Page 16 of The Home Game

“Thanks,” he said hoarsely. “I appreciate it.”

Ten minutes later, a tow truck was on the way and Antoni wiped sweat off his forehead as he debated what to do next.

He should probably order a ride share but it would be horribly expensive to get one from here to his parents’ house. And then he’d need another to get from his parents’ house to the rental house and fuck, he definitely couldn’t afford that.

Maybe someone could pick them up. But who?

His brother, Andrea, and sister-in-law, Stephanie, were out of town visiting her parents.

Antoni could borrow his parents’ car but there was no time to run the kids around before his parents needed to leave for his mom’s doctor’s appointment. Antoni could stay at his parents’ house with the kids until they got back but fuck, he needed his personal laptop for all of the house-hunting stuff and he’d only brought the work one to school today.

Antoni scrolled through his contacts, wondering if any of his friends could do him a favor.

He sent out a few texts and heard nothing back.

Antoni kept going, ruling out people who had full-time jobs that wouldn’t allow them to leave in the middle of the day.

He hesitated when he scrolled past Matty’s name. Matty Carlson :)

Despite the stress he felt, Antoni chuckled at the cheerful little emoji Matty had added. It was what had made Antoni hesitate to delete the number in the first place.

It had made him smile and there was too little that made him smile these days.

Antoni chewed his lip as he considered texting Matty. He had said to call if there was an emergency and, well, this was kind of an emergency. Antoni didn’t want to encourage the guy or make him think he was going to take him up on his offer to move in for God’s sake but … but fuck, he didn’t have a lot of options at this point.

Antoni took a deep breath and typed out a message.

CHAPTER FOUR

Matty had just finished lunch and was slouched in his chair, hat pulled low over his eyes as he let the hot sun beat into his bones and tried not to nap right there on Dustin’s patio.

The guys who remained at the table were in good spirits, laughing and joking around, but Matty felt drowsy from the big meal and the sun and lack of sleep.

Lately, he’d woken up worrying about Antoni and the kids more times than he could count.

Matty’s phone vibrated on the table next to his plate and when he grabbed for it, nearly knocking over his water glass, Dom shot him a sidelong glance. He didn’t say anything though, just returned to telling some story about … Matty had no idea what it was about. He hadn’t been paying much attention.

Heart beating double-time, Matty pulled up the text, blinking at the screen, suddenly alert when the words from the unknown number registered.

I can’t believe I’m doing this but are you around? I need your help after all.

Matty tilted his head. Antoni? He typed fast, big fingers feeling even clumsier than usual.

It could be someone else, Matty supposed, but that was the first person to come to mind. The person he hoped it was from.

Yeah, it’s Antoni. Sorry. Forgot you don’t have my number.

Shit. Antoni had messaged him! He needed help!

Despite the worry about what Antoni’s emergency was, Matty’s chest warmed, glad he’d finally reached out.

Matty stood, his chair scraping on the stone and halting the conversation around the table, his teammates staring at him.

“Everything okay?” Dustin asked.

“Yeah. Gotta take this,” Matty said vaguely, waving his phone.

“Sure.”

---