Page 82 of Hometown Halftime

“You’re disturbingly domestic,” I tell him before taking another bite of my sandwich.

Riley glances over from the opposite end of the couch, one arm stretched lazily along the cushions beside me. He finished his food in record time and now he’s fresh from the shower, his hair is still damp, glasses on, with a laundry basket sitting on the floor by his feet.

“Don’t judge me.”

I nudge his thigh with my foot. “I’m not judging you. Simply saying you’re a breakfast making master, you’re good at assembling furniture, and now you’re folding laundry during commercial breaks.”

“What can I say? I’m a layered man, Kitten.” He fights a grin as he says it.

“You’re basically ready to be somebody’s husband.”

The words leave my mouth casually, but the second they do, heat creeps up my neck. Because Riley glances at me then. Something shifts quietly in the room before he looks back toward the television again.

“I had to learn young,” he says after a moment, voice quieter now.

The teasing between us fades.

I set my takeout container on the coffee table. “What do you mean?”

Riley leans farther back against the couch cushions, eyes still fixed on the television screen.

“My dad wasn’t around much even before he officially left,” he says. “He was always working or traveling, or doing God knows what.” His jaw ticks. “Mom handled basically everything and with Poppy and me being the oldest, we helped a lot in high school and then later during breaks or vacations in college.”

Outside, evening settles deeper across Cedar Falls, porch lights glowing through the windows while the occasional car moves down the street beyond the duplexes. The lamp beside the couch casts warm amber light across Riley’s face, softening the hard line of his jaw while he talks.

“I knew things weren’t great between them,” he continues. “But I guess I kept thinking eventually he’d figure his shit out.” He exhales quietly. “Then one day, he just didn’t come home.”

Pain tightens through my chest.

“Riley, I’m so sorry.”

He shakes his head before I can say anything else. “At the time it felt more embarrassing than anything. Everybody in town knew, and I wasn’t here to do anything about it. People kept asking my mom questions, and she had to power through it.”

I know exactly how Cedar Falls can be. People here love hard, but there’s no such thing as private heartbreak in a small town.

“That’s why you came back,” I say softly.

His eyes meet mine.

“Yeah.” He rubs a hand across the back of his neck. “My little sister’s grades started slipping. My brother was angry all the time. Mom was working constantly, trying to stay ahead of the bills.” He shrugs once. “I couldn’t stay at school knowing all of that was happening here.”

Emotion swells unexpectedly inside me because he speaks so casually about uprooting his future to compensate for his father’s actions. Like helping the people he loves was never even a question for him.

“That’s a lot for someone your age,” I say gently.

“It was the right thing to do.” He shrugs.

“I’m serious, though,” I continue, softer now. “Most people wouldn’t have done what you did.”

Something uncertain flickers briefly across his expression.

“I didn’t really feel like I had a choice.”

“You did.” I tuck one leg beneath me. “You could’ve stayed at school and pretended things weren’t falling apart here. A lot of people would’ve taken the easy way out.”

Riley studies me quietly for a second before the corner of his mouth lifts again.

“You think highly of me, Coach.”