Page 57 of The Home Game

With a smile, Antoni closed their door behind him, then knocked on Alexis’. “Yeah?” she called out.

“Can I come in for a sec?”

“Sure.”

“You getting ready for bed?” he asked, poking his head through the door.

She looked up guiltily. “Uhh, not yet. Getting photos hung.”

There were pictures of Corey, Bethany, and the kids spread out all over the desk and a few already displayed on the board above.

“Well, thirty minutes max for that,” he said. “I know it’s important but you can do some more tomorrow too, okay?”

She sighed. “Yeah, okay.”

“Then get ready for bed. Lights out in an hour.”

She made a face. That was the annoyed, ‘I don’t wanna but I know I’m not going to win this argument’ face. He was pretty good at reading them now.

“I know but school is starting Monday,” he reminded her. “I want you on a semi-normal sleep schedule for that.”

“Okay, okay.” She made another annoyed face but nodded. “G’night.”

He took that as a hint and wished her a good night before he closed the door behind him.

He should probably go to bed too but he wasn’t really sleepy anymore.

Restless, he wandered the house, poking his head into random rooms in the hope that Matty was around somewhere. Nope, he must be in the guest house.

It felt too intrusive to cross the yard and knock on his door or text him to see if he wanted to hang out.

Curious to see more of the finished basement, Antoni jogged down the carpeted stairs and blinked at the sight of Matty hanging out in the home theater area, drinking a beer and watching TV.

In addition to the skating pad, there was a fully fitted home gym and a roomy bathroom with a steam shower that he’d been in awe of when he’d toured the house with his Aunt Sharon.

There was also a bar near the home theater space and Antoni skirted around it, intending to say hi to Matty. Matty must not have heard him come down though because he jerked in surprise.

“Shit, didn’t realize you were there.” Matty pressed a hand to his chest.

“Sorry.”

“No, you’re good.” Matty patted the roomy couch. “Want to watch TV with me? There’s beer in the fridge under the bar you can help yourself too as well.”

“Cool, you don’t mind?” Antoni set the baby monitor on an end table.

Matty shook his head. “Nope. Honestly, I’d love the company.”

Antoni poked around in the refrigerator, picked a beer he liked—nice microbrew stuff that he hadn’t been able to afford in months—and took a seat on the other end of the couch from Matty. “Thanks for the invite. I, uh, wasn’t sure if you wanted space from us or …”

“Nah, I thought about coming over for dinner but I didn’t want to intrude.”

Antoni gave him a helpless little smile.

So they’d both wanted to hang out but had been trying to be polite and not be annoying. God, this awkward tiptoeing around each other was going to get old fast.

“You can come over whenever you want,” Antoni said earnestly. “If you want the space, of course I don’t want you to feel obligated but I get the feeling that wanting space isn’t really your thing.”

Matty shot him a lopsided smile. “Nope. I like being around people.”

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