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Somehow I don’t think it would matter. Asher is a smart kid and he can handle himself. He’ll fit in anywhere he lands, with or without me.
The sound of dirt, rocks, and branches crunching beneath our feet as we walk fills the silence between us for a beat, and the anticipation of his answer is killing me.
“I’m in. Work out a deal with my agent, but I think it would be a great fit.”
Heavy relief filters through me. “So do I, man.” I clap him on the shoulder as excitement filters through me.
“You think Mom and Dad will move to Vegas?” he asks, wrinkling his nose as he turns toward me.
I laugh. “Mom has always said if she could get two boys in the same city, they’d move there, or at least rent a place for the season. So, yeah, I think they probably would.” The thought of my parents in Vegas where the Bailey family has made not just their home but a name for themselves crosses my mind. I picture my father opening up a place across the street from the Gridiron to try to steal Bailey’s business.
I shake off the thought. It’s silly, and he wouldn’t do that. Would he?
By the time we get home from our hike, almost everyone is awake and my dad is flipping pancakes while my mom scrambles eggs. I don’t know what she does to the eggs, but they’re light and fluffy and full of flavor.
Grayson is still asleep, and Spencer is helping my parents by pouring glasses of orange juice while they work. We sit down to a family meal after Mom heads upstairs to get Grayson, and once again, we throw jabs and laugh as a family.
But still, I feel a strange sense of a divide in here.
Asher doesn’t bring up the conversation we had outside.
Grayson doesn’t bring up the fact that he’s contemplating retirement.
I don’t bring up the fact that I crossed paths with Jolene Bailey.
I wonder what secrets Spencer is harboring. I wonder what our parents are keeping from us.
I wonder when I got so cynical.
After breakfast, the four kids clean up the kitchen while the parents sit back and drink coffee, and I can’t help but wonder what else there is to this family dynamic. Shouldn’t one of us have a wife and some kids by this point?
We get out the soccer ball and run around the backyard for a bit, which ends in a wrestling match between Grayson and I where I come to terms with the fact that I’m not in my teens anymore.
I walk away with a bruised arm and an aching hip that a hot shower doesn’t do much to help, and then we’re off to the anniversary party.
It’s an hour drive back in the direction of the city. My mom and dad take Asher and Grayson in their car, and I volunteer to drive Spencer since he’s the one brother I haven’t really caught up with yet. He’s quiet on the drive, but he’s always been on the introspective side.
“How’s your off-season treating you?” I ask.
He glances sideways at me then returns his gaze out the window. “If I tell you something, you promise to keep it between us?”
“Of course.” I say it like it’s not something he even has to ask—because he doesn’t. His news isn’t mine to share, regardless of what it is.
“I’ve been seeing someone. I’m thinking about proposing.”
So all those thoughts about what it would be like to change the family dynamic by introducing someone else into the framework might actually come to fruition here.
“Congratulations, Spence. Who is it?”
“Her name is Amelia. I met her through some mutual friends at a party.” He’s being vague, which makes me think there’s more to the story than he’s letting on. Or maybe it’s just Spencer. Sometimes it’s hard to tell with him.
“That’s great, man. I’m happy for you. Tell me about her.”
“She’s a fourth-grade teacher just outside Minneapolis. Cousins with a teammate.” He shrugs and leaves it at that.
“What makes her the one you want to propose to?”
“I don’t know. And that’s the reason why I think I should do it.”
