Page 34 of The Home Game

He didn’t have thousands of dollars for an engine lying around. He still needed to do some back-to-school shopping and if they could find a house, they’d undoubtedly need some new stuff for that. Antoni was happy to shop secondhand but it wasn’t always easy to find everything they’d need.

“Damn it,” he swore, pounding his fist against the steering wheel. “Fuck! What am I going to do?”

Desperately hoping for a miracle, he checked his email to find a couple of house listings that were way over his budget and a reminder from his landlord that the move-out date was coming up.

His chest knotted with anxiety.

He checked his bank balance and credit card balances and felt like he’d throw up.

He was pretty much maxed out on one card and the other was creeping so high. He didn’t have enough in his checking account to cover either. He needed everything in savings for the down payment on the house and even then, it wasn’t going to be enough, not with the repairs to the van, lawyer fees, and …

He’d tapped out every resource he had and all of the social programs he qualified for.

His parents had been amazingly generous and so had his brother. Antoni hadn’t forgotten the groceries and hand-me-down clothes Andrea and Stephanie “just happened” to have extra of.

Antoni knew damn well the help they’d given him was stretching their budget and he couldn’t ask his parents for anything more.

He was so damn lucky to have gotten all that help but he was still drowning.

Eyes wet, chest aching, Antoni admitted defeat. He was doing everything he could but it wasn’t enough. Not even close to it.

There was only one way through it that he could see and he’d have to swallow his pride and accept help from someone who wasn’t family.

Still, Antoni’s fingers trembled as he typed out a message to Matty. Did you really mean it? Letting us move in, I mean.

A reply came almost immediately.

Of course! I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t.

No one was really that generous, were they? But Antoni had no other options. He was going to have to trust that Matty was everything he appeared to be.

Antoni chewed his lip. Can we talk more about the details? Would you be up for meeting for coffee or something this afternoon? My parents are watching the kids so I’m free for a few hours.

Yeah. Whatever you need.

CHAPTER SEVEN

“So, what happened?” Matty asked when they were seated at a small table with coffees and sandwiches he’d bought before Antoni could argue about it.

Like Matty had pulled a cork loose, Antoni’s words came spilling out about the mess at dinner last night and the bad news about the van’s engine this morning. Matty’s heart ached because nobody should have to deal with all that on their own.

And obviously his family was helping a ton but clearly, he needed some luck on his side too.

Well fine, Matty would be his good luck.

“So, when do you want to move in?” Matty asked.

He pushed a turkey pesto sandwich closer to Antoni, who glared at it but when his stomach rumbled, loud enough for Matty to hear across the table, reached for it and took a bite.

“Um, well I wanna talk before we decide on that,” Antoni said and Matty tried not to sigh because why was Antoni making it more difficult than it needed to be?

But he just nodded, carefully chewing his own chicken and roasted red pepper wrap.

“So, you’re selling the house, right?” Antoni asked with a little frown.

“Well …” Matty shrugged. “That’s the thing. I don’t have to.”

Antoni gave him a confused look. “Don’t you have somewhere else you’re moving?”

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