Page 12 of Can't Help Falling

CHAPTER THREE

THEREREALLYWASnothing like an eight-thirty a.m. basketball game in some sweaty, humid gym in Bensonhurst. Surprisingly, this was not a sarcastic thought of Tyler’s. He was dead serious. He loved organized sports. He loved fancy coffee, of which he currently had one in hand, courtesy of the cute barista he’d been casually flirting with for the last few weeks. And most of all, he loved Matty, who bolted to his feet the second he saw his Uncle Ty across the gymnasium, pinwheeling both arms in the air to get his attention.

Sebastian caught Tyler’s eye as well from where he was leading the team of eight-year-olds through some pregame stretching. The two men grinned at one another. How many early Saturday mornings had they spent just like this in their childhoods? Lackadaisically stretching before they played some intramural sport that neither of them particularly cared about.

Tyler’s happiness at seeing Seb and Matty was slightly punctured by the realization of just how much he’d missed them this summer.

You cling to Matty and Seb instead of living a life of your own.

Pretty much every single letter of every single word that Serafine had spewed at Tyler at the Cyclones game had wounded him. But had anything hurt him more than that? He wasn’t sure. With one sentence she’d transformed one of the things he was the most proud of in his life to something shameful and embarrassing.

The worst part about it? She hadn’t been wrong.

After Seb’s wife had died, Tyler had gotten so used to letting Seb lean on him for anything and everything that he hadn’t noticed the subtle shift over the years. The shift where finally he’d been the one leaning on Seb. As soon as Fin had pointed it out, it had seemed apparent and glaring and mortifying.

Seb was his family, would always be his family. But that didn’t mean Tyler’s daddy issues needed a seat at Seb’s dinner table.

So, he’d taken a step back. He’d let Via get settled into her new house, let the three of them get acclimated to living with one another. They didn’t need Tyler popping in at all hours.

But now, looking across the gym at Matty rolling into a new stretch like the floppy Great Dane puppy that he was, Tyler wondered if maybe he’d overcorrected a bit too much. Because damn. He missed that kid. He missed Seb. He missed being Uncle Tyler.

“Ty!”

Tyler turned toward the voice and immediately pasted on a smile to hide the wince. Via was standing in the bleachers waving him over. He waved back and quickly glanced away. Of course he’d be sitting with her. It would be super weird not to. But for some reason, he hadn’t thought she’d be at the game.

Of course she was here. That’s what good parents and guardians did. They came to their kid’s sporting events. Just because he’d never had anyone in the bleachers for him did not mean that Via would ever miss Matty’s game.

Tyler walked over and bounded gracefully up the bleachers to Via’s seat. He was so focused on pleasantly smiling at his best friend’s girlfriend that he didn’t notice the woman sitting beside her until he sat down.

“Morning, Via—” The breath whooshed out of his lungs as Fin leaned around Via, her elbows resting on her knees, her dark braid swinging down over one shoulder and one eyebrow raised to the vaulted ceilings. “Fin,” he choked, with what he hoped was an aloof nod.

What the hell was she doing here? She was spending so much time with the family that she was even attending Matty’s sporting events these days? God. He’d taken a few steps back this summer, and apparently Fin had taken a few steps forward. The thought made him panicky.

He cleared his throat, casting about for something to say. “I would have picked up more coffee if I’d known I’d have the pleasure of seeing you two today.”

Fin may have fishgutted him at that Cyclones game, but he could still be polite.

Her second eyebrow raised to meet the first and he knew that she completely saw through his facade of manners and fake smiles.

“That’s okay!” Via chirped. “We already had some and I don’t need any more. I’m too nervous.”

“For what?” Tyler tore his attention away from the annoyingly seductive black hole of Fin’s beauty and put his eyes on Via.

“For Matty’s game.”

Tyler couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s just intramural basketball.”

“I know,” Via said, looking a little sheepish. “But he was so nervous this morning. He’s really scared the ball is going to bounce off the backboard and hit him in the face. Apparently that happened during a practice and he’s yet to live it down.”

Tyler chuckled and looked out at Matty. “I can’t believe he’s at an age where he’s finally starting to feel embarrassment. I once saw him tear the ass out of his shorts on the playground and just shrug and keep playing.”

Via burst out laughing. “He’s an inspiration to us all.”

The scoreboard buzzed loudly and Tyler watched as both centers missed the ball during tip-off. All ten kids on the court just sort of scrabbled after it in a big, shoe-squeaking clump. He set his coffee between his feet and pulled out his notebook from under his arm and took a few notes on the surroundings, on the other team, on Matty.

“It’s sweet of you to do this,” Via said, nudging Tyler with her shoulder. “He’s really excited about having an article written about him. By a real sports writer.”

“I thought I’d give him the notebook too, along with the article.” He thumbed through it to show her. “So he can see that I’ve used it to take notes on the Nets as well. He can see his own name along with the superstars.”

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