Page 51 of The Home Game

“Sure,” Matty said, reaching to flip on the faucet. “I guess we can allow that.”

Antoni grinned and as he stepped closer, Matty spotted flour on his cheek.

“Hey. You’ve got a little …” he said, gesturing to Antoni’s face.

“A little what?” Antoni scrunched up his nose.

“Oh, flour,” Matty said, reaching out to brush it away. The callous on his thumb made a quiet rasping sound as he brushed the pad of it across Antoni’s stubble.

“Yeah?” Antoni said, sounding a little breathless. “Do I?”

“Mmhmm,” Matty said. “But I took care of it.”

Antoni smiled softly. “You like that, don’t you? Taking care of people?”

And Matty nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

“I—”

Someone giggled.

“What’s so funny?” he asked as he looked at Charlie and River who were laughing about something together.

He also caught a glimpse of the guys in the living room suddenly turning away or ducking behind the sofa. When a few muffled laughs came from that crew, Matty rolled his eyes.

“What is so funny?” he asked, annoyed no one would let him in on the joke.

But no one would answer him so Matty grabbed a can of pineapple with a frown. Why were people being so weird?

Thankfully, they calmed down after that and it wasn’t long before everyone was happily assembling pizzas, squabbling over topping preferences and jostling to get to the head of the line.

Matty went out to the yard to do the actual cooking. Dustin had volunteered to help and while that was a little concerning because he couldn’t cook that well, it was nice to have a second set of hands.

Dustin and Matty took turns carrying uncooked pizzas out to the oven and cooked ones inside. On Matty’s third trip inside, he carried in another perfectly melty and browned pizza, then placed it on the dining room table he never ate at.

It was perfect for serving food buffet-style like this though.

“I’ve got one sausage, bell peppers, onion, tomato, and olive pizza here!” Matty called out, sliding it onto a platter. “The pineapple, ham, and mushroom will be up next.”

The guys immediately jostled to get to the food.

“Get away from me. I’ll fight you for the sausage,” Colton hissed at Jordan as they elbowed each other. “You’re not taking all of it this time!”

Nico cackled. “That’s what he said.”

“Nico!” August protested. “There are children around!”

“It’s not my fault if they get the joke,” he said with a wink. “But seriously, they were arguing about the sausage pizza last time.”

Matty shook his head fondly. “You’re all terrible.”

He looked over and winked at Alexis who’d been quietly giggling to herself. Clearly, she got the joke, but the younger ones were oblivious.

When Matty glanced at Antoni, he just shrugged, an amused look on his face.

“Actually, I’m great,” Nico said as he turned to face the room.

“Yeah, yeah,” Matty said with a snort. “We know you’re full of yourself, man.”

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