corner, trying to figure out how the hell to stream the Chelsea vs.
Arsenal match. It was a big game, so when he finally managed to get the broadcast up on the screen, Bri, Mike, Jamie, and a few curious hospital staff members gathered in Derrick’s room to watch.
The pre-game show had just started, highlighting clips from earlier matches in the season. It was actually kind of nice since Caleb was usually there in person, so he rarely got to see these segments.
His dad even looked… happy.
If there was one thing Derrick Reed understood, it was competition.
And by the way he was sitting ramrod straight in his hospital bed now—barking, “Now that’s a shot on goal!
” at the replay clips—he seemed to be having a grand old time.
Beside him, Bri was practically glowing, seeing her father engaged in something.
Mike sat close to her, staring at her like she was the sun.
Even Tay had texted a few minutes ago, asking if maybe she could FaceTime in during the game.
The tight ball of anxiety he’d been carrying around all week was starting to fade away. If this ended up being his last memory of his father, he could live with that.
His gaze drifted toward the window, where a small bird landed on a branch outside, hopping once before settling there.
Maybe he was just exhausted—God knew he hadn’t slept properly in days—but for a moment, he imagined it was his mom. Just watching over them and spending a little time with her family, even if that family was broken and a little crazy.
The door swung open, and Jamie rushed in, curls falling into his face, trying to balance four cans of Pepsi and a Sprite.
“Here you go!” he said breathlessly, handing them out. They hadn’t had much time to talk today since Jamie had slipped out for a morning walk and they’d rushed here as soon as he had gotten home. Maybe he’d recommend napping together later…
Jamie carefully lowered himself into the chair beside Caleb and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. Caleb noticed his father’s eyes linger on Jamie for a moment.
Jamie noticed too and simply smiled back.
It hit Caleb then that Jamie fit here with his family.
When he’d first moved to London and fallen in love with the bookish, nerdy British man with a bike helmet slung under his arm, he never imagined he’d come back to this town.
Why would he? At the time, he hadn’t believed his family would accept either of them.
But here they were. All of them sitting together in a cramped hospital room, watching the team he had poured so much of his heart and soul into. The team that had become a kind of family to him—that had supported the life he’d built with Jamie.
And now his family, messy and complicated as they were, were showing their support too. In their own way.
“Oh, it’s starting!” Bri said, sliding closer to Mike as she cracked open her Pepsi with a sharp hiss.
“Is that the coach, Caleb?” Mike asked in his Jersey accent, pointing at the screen. “Halcombe?”
“Yep,” Caleb said, sliding his hand into Jamie’s.
Bri turned toward Mike, confused. “Since when do you follow women’s football?”