Epilogue Rowan
Epilogue
Rowan
“Finally.” Summer plops down on my bed with a tired sigh. She stretches out her legs and arms like a starfish. “I’m never leaving.”
“Oh, no. Don’t get comfortable. I promised your brother I wouldn’t keep you locked in my room all weekend.”
“You did not run that plan by me.” She sits up, grinning at me and somehow looking more beautiful than she did when I saw her a month ago. She glances toward the open door of my bedroom and then fights a smile. “Is that why the door is open?”
“Noooo,” I say, not all that convincingly.
I live in an off-campus house with Silas and two other soccer players, Rodrigo, a sophomore striker who is obsessed with Dolly Parton (seriously, he blasts her music nonstop), and Dom, a junior defender who speaks four languages but rarely speaks at all.
I’m pretty sure Silas only lets me live here to keep an eye on me—or he’s planning to murder me in my sleep.
But despite the fear of my girlfriend’s brother, I love this place. This house. This school. The Arizona sunshine. Every day I walk outside and look up at the clear, blue sky, barely a cloud in sight. It’s gorgeous. Almost as gorgeous as the woman smiling at me.
“Don’t tell me you’re still scared of him,” she says.
“I’m not scared of him. I have a healthy fear of my girlfriend’s brother, who frequently threatens to kick my ass.” I think he’s kidding. I hope.
She lets out a soft chuckle. “What time does he get back from class?”
“He’s done at three, so…” I check the time on my watch. “Soon.”
Summer stands slowly. That curly red hair is down and falls over her shoulders as she walks toward me.
It’s been a long three weeks since she was here last. She came with my parents to drop me off at college but had to go right back to Frost Lake to get herself settled.
Since then, we’ve both been busy with classes and soccer and getting used to campus life.
We text and video chat constantly, but I’ve missed her so damn much.
When she reaches me, Summer places her arms over my shoulders and laces her fingers behind my neck. Goose bumps dance across my skin.
“Then you better hurry up and kiss me again.”
My lips hitch up at the corners as I lean in. “Yes, ma’am.”
I slant my mouth over hers and don’t waste any time before deepening the kiss. Electricity hums under my skin and my stomach dips low. No matter how many times we do this, it never stops feeling this way—all-consuming, exciting, and somehow comforting too.
“I love you,” I murmur, not wanting to break the kiss any longer than necessary to get out the words.
“I love you too,” she says, breathless as she tightens her grip around my neck.
“I know. Your ring has been purple since you got here.”
“Maybe I was thinking about soccer.”
I lean down and scoop her legs up. She squeals as she wraps herself around me. I walk her back to my bed and then carefully drop her onto the comforter. I’ve barely let my weight drop on top of her when someone clears their throat loudly behind us.
I freeze, body clenching tight, and look down at Summer. “Oh shit,” I whisper.
“Seriously, Blakenship?” Silas sighs heavily.
Summer peers around me. “Hey, Silas.”
She reaches up to peck her lips against mine, then rolls from under me. I sit on the edge of the bed as she races across my room to hug her brother.
Silas glares at me over his sister’s head as they embrace.
When Summer pulls back, she looks between us and laughs. “Is this what you two are like all the time?”
“No,” I say at the same time Silas says, “yes.”
With a shake of her head, my sexy girlfriend comes back and takes my hand, then pulls me toward Silas. “Well, not this weekend. I want to hang out with both of you.”
There’s a beat of silence.
“Of course,” I say before Silas does.
“Whatever you want,” he adds.
“Good.” Summer steps away from both of us. “Can we grab food? I’m starving.”
Silas studies me carefully.
“I liked it better when we hated each other,” he says, but there’s a hint of a smile on his face.
“Me too. I wasn’t so jumpy when I didn’t have to care what you thought.”
“This is you caring what I think?” His brows lift.
“Well…more than I used to.” I backhand him softly in the middle of the chest and then hurry after Summer.
* * *
After the three of us have an early dinner, then show Summer around the soccer field and some of campus, we head back to the house.
Dom and Rodrigo are back, and several of our other teammates are over. “9 to 5” is blasting on the speakers, and they’re all sitting around our dining room table playing cards.
Most of them have met Summer before, but Silas introduces her to the few guys who haven’t.
“Let’s switch up and play Spades,” Silas says as he takes a seat. He pulls out an empty chair next to him. “Sum, you can be on my team.”
