Page 87 of Going All In

“I’m glad you’re here. Will you be at the game tonight?”

“I’m going to try. If not, Toula and Mom will be there cheering you on. I promised Toula my ticket if I couldn’t go. Honestly, I think she likes going so she can eat non-Greek food once in a while.”

Jake laughed. “Don’t say that out loud in here. What if the family finds out she’s a traitor?”

His mom chuckled, her eyes bright. There were more lines around her face, but he hoped they were laugh lines and not because of stress.

He’d been the cause of stress for her and his grandmother more times than he could count, especially in the past few years. He’d always lived his life how he wanted, dating and messing around, never caring about how many women he hooked up with. His mother would get on his case every time another round of bad pictures or bad press made it to her ears, but he’d brushed it off. Part of him had hated those calls and how his actions might have affected his family.

The scandal with Brandy had been the last straw, though. Even if his old team hadn’t traded him—seeing pictures of himself walking out of a women’s bathroom, zipping up his pants with Brandy fluffing her clearly sexed-up hair behind him—had been a wake-up call. It had knocked him in the gut when he’d been told to pack his bags for San Francisco.

He’d been getting too old for that shit. But saying it and proving it to everyone, including the Strikers’ top brass, were two very different things.

They spent the next hour passing around Jake’s favorite dishes, including dolmades, moussaka, souvlaki, Greek salad, and finally, kataifi for dessert while his teammates got to know his family and Toula’s. She may have had her single granddaughter, Maria—not the one he’d hooked up with, who was now married with four kids—come around to see if they needed anything else.

Toula had the subtlety of a slapshot to the face.

“Tell us about Darcy,” his mother said when the conversation lulled. She was asking the table, not Jake.

“She’s great. Very smart. Not sure what she sees in Jakey here,” Baz said.

“She’s my little sister’s best friend. We grew up together. Definitely not sure what she sees in Jake,” Harty added.

“Shut up,” Jake muttered.

“We haven’t met her yet,” Jake’s grandmother said. “But, a ring, soon?”

Jake groaned and put his head in his hands.

“Grandma, we are just dating.”

“Dating leads to marriage and kids that I want to see before I die. I’m not getting any younger, you know,” she said, giving him sad eyes.

“You are going to live forever. Darcy’s really busy with school, so I couldn’t get her to come out here, but you are more than welcome to come visit me and meet her.”

His grandmother’s smile widened. “I can’t wait to meet her. Brenda, schedule our flight.”

His mom laughed. “I’ll get right on that.”

“I know you’re busy, so if you can’t make it, maybe Toula can come with me.”

Toula popped up next to them. Shit. He hadn’t even seen her coming.

“Where are we going? Jake, when are you going to bring that nice girl to visit? You two are adorable. I wanted you for my Nicole after you two were together that summer after junior year.”

Jake sputtered, and Toula held up her hand.

“Oh please. Do you think anything gets past me? No. You were too young and stupid back then. But now you’ve smartened up, and I can’t wait to meet Darcy and dance at your wedding. You know, when you get to that point. Sooner rather than later, please. I’m not getting any younger.”

Baz bursted out laughing. “Oh man. I love your family.”

Toula turned toward him. “Single, right? Oh, Maria,” she called out.

The rest of the guys tried to hide their chuckles behind bites of food.

Baz’s face was priceless.

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