Page 49 of Well Played

“I wanted to protect you.”

“I wanted to protect you and Charlotte.”

“There’s something wrong with that,” he says, and I pull back, confused. “We are a family of three. I’m not going to choose between you and Charlotte any more than I’m going tochoose between our children and Charlotte. When I fight for my family, I’m fighting for our family.”

“I love you,” I say, because I’m sick of waiting for the perfect time to say it. “Just in case you didn’t already know.”

“I’m glad because I love you, too. Now how about we make love in every room of your house, then mine, and then we decide where we want to live.”

“Are you asking me to live with you before we’ve even officially dated?”

“I’m asking you to spend the rest of your life with me before we’ve officially dated. Are you up for the challenge of dating the head coach for the Southern Mavericks?”

“Are you ever going to tell me about this new job?”

“I just did.”

“Then you can tell me all about it when you are losing to me at Monopoly.”

“I told you, I never lose.”

“Neither do I, Bronxy baby, neither do I.”

Luckily, in the game of love, both can win.

EPILOGUE

Benedict (Benz) Christianson

Breaking News - Maverick Succumbs To Injury

Details are still coming in, but this journalist has it on good authority that Benedict 'Maverick' Christianson has played his last game. Sports fans will remember THAT game and the sound of his femur breaking under the weight of a tackle gone bad. My sources say that the bone is taking longer to heal and there have been complications during physiotherapy. With his contract up at the end of the year and no teams circling, Maverick is expected to clean out his locker and join the ranks of the former rugby league superstars. Will he become a commentator? Another player manager? Or an invisible has been? Only time will tell, and you know I'll be the one to tell you, first.

Graeme Masters, Rugby League World

I readthe comments from keyboard warriors who predicted the end of my career before I’d been carted off the field, and bounce my cell off the nearest wall. I don’t have the energy to deal withthis. I certainly don’t have the energy to limp past the gauntlet of parasites that are probably already camped outside my home.

Benz to Kenz: Got a spare room?

Kenz: Sara has come home from college.

Benz: She's not old enough to go to college

Kenz: You sound like our parents. She's 23 and I'm expected to babysit her and keep her out of trouble

Kenz: Just saw the press release. RUOK?

Benz: Cell is blowing up. Need to hide.

Kenz: I have a sofa that turns into a bed. If you don't mind sharing a bathroom with Sara and the TV remote with both of us, you know where I keep the spare key

Benz: Thanks and don't tell anyone where I am

Kenz: That's what BFF are for. But don't try anything with my sister or my parents will blame me.

Sara.I can’t believe it.Sara is back in town and staying with Kenzie.Sassy Sara who has owned my heart for five years and doesn’t know it.

I’m not going to make my best friend a promise I won’t keep, but as I clean out my locker for the last time, I finally have something good to focus on.

Sara. She might be my best friend’s little sister, but I’m going to make her mine.

THE END

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