Page 108 of The Home Game

Not that he’d ever doubted it but this felt special. Meaningful.

His mom’s gaze was warm as she squeezed his upper arm. “So I mean it. Take the weekend off. Enjoy your time with Matty. Whatever that entails.”

“Thanks,” he whispered.

Eliza smiled and turned away.

All that was left for Antoni to do was hug the kids goodbye, tell them he loved them, and promise that they could call any time they needed.

He got an eye roll from his mom, though it was fond, and she said, “You’re like your father. He practically had a heart attack the first weekend we left you with your grandparents.”

And Antoni smiled, remembering Nonna Bianchi’s fresh pasta, the smell of sauce simmering on the stove, and the window nook with soft, plush curtains where he’d curled up and read.

He’d loved staying at her house and he hoped his kids would have the same kind of fond memories of his parents when they were grown. Of course, there was no reason to think they wouldn’t. The kids had spent plenty of time there long before Antoni had gained custody, babysitting for Bethany and Corey when they needed it.

“I wasn’t that bad,” Enzo grumbled.

Eli laughed and Antoni allowed himself to relax and hug the kids goodbye one more time before he left them with his parents after a final wave.

“It’s hard to leave them, huh?” Matty said as they walked toward the parking garage.

“Yeah,” Antoni agreed. “It’s the first time I’ve been apart from them overnight since …”

“Since they came to live with you?” Matty supplied when he couldn’t finish.

“Yeah,” Antoni said quietly. “Since then.”

Matty reached out to briefly squeeze his hand.

“I’m going to hate going on road trips,” Matty said with a sigh as they climbed the stairs to the floor where they were parked. “I’ll probably be begging you to Skype me.”

“You’ll have to,” Antoni teased. “I bet Reese won’t go to sleep without his bedtime story from you.”

In the end, that was why Antoni had decided to agree to this wedding and everything that might come with it. The kids were already attached. And how could they not be?

Matty was the most incredible man Antoni had ever met.

Matty held the door for Antoni as he got into the SUV and Antoni wet his lips, trying to figure out how to say what he wanted to say to Matty. How to discuss this arrangement of theirs and what it meant for them in the bedroom.

But he couldn’t find the words and Matty was quiet too. So Antoni watched the lights of downtown Toronto flash by and grow farther apart as they headed north toward home.

Antoni still hadn’t worked up the courage to say anything by the time Matty parked in the garage.

“Man, it’s going to feel weird to have the house to ourselves all weekend,” Matty said with a smile as he let them into the mudroom a few minutes later.

“Yeah, it is,” Antoni said hoarsely, taking off his shoes and tucking them in his cubby.

As they walked into the kitchen, it hit Antoni then that they were alone.

Alone alone.

No kids sleeping down the hall. No parents dropping in. No one to disturb them.

Antoni swallowed hard, looking at Matty. Two full days to do whatever they wanted.

Antoni cleared his throat. “So, uh, do you think maybe we should—”

“I think I should move my stuff into the bedroom—”

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