Page 24 of The Home Game

“I thought you said we could go today,” Eli said, a bit of a whine to their voice.

“Oh, well, that was before the van broke down,” Antoni explained, twisting in his seat. “Matty was nice enough to offer us a ride but—”

“I could go to the park,” Matty said under his breath. “If you want.”

“That’s really nice of you but not today. I have too much work to do,” Antoni said equally quietly.

Matty opened his mouth to say that he could take them but Antoni shook his head, cutting off his words.

“We’ll go another day,” Antoni said loud enough for the kids to hear, his tone firm.

River let out an unhappy whine and Matty sympathized. But Antoni was the man in charge so Matty clamped his mouth shut and tried to ignore the kids’ disappointed faces.

Well, not Alexis. She had headphones in and a scowl on her face, ignoring both of them.

Sure, most kids that age had an attitude but, God, Matty had really put his foot in it earlier, hadn’t he? She was already going through so much and he’d made it worse. How could he be so fucking dumb?

“Right here,” Antoni instructed and Matty obediently turned right.

After a few more blocks, Antoni pointed to a modest brick house and Matty pulled into the driveway.

“Thank you,” Antoni said with a sigh as he unbuckled his seatbelt. “I really was in a jam today and I appreciate you coming to the rescue.”

“I was happy to,” Matty said honestly as he did the same. “You can call or text, any time. Unless I’m at practice or a game or whatever, I’ll show up. And you know, the offer’s still there—”

“No.” Antoni set his jaw. “Thank you. And I owe you one for today but I am not—” He glanced into the back seat where the middle two kids were watching them with curious eyes. “I am not going to take you up on your generous offer.”

“But—”

Antoni turned to face the kids. “Hey, I’d like you all to wait in here while I talk to Matty for a sec.” He got out of the SUV and shut the door.

Matty sighed and got out too, closing the door and going around the front of the vehicle to talk to Antoni, the muggy air pressing down on him.

“Okay.” Matty frowned at Antoni. “I can see you’re not gonna budge on this so I won’t push. But I’m going to do something else. I’m going to leave you this SUV.” He held out the keys.

“Are you f—uh—reaking kidding me?” Antoni said with a quick glance toward the vehicle where two faces were pressed to the window, watching intently. “No!”

“Do you have a backup vehicle to use until your van is fixed?” Matty asked.

“Obviously not.” Antoni huffed.

“Do you have someone else who can loan you one?”

He grimaced. “Uh, not really. My parents need both of theirs and—”

“Okay, well, then don’t be stubborn. You need a vehicle. I have my Jeep so it’s not like I’ll miss this SUV while you use it. What’s it going to hurt?”

“Me!” Antoni said. “I can’t afford to fix it if I crash it.”

Matty grinned. “So don’t crash it.”

Antoni rolled his eyes. “Yes, but what if someone else hits me?”

“Well, try to avoid that too,” Matty said. “But my insurance will cover you. I’ll call right away and make sure of it.”

“I …”

“Look,” Matty said, crossing his arms. “I think it’s great that you’re trying so hard for these kids. That’s awesome. But they’ve probably got a million places to be and so do you. You’re house hunting. School is about to start. Do you know when your buddy will be able to fix the van?”

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