Chapter 49
FORTY-NINE
olivia
I fucking hated Logan Airport. How did I get myself roped into this? Oh, maybe it was Nate’s goddamned, motherfucking, magical dick. A dick that, if my calculations were correct, I wouldn’t be able to ride for another eight days.
I’d grown far too attached to that dick. Enough that I’d agreed to drive to motherfucking Logan Airport. I thought I knew where I was going, but surprise, surprise, there was a new traffic pattern thanks to construction.
No, it wasn’t his smile, or that he was the best goddamn human being I’d ever met. It had to be his dick. And orgasms. Because those were what usually got me to agree to do stupid shit—like drive into the city and go anywhere near this hellhole of an airport.
When I pulled up in front of Terminal 2, Darla Reaves and Donnie Dobbs stuck out like a sore thumb.
Man, they looked nervous. Nate had only briefly described the small town where he came from, so I could only imagine how intimidating this airport was for them.
I’d grown up in this city, and it pushed my limits.
I pulled up in front of them and rolled down my window.
“Darla?” I asked, confirming my assumption.
“Yes, Olivia?”
I nodded and shifted the car into park so I could come around and help them with their bags.
Darla closed the distance and wrapped her arms around me, smothering me against her ample breasts.
She towered above me; if she wasn’t six feet, she was damn close.
I hadn’t been hugged like that since before my mom got sick, and struggled to hold back the tears.
She released me, and Coach pulled me in for another hug. Okay. We had a family of huggers. Not something I was used to, but I’d go with it for now.
“Hi Coach, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Call me Donnie.”
I smiled at his Southern accent, popped my trunk, and helped them load their luggage.
“Are you hungry?” I asked.
“We can wait until Nate gets home.”
“He won’t be back until at least 10:00 pm. Are you sure you want to wait?”
Darla looked at Donnie. “You’re the one who’s always half-starved. Are you sure?”
“Well—maybe a small bite to hold me over.” He patted his belly, which was the only part of him that wasn’t thin as a rail.
“Great. I have sandwich stuff at home, if that’s okay with you. You can relax and watch the game once we get back.”
You would have thought that after being cursed with horrendous traffic on the way to the airport, I might get lucky leaving. I did not. It took a little over an hour to get home, and by then, the game was almost over, and we were all more than a little bit hungry.
Cooper met us at the door. “Ma, can we order pizza? I’m starving.”
I looked at Darla and Donnie, and they both nodded. “Sounds good. Nate is always bragging about how good the pizza is up here,” Donnie said.
As we walked into the house, Darla’s eyes roamed the kitchen and family room. “Wow, I would give my left kidney for a kitchen like this.”
“I’m really fortunate. The house is technically Austin’s; I just live here.”
“Ah—Nate mentioned that. You’re a single mom, too.”
“I am. I’ve tried to buy this house from Austin, but he won’t sell it at market value. He keeps trying to give it to me. Someday he’ll cave.”
“These boys, they love taking care of us, but sometimes they need to know when it’s time to step back and let us take care of ourselves.”
“Definitely.” Coop moved in and out of the kitchen, and after the third time he checked the refrigerator, I said, “Nothing has changed since the last time you looked.”
“What time is the pizza coming?”
I tossed him my phone so he could track the order I had placed while Darla checked out the kitchen. “Here, you can watch on the app.”
Coop was back in a few minutes. “Hey, Nate texted. He’s asking you for a base for a base. What’s that mean?”
Fuck. Thank God Cooper didn’t understand, and it could have been so much worse. My face burned, and Darla suppressed a giggle. At least someone thought it was funny.
“Not sure, bud. But I guess that means the game is over?”
“Yeah. Donnie fell asleep on the couch.”
“Did they win?” I asked.
Cooper’s disgusted face was all the answer I needed. “Nope.”
The pizza delivery was well-timed, and he brightened up immediately. He ran to the door, opened it, grabbed the order, and left the poor delivery person standing there, waiting for someone to sign the receipt. I took over, but reminded Cooper that guests eat first.
We were polishing off our first slices when Nate texted that they were on their way.
Me: Cooper saw your text…
Nate: Which one?
Me: The one about the bases. He didn’t understand—but your mom did.
Nate: My mom knows everything…
Everything? Eek. I looked at where Darla sat and noted that she watched every move I made.
Me: She’s going to hate me.
Nate: She already texted to tell me how much she loves you.
Why was I so relieved to hear that? There was too much activity in my house for me to unpack my feelings.
I’d been so clear in warning Nate that this was strictly sex, and here I was, caring about what his mother thought about what we were doing.
But it did matter because while I would be hurt if strangers thought our relationship was weird, Darla’s disapproval would be devastating.
Me: I booked a place for us for your next night off.
Nate:
Nate: I can’t wait.
“Is he on his way back?” Darla asked.
“Yeah. Hopefully, they won’t his as much traffic as we did.”
“I’m not sure how you handle living so close to such a big city.”
“Tell me about where you live.”
I listened to Darla and Donnie tell me all about the small town where they live, and where Nate grew up. In those moments, with Cooper distracted by video games and Austin out of the house, I soaked up as much information as I could about the experiences that shaped Nate.
Not only did his mom know about us, but she didn’t hate me on sight either.
Shit, remembering back to Jason’s family when they met me—granted, the first meet and greet came with a pregnancy announcement—but they could have been a hell of a lot nicer.
I vowed that day that if I had a boy, I would behave differently if I were ever in that situation.
But if I were Darla, I would sure as hell put some pressure on a nearly thirty-year-old woman if they were sleeping with my twenty-year-old son. Yeah, mentally I’d been calling him twenty. Twenty seemed a bit more palatable than nineteen. But with his birthday, it didn’t seem as bad.
“Are you okay with this?” Curiosity finally got the best of me.
“Oh—it’s not my business. I want to see Nate happy. And while he loves baseball, he’s been much happier since you’re around. That’s all I want for him.”
Donnie cleared his throat, and I thought he was going to say something. “Can you pass me the Parmesan?”
I slid the grated cheese across the island to him, and he tore into another piece of pizza. Man, he could eat.
Austin arrived first; recently they had been traveling to the stadium separately. Austin seemed to have planned stops along the way—secret stops. While I had confirmed that he wasn’t seeing Ashley, I suspected that someone had his attention.
I introduced him to our guests, and he spent a few minutes grousing with Donnie about how the team’s record had plummeted. Thankfully, Donnie didn’t bring up the name Tucker Milligan, because Austin still had a hard time talking about both the impact that man had on his personal life and the team.
Trying not to look up when Nate walked in the door, I fidgeted with the pizza crusts on my plate, but that man drew my attention. I felt his presence at a cellular level. My hands itched to touch him.
He kissed his mom on the cheek, and she rose to embrace him. He smiled at me over her head before letting her go and shaking Donnie’s hand.
“Did Olivia show you your room?”
We all shook our heads. “I didn’t feel comfortable going into your space if you weren’t home.”
“Ah—okay. Then come, let me get you settled.”