Page 69 of Game On

“Only if that’s what you really want to do. I have it on good authority I can be a butthead sometimes.”

Shane lowered him back down to the sand as Beckett danced between them.

“We’ve got to call Carly,” Troy said. “She can come home now. We can all live together. Like at the cabin.”

“Whoa,” Shane said. “I think for right now, we should just keep it us guys and maybe Consuelo, okay?”

He should have known it wouldn’t last. His brother was turning back into a big butthead again.

“But I saw you. You always looked at her funny when she wasn’t looking. And you kissed. I know you feel something for her,” Troy argued.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Shane looked out into the ocean.

“Yeah, but something isn’t always enough. Not for a woman like Carly. She deserves . . . everything.”

“But she’ll go to Italy.” Troy’s lip quivered.

Wrapping an arm around Troy’s shoulders, Shane guided him back toward the beach house. “She’ll come back. Her family is here. And you’re here.”

They walked in silence for a while, Beckett darting in and out of the water in front of them.

“What made you change your mind?” Troy finally asked.

“I guess it was the things you said about your dad,” Shane replied.

“He was your dad, too!” Troy pulled out from under Shane’s arm, shoving his glasses against his nose to hide the tears that were forming again.

“Yeah, he was. But not in the same way he was a dad to you. I don’t blame him for that anymore, though. He couldn’t help some of the things that happened in his life. He was young and he made some mistakes.”

“He loved you,” Troy sobbed.

“I’m gonna have to take your word for it kid,” Shane said, putting a hand on Troy’s shoulder and squeezing. “It’s too late now to go back and change things. I never got the chance to make it work with Bruce, but that doesn’t mean you and I can’t be a family.”

Troy wiped his nose on the hem of his T-shirt.

“I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to tell you not to do that, but I’m going to ease into this big brother parenting thing slowly.”

With a laugh, Troy fell into step beside Shane, Beckett jogging ahead.

“I’m not all lubed up with sunscreen and I’m starting to fry,” Shane said. “Walk a little faster, will you?”

TWENTY-TWO

“I’m glad you chickened out about Italy,” Asia said, stirring sugar into her iced tea.

“I didn’t chicken out,” Carly answered a little too defensively as she pushed a pickle around her plate.

She and Asia were sitting in a small sandwich shop on the Upper West Side of New York City. The Blaze were in town for their final preseason game against the Giants that night. Asia had arrived before the team to ward off any last-minute media glitches and Carly was glad to have an hour or two to catch up with her friend before the frenzy of the game later.

“It’s just that Troy wasn’t going to Switzerland, so I really didn’t need an excuse to go to Italy any longer.” Thank goodness! The relief she felt at the thought of not having to brave the European paparazzi was palpable. She was glad things had worked out the way they did.

Carly texted or skyped Troy daily. The pain of losing both parents still lingered, but he was excited about his new life with his brother. It wasn’t hard to be happy for him—and Shane, who’d finally been able to commit to another person. She would be petty to resent that Shane’s commitment wasn’t to her. But her heart still ached. Carly missed the Devlin brothers. Both of them.

“Lisa tells me you’re working with her foundation now,” Asia said. “You know, you can do that from Baltimore. You don’t have to stay here in New York.”

Carly smiled at her friend. No doubt her family and Troy had put Asia up to this. Working with Lisa’s foundation had been a natural transition after spending a few weeks with Troy. Months ago, the idea of setting up places where kids could go to talk, play, or just hang out with other kids who’d lost a loved one seemed like just one of Lisa’s pipe dreams—a reaction to her own brush with cancer. But reliving her own experiences with childhood grief through the eyes of Troy awakened something in Carly. Finally, her life had a cause she could rally behind.

Working with her sister was an added bonus. She’d come to New York and convinced Julianne—who’d also lost her mother at a young age—to open up her client list. Together, they’d raised nearly two million dollars in four short weeks.

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