Total pages in book: 191
Estimated words: 182070 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182070 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
The man sighed and took in my sister when she turned around. Her whole face was covered with blue paint—instead of red like mine—and she had a killer white mustache that curled at the ends halfway across her cheeks. I’d called it an old prospector mustache. Her husband, Richard, on the other hand, had a white face with a red mustache. We were triplets. It was only Boogie, who was sitting in our row, who didn’t have anything on his face. He was wearing a TRAVIS jersey though, tucked into his perfectly pressed jeans. Connie and I had giggled at him, and he’d given us the middle finger.
Trevor shook his head and might have even rolled his eyes, but it just made me grin. I could tell by then that it wasn’t an ugly eye-rolling. It was his “I guess I can put up with you” eye roll.
Basically, he really, really liked it.
Connie whacked me in the arm then, and I turned to glance toward Boogie, who I hadn’t really gotten a chance to talk to since the night before when we’d last seen each other. We’d only managed a hug when I’d met up with him by the concession stands because I’d gotten too busy talking to Paw-Paw. He was staring forward, and I nudged him with my elbow. “Boog?”
Was he thinking about Zac and me?
My cousin nudged me right back with his elbow. “I’m good,” he answered, still facing forward, like he knew exactly what I was wondering.
“Are you sure?” I whispered so that my sister, hopefully, couldn’t hear. I wasn’t sure what I would do if he said he wasn’t fine, but… I could only hope that he hadn’t been lying last night.
I’d gone over the pieces of the conversation that he and Zac had had, at least the parts that managed to sink in, and it had kept me up for a few hours once we’d gotten back to Connie’s. Boogie had seemed fine after I’d gone back into the bowling alley once Zac left, but I hadn’t wanted to push his buttons more than we potentially might have already. My mouth had tingled for a while after he’d kissed me goodbye. Zac and I had sat in his car for at least half an hour while he told me about CJ—he had made a halfway decent cake while I’d been away—and some other gossip about a couple other players I’d met the night of the Halloween party. He admitted that Trevor was the one who bought Gunner out of the gym after I brought up Deepa’s news. Apparently the gym was a good investment.
He even said the Enzo guy—the man who had been at the Halloween party with Jessica—had reached out to him and apologized for her actions. They were married, but apparently not for much longer. There had to be more to that story, but Zac hadn’t asked. I didn’t blame him.
If anything, sitting in his car and talking to him had just cemented the fact that not only was he my best friend, but that I loved him with my entire heart.
And if he loved me too—which it absolutely seemed like he did—then I needed to hold on to that with both hands and never let it go. Maybe it was all new and fresh and wonderful, and maybe I should have been in total shock—I was only half in it—but the truth was, I saw it. I could feel it. So what was I going to do? Not accept it?
Hell nah.
But, more than anything, I loved Boogie, and Boogie loved me. I didn’t want to pick, and I hoped he would never ask it of me, especially not when he loved the same person I did.
My cousin looked at me over his shoulder, giving me a smile that was a little reluctant but only a tiny bit. “I mentally prepared for the possibility of this when you were seventeen,” he admitted. “Then you two stopped talking, and I forgot, and I’ve been so busy, I forgot about it. I didn’t pay attention.”
I blinked. “You did?”
“Yes.” He nudged me again. “He’s always loved you and worried about you, B. Same as you.” He shrugged and rolled his eyes before sliding me another look and another nudge. “I wasn’t sure it would happen, you know, but even Laurie brought it up. Mamá Lupe said something right before she passed away too. I don’t remember what you two were doing, you were painting your room or something, and he was in there, and we could hear you laughing, I think, and she told me not to be jealous—I wasn’t jealous, B. I was never jealous of the both of you. Never. And she said some things are just meant to be or something like that.
“I thought about it back then. I’d watch you two, and yeah, you got along so well. I thought, if something happened, it would be a long time from then, and that maybe nothing would ever happen anyway. He didn’t look at you like that back then, but I knew how you felt. And I guess I’ve thought about it a little since yesterday when you told me how you felt and... I guess Mamá Lupe was right. Some things are meant to be. What were the chances that he happened to be in Houston? He had almost gone to Dallas instead to train. That had been the plan up until the day before he left, and then he changed his mind.”