She looks to me and I nod. “Yeah, sounds good. Dom and I usually pair up, and I would hate to disappoint him.”
Dom grunts.
I take the only available seat next to the quiet defenseman while silently glowering at Silas. He’s grinning at me in a way that tells me what I already knew—he’s fucking with me—but since I plan to spend all night with Summer, I guess I can share her for another hour or two.
Unfortunately for Dom I’m not very good at Spades…or concentrating when my sexy girlfriend is sitting across the table.
“Geez, Blakenship. You’re killing me.” He tosses the cards down on the table, then mutters something in French…I think. Maybe Spanish. He talks so fast I can’t make any of it out.
“It isn’t my fault.” I wave my hand toward Summer.
“Aww, come on, Si, let the guy hang with his girl,” our goalie, Sonny, says to Silas.
“His girl is my sister,” Silas says as if everyone else doesn’t already know.
“Let’s play washers or something.” Rodrigo pushes back from the table.
Everyone else slowly murmurs their agreement and heads outside to our small backyard. We have a nice setup with a stone patio, some mismatched furniture, and a firepit.
Summer and I go out with them, but instead of playing washers, I pull her over next to the firepit. She sits on my lap, earning a side-eye from Silas.
“Are you two going to be okay this semester?” Summer asks.
“Yeah, we’ll be fine. I think he’s starting to like me.”
“Really?” She laughs.
“We’re cool,” I say more definitively. We like to give each other shit, and we’ll probably never be as close as I am with my friends from high school or the couple of teammates here at Valley U that I’ve become tight with, but I understand him, and I’d do anything to make it work for Summer.
“I like it here.” She glances around the yard.
“Thinking about transferring?”
She huffs another quiet laugh. I know she isn’t. FLU was her dream, and I think it’s been even better than she imagined.
“Do you like it?”
“Yeah, I really do. It doesn’t quite feel like home yet, but it’s good.”
“Speaking of home, I texted with Claire yesterday. We’re planning a get-together over the semester break.”
“I heard,” I say, then add, “Austin told me and Vaughn last night.” The three of us play Call of Duty every Thursday night.
Vaughn and Lacey ended up at Stanford together.
They both got full rides, him for soccer and her for academics.
Austin ended up at the University of Michigan and is loving the soccer team there and the proximity to Claire, who’s about an hour away at Michigan State.
I miss them and I’m excited to hang in a few months, but it’s cool to see everyone doing big things.
“You’re still planning to come home for break, right?” she asks.
“Yeah, I promised my parents.”
That makes a grin break out on her face. “I’m glad.”
“Yeah, me too. They’re coming out for parents’ weekend next month.”
“That’s great.”
“It’s still weird,” I admit. They call every Sunday and we FaceTime. It’s always a little awkward to start, but they’re making an effort, so I’m not complaining.
“Oh, I almost forgot.” I shift, curling one arm around her to hold her in place as I reach into my pocket to pull out the fortune catcher I made earlier.
When she sees it, a surprised puff of laugher escapes. “Seriously?”
“Pick a color, Lindsey.”
She hesitates but I can see the excitement on her face. “Purple.”
I spell it out, moving the paper around. She picks a number, then another. I peel the paper back, then turn it so she can read.
“‘Someone sexy will be cheering you on at your next game,’” she says. One side of her mouth pulls higher. “I assume you mean you?”
“Duh.”
She presses a kiss to my lips. “Thank you. I love picturing you cheering me on from here. Sometimes I swear I can hear you screaming and catcalling.”
“I love cheering on my girl, but this time you won’t have to picture it. I’m coming to Frost Lake.”
“What?” she asks, then, “how?”
“We have two days off practice, so I bought a ticket and I’m going to come up.”
Her mouth falls open and her eyes widen. “Really?”
“Yeah. I’ve been dying to see you in action. Frost Lake University’s star midfielder.”
“Well that might be stretching it, but oh my gosh, I’m so excited.”
“Me too.”
She kisses me again, and it isn’t long before I’ve forgotten everything and everyone else. We’re interrupted by someone tossing a ping-pong ball at us. My guess is Silas.
Summer takes the fortune catcher from me. “My turn. Let’s find out your fortune.”
Unfortunately for her, they all say the same thing. But it doesn’t matter. I don’t need a fortune catcher to tell me how lucky I am.