The Holiday Play (Nolan U Football #6)

Chapter 1

TYRELL

“What do you mean, there’s nothing else?” I frown at the poor Singaporean woman behind the counter. I must be at least the tenth person to have said this to her in the last half hour.

She remains calm, giving me a sympathetic smile and repeating, “I’m sorry, sir.

But the flight has been canceled.” Her accent is thick, but her English is very good, so I’m able to understand every unwanted word coming out of her mouth.

“There’s nothing I can do to change that.

Like I said, I can offer you a voucher for one of the guest rooms so you and your family can get some sleep while you wait for the next flight. It’s due to depart in seven hours.”

“Seven hours,” I mutter, shaking my head. “I’m due somewhere in seven hours.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” she says, yet again, placing the voucher on the counter and already looking past me at the long line of unhappy travelers.

There’s no point sticking around and demanding to know why the flight was canceled and why we have to wait so freaking long for the next one.

Shit.

Scrubbing a hand down my face, I grab the voucher with a soft growl and spin away from the counter, stalking back to the lounge where I left Dani and a crying Tucker.

Traveling with a six-month-old is hard work.

But we were after some adventure, so as soon as Tuck turned three months old, we left the States once more to visit Thailand.

We’d had the best time there a few years earlier, and November to January is a great time to travel because it’s cool and dry and… we’ve had the best experience.

But nothing was going to stop us from getting back for the Football Frat annual Christmas weekend in February. It’s a tradition we’ve had going for ten years now. We’ve only missed two, and this year, everyone can make it.

I growl again.

Well, everyone was supposed to make it. I knew visiting Singapore two weeks before flying home was a risky move, but we thought it’d be fun to hit up a bustling city after months of beaches and national parks.

Tucker loved the monkeys in Thailand, and seeing him giggle and kick his little legs while they jumped around in front of us? Pure gold.

But sitting around in airports, traveling on planes, and living out of suitcases with a baby?

Yeah, that part kind of sucks.

And it makes me seriously doubt if we can maintain this nomadic lifestyle.

Dani and I have spent the last decade jumping from one country to the next.

After our first twelve-month overseas adventure, we settled in the States for a while.

I worked my ass off and managed to score myself a job as a structural design engineer.

I work for an amazing company, and the best part about it—I can do it remotely.

I have to attend one conference a year, and that’s it.

The rest is all online. So, it’s given us the chance to see the world, just the way we wanted to.

Sure, it costs every penny of what we earn to do it, and yes, depending on what country we’re in, the time zone thing can seriously suck. But damn, it’s been a good life.

Dani also managed to pick up some freelancing work—editing and proofreading for a small-press publishing company. She loves it, and although it doesn’t pay that well, it gives her something to do when I’m stuck at my laptop and she doesn’t feel like touring solo.

Yeah, we’ve had a pretty cool life since I graduated from Nolan U.

When we got pregnant with Tucker, we were determined to not give up our awesome lifestyle just because a kid was coming along.

Now… I’m not so sure.

Weaving my way around a clump of tired travelers, a mother and son both bawling and wailing to their frazzled husband and father, I scrub my face again and let out an irritated huff.

Fuck.

I was so looking forward to seeing my football family.

I can’t believe we’re going to miss it, or at least be so fucking late that we’ll only catch the tail end of it.

My chest constricts into a hard knot that starts to burn… until I round the corner into the waiting area and spot Dani and my baby boy.

He’s tucked up in her arms, his Afro curls poking out from the covering she’s draped over him. He’s happily feeding, and I can picture his little fingers curling into her shirt as he suckles her. I’ve watched it a thousand times already, and I could watch it a thousand more.

It’s beautiful.

Dani has this quiet, contented smile on her face, gently brushing her fingers over the top of his head and looking completely enamored with our son.

Easily done. He’s the cutest kid on the planet.

Dani glances up, her smile changing to something unique to me, and my chest warms at the sight of her soft brown gaze, then gets all tight again when I think about what I have to tell her.

I slump into the seat next to her and she already knows, her lips turning into a pout.

