Page 45 of The Home Game

It had served its purpose but Antoni was more than ready to move on to bigger and better things.

CHAPTER NINE

The move has gone pretty well so far, Matty decided as he stacked a few boxes in Antoni’s room with a happy smile.

Antoni had labeled everything really well and with so many of Matty’s teammates helping out, loading had gone quickly. Hopefully unloading would go just as fast.

But when he stepped into the hall to look for more boxes, he came face-to-face with Antoni, who looked a little wild around the eyes.

“Matty!” Antoni hissed. He grabbed the front of Matty’s T-shirt and tugged him toward the bedroom. “What the fuck?”

“What?” Matty asked, baffled, as he allowed himself to be pulled inside. “What did I do?”

“You—what about the guest house?” Antoni flung his hands out. “What the fuck?”

Matty frowned, confused. “What about it? I moved all my stuff into there.”

“Oh my God. You—I … But I thought that we were staying in there. Me and the kids.”

Matty squinted. “But there’s only two bedrooms there and there’s five of you. That’s not enough space.”

Antoni sputtered. “We’d make do! I’ve been sleeping on the couch for months and the kids have been doubling up. It would’ve been fine. For what I’m saving in rent, we’d make it work.”

“You shouldn’t be sleeping on the couch!” Matty protested, horrified by the idea. “That is so bad for your neck and back. No, you are sleeping in here.”

Antoni looked around the space like he was bewildered. “But this is … this is huge.”

“I know, right?” Matty smiled happily. “You’re going to be so comfortable. And look, there’s a little sitting area where you can do your lesson planning stuff if you want peace and quiet.”

“I don’t even know what peace and quiet is anymore,” Antoni mumbled. He turned to look at Matty. “And you … the kids’ rooms! They’re perfect! You had to have done all that design stuff recently. They weren’t like that when I toured the place.”

“Well, I didn’t do it,” Matty said with a shrug. “It was mostly Charlie. It’s his job, you know. He medaled at the Olympics in figure skating but he’s an amazing interior designer too. If they gave out gold medals for design, he’d totally win them.”

“Oh my God. How much money did you spend on this?” Antoni asked, covering his face with his hands.

“None of your business,” Matty said firmly. “Besides, it’s a gift from the whole team.”

Which was true.

“But …”

“No buts. I want the kids to feel safe and welcome here and the guys got really excited when they found out what Charlie and I were planning. They all chipped in.”

“Oh my God.” Antoni looked up, then closed his eyes like he couldn’t even stand to look at him. “Matty …”

“Did I do something wrong?” Matty asked, worried he’d really fucked up. He’d thought he was doing something nice. And maybe it was a little over the top but …

“No.” But when Antoni opened his eyes, he still didn’t look happy. “Maybe? I don’t know. I’m just overwhelmed. It’s so much more than I expected. We were totally happy with the idea of staying in the guest house. I didn’t want you to give up your whole house and redecorate for us and—”

“But this makes me happy,” Matty pointed out. “I didn’t mean to upset you or make you uncomfortable, I just wanted the kids to know that this is their home now. They’ve been through so much. You all have! And moving to a new place is overwhelming and scary. I wanted you all to feel welcome.”

“Fuck!” Antoni said forcefully but he threw his arms around Matty hard enough that if Matty had been any smaller, he might have fallen over. “God, you are the nicest human who ever lived, I swear.”

Relieved, Matty hugged him back. “Well, I don’t know about that.”

“You are though.” Antoni hadn’t let go so Matty just rubbed his back, liking the way Antoni’s head fit right against his shoulder, his hair brushing Matty’s neck and chin. “I don’t know what we did to deserve all this but …”

“It’s not about deserving,” Matty said, confused by that idea. “It’s about … it’s about taking care of people when you can, I think. If the kids are happy and I’m happy then you should be happy too.”

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