Page 81 of Laugh

She reaches her hand across the table and grips my girl’s wrist, trying her best to give her a consoling smile. But Haddie isn’t paying attention. Her eyes are locked on the second shot glass and my heart cracks a bit more for her.

“Marcus always did a toast with you,” I tell her softly, not asking because I know the answer.

With a shaky nod, she forces a smile when she looks up. “Yeah. It just doesn’t feel right. He’s supposed to say one that’s better than mine.”

She leans into my side after I press a kiss to her temple. My mom and dad are watching us from a different table, mom’s eyes filled with concern and dad watching curiously. He doesn’t seem to be offended by her words, and I’m thankful that I don’t have to worry about any negativity from him tonight.It says something that he’s here for her, and I’ll thank mom for that later.

Haddie doesn’t know, but while I was searching for funny stories and jokes to try to draw her out of her sorrow, I also looked up toasts to see how many were out there. From my short experience around both Marcus and Haddie, I suspected there are quite a bit. So, I decide to give her the second toast she is desperately missing right now. Sitting her away from me, she looks up with confusion when I stand and hold out the second shot glass. Once our friends notice and quiet down again after picking their shots up, I stare down at my girl.

“I know it’s not the same, Happy, but I’m going to try my best for you.” Then I clear my throat and look at everyone’s smiling faces. “To Haddie. No matter how beautiful, smart, and full of class, to somebody, somewhere, she’s a pain in the ass.”

My pulse is racing as I throw back my shot, enjoying the sound of another round of laughter, then tentatively peek at Haddie.

Thank God, she’s not upset.She’s got her mouth hanging open in shock, staring at me like she’s never seen me before. Sitting back down, I shrug at her and say, “What? Youarea pain in the ass.”

Laughter literallyexplodesfrom her body, the sound tinkling through my chest like a balm to my soul. That fucking sound is everything I needed to hear and everything that makes her,her.

She doesn’t stop laughing, holding her stomach, ignoring the tears as they start to fall, and I actually grow concerned. It’s like she’s snapped, a shaken champagne bottle that’s been uncorked, and her laughter is spreading quickly over everyone. The woman I love is contagious, and I start chuckling when a new round of giggles emerges again from our friends.

When she looks at them, then over at me, her face turns from pure delight to something I can’t describe, and her boisterous laugh turns into a gut-wrenching sob.

Her body comes flying at me after she shoves her chair back and she wraps her body around mine. I have to grab hold of the table to keep us from tipping over from the way our weight has shifted in my chair.

“Happy, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I didn’t say that to upset you. I thought–” I plead with her, feeling like I really fucked up, but she cuts me off when she plants her lips against mine, crying against my mouth.

“No! It wasperfect!” she cries out. She hugs me to her before pressing kisses all over my face. Her sobbing turns back into laughter, and I melt, hanging on to her as she wavers between laughing and crying.

“I’ve missed that,” I whisper to her. “I’ve missed your laugh so much, baby.” My confession urges me to make another one, and I no longer care if we’re alone or not. I can’t go one fucking second without telling her how in love with her I am. How much I need her in my life and how she’s a part of me now.

Grasping her face, I tilt her head back and pepper kisses across her cheeks, nose, and lips. When I have her eyes locked on me, I say, “I love you more than football.”

She blinks slowly at me, her grin spreading until it’s stretched from ear to ear. “That’s a lot of love.”

I nod solemnly. “It is because Ireallylove football.”

She holds my face in the same way, brushing her thumbs along my jaw with eyes bouncing back and forth as she takes me in. This time, when she leans in for a kiss, it’s slower, deeper, filled with so much emotion that I begin to feel overwhelmed by having everyone around us. I want her home.

When she finally pulls away, she doesn’t take her eyes off me as she reaches over for her shot, which she never took, throws it back, then grins at me. “I love you more than tequila.”

Chuckling, I repeat her earlier statement. “That’s a lot of love.”

She mimics my slow nod of seriousness. “It is because Ireallylove tequila. And you. I really,reallylove you.”

“I know you do, happy girl. You said really twice. You want to get out of here?”

She groans as she looks around. “No, but yes. I want today to be over.”

“Yeah. It was a pretty shitty day. Let’s say our goodbyes and we’ll go home.” I don’t ask if she wants to go to her place or mine. We’re going to mine. That’s where we’ve been, and I don’t want her anywhere except next to me in my bed. There won’t be another night where she’s not there and I’ll be telling her that tomorrow.

Haddie makes her rounds, which takes close to an hour, but eventually I tell her I’ll meet her outside so I can walk my parents to their car.

“She’s doing good,” mom says once we’re away from the noise of the bar. “Really good. I want you two to come over soon so we can have that dinner.”

“We will. I’m sure she’s got crap piled up at work the same as I do. Once we’re caught up, I’ll schedule something,” I promise her, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek.

“How much slack did the other coaches have to pick up for you while you took off?” my dad asks, immediately putting me on edge.

“I took off the time I needed to. It was no problem having my assistant run practices for a few days.”

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