Page 121 of Stolen Moments

I thought I had that with Emery. I thought she was different. Joke’s on me.

“Too busy with work, Ma. Maybe one day.” If I hadn’t seen Eli in action, I would call bullshit, but he truly is one of the hardest-working guys out there. He’s built something great with his business partner. He takes his work seriously, and it’s nice to see a different side of him while he’s working.

With us, Eli’s the jokester, always keeping it light while he watches everything, always knowing more than he lets on. At work, he uses those skills to his advantage. Eli’s hard-working and determined to make a name for himself and his clients. It doesn’t hurt that everyone and their mother owes him a favor. He uses his connections in Hollywood to his advantage. He’s good at connecting people and getting what he wants. It feeds his need to helppeople, and whether he likes to admit it or not, he’s a giver. He’s always been that way.

I probably owe him more than two favors, but he has never actually asked for anything in return. I doubt he ever will.

“You aren’t getting any younger. You don’t want to be an old man when your kids are born,” Dad pipes in, and Rylann chuckles.

“Hush, Sunshine,” Jace huffs. If we go by his earlier remark, that must be a hot topic for them.

Lucky fucker.

“We get it, Dad. We will try to bring home women for you to meet next year.” Eli sips his beer. “Maybe one of them will want to date you.”

“Boy, I’m going to kick your—” He looks over at Rhys, who has a mouth full of mashed potatoes. “Butt. You know your mother is the only woman I need.”

He shoots Mom a wink. He and Eli go back and forth as I drown them out and push the food on my plate around.

“Mason? You’re awfully quiet over there,” Mom says, sipping her wine.

I look up, and all eyes are on me.

“Yeah, Mason. Why are you so quiet?” Rylann pipes up.

I look over at her, a little shocked that she’s calling me out. I think she might be a little more than annoyed about what happened with Emery.

“Oh damn.” Eli coughs.

“Ry’s pulling out the big guns.” Cameron claps his hands and rubs them like he’s ready for a show. Not gonna happen. “Go, sis.”

Rylann looks at me, eyebrows raised. “I’m not pulling out anything.”

“Like, Jace, am I right?” Cameron says, laughing at his own joke.

Jace chokes on his food. “Hey, leave me out of this.”

“I’m not quiet. Just nothing to report.” I shrug and shovel food into my mouth.

I don’t want to talk about my relationship status or lack thereof. I thought things would work out with Emery, but they didn’t.

Rylann harrumphs and goes back to eating, but of course, Cameron can’t let shit go. He has to keep poking.

“Really? Nothing to report? No girlfriend at all?”

“I have a girlfriend,” Rhys chimes in, saving me from shoving my kid brother’s face into the gravy bowl and drowning him.

“Oh yeah? What’s her name?”

“Sadie, duh. She’s my bestest friend, and she’s a girl.”

The table erupts into laughter. I doubt if Levi were here, he’d think this was funny. He’s a protective dad when it comes to his girls.

“You’re right, kiddo.” Jace ruffles his head. “Make sure I’m there when you tell Uncle Levi about your girlfriend.”

“Okay.” He shoves a huge piece of turkey in his mouth, ending the conversation.

We all slip into talk about Cameron’s teammate who broke a leg. He’s worried about who management will bring in to take Thompson’s place. He’s been the team’s catcher since Cameron started in the league, and building a rapport like theirs takes time.

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