“There are no more flights?”

“Not one.” I sigh, then hold up the piece of paper in my hand. “She’s given us a voucher for a room so we can get some sleep and shower.”

“Nice.” Dani smiles, taking the voucher to scan it. “At least we’re stuck in Singapore Airport, right? Of all the places to have to spend a few hours—”

“Seven. Sever hours,” I grumble.

She laughs. “It’s a good place to be stuck is all I’m saying.”

“Yeah.” I scratch between my eyebrows, stretching out my legs and glaring at the ground.

“I’m sorry we’re going to be late.” Her hand skims down my arm before she curls her fingers around mine. “We’ll get there, though.” She turns my wrist so she can read the time on my watch. “We’re fifteen hours ahead here, so we’ve still got time.”

“We’re going to be late, baby. Really late. We’ll definitely miss Friday night and probably won’t end up getting there until late on Saturday.” My face bunches. “That’s half the weekend gone. We should have left a few days ago.”

“If this flight hadn’t been canceled, our timing would have been perfect. We could have landed, only had a one-hour layover, and then been on our connecting flight to Denver. It would have had us showing up right on time.”

I shake my head, knowing she’s right but too irritated with this whole situation to agree with her. We’re going to be late, which I hate. And not only that, we’ll be spending Valentine’s Day on airplanes and running through airports. How fucking romantic!

We seriously did not think this through. After this many years of traveling the globe, you’d think we’d know better.

But we were trying to stretch out our time here, knowing that once we flew home, we’d probably be back in the States for a while, visiting our families and friends until after my conference, which isn’t until May.

But it’s different now.

Turning to gaze at my baby boy, I can’t help wondering if we should be putting travel on hold for more than a few months. Maybe it’d be nice to settle down, find a home, have more kids. We could build a life for ourselves in one place.

Maybe I’m ready to work in the same time zone as my company and not be getting up at three in the morning for online meetings or client phone calls.

Maybe I’m ready to put myself in a position where I could get promoted.

The idea of having something stable and routine… it’s definitely starting to appeal to me more and more.

And it’s all because of the little guy in his mama’s arms.

He pulls away from her, and she moves the cover to watch him rub his nose against the side of her breast, then start to fuss and cry.

“It’s okay, baby,” Dani croons, pulling her bra back into place before shifting him into a burping position.

She lightly pats his back while he squirms and cries against her shoulder.

“Do you want me to take him?” I offer.

“No, it’s okay. I’ve got him.” She keeps rubbing his back while he squawks in her ear, his little legs jerking.

Poor kid.

He’s overtired and restless.

Travel can be hard on anyone. Totally worth it, but still hard. And it’s not like he has any say in the matter.

Sure, he’s loved the sandy beaches and wildlife in Thailand, but he’s also too young to really comprehend it all.

We were being way too ambitious with this trip, thinking we could maintain our lifestyle with a small baby.

It’s been hard work, sleepless nights, hours of crying and fussing, broken up with moments of pure magic.

But maybe it’s time for something calm and peaceful.

Routine.

Stability.

I give Dani a quick side-eye, wondering how she’d feel about that.

I can’t imagine it going down well. She lives for the adventure. The hours she spent talking about how nothing was going to change as she rubbed her ever-growing belly and told me that we could totally travel with a kid. What an awesome life he’d have, growing up and seeing the world.

But I’m not so sure anymore.

“It’s okay, baby.” Dani stands to rock Tuck while I get up and start gathering the bags.

“Come on, let’s go check into a room.” I glance around me, noticing people’s various expressions, from empathy to wincing to grumpy scowls. Yeah, people always have mixed reactions to a crying baby.

We really need to get him into an enclosed space and hopefully rock him into a deep sleep.

Exhaustion tugs at me as I tip my head and guide Dani in the right direction.

Shit, this is gonna be a long night if we can’t get Tucker to sleep.

It’s gonna be a long night no matter what.

Travel can be the best of times and the worst of times.

For now, we’re stuck in the latter… and all I want to do is get home to my Football Frat family.