Page 122 of Perfect Playbook

When did we all become so smitten? Normally, we’d all be talking about horses and calves and bull riding. Hockey. Football. Man stuff. But instead we silently nurse beers, glued to the beauty radiating from that dance floor.

Finally, four men bring the testosterone back to life inside us. Shay’s brothers join us at the bar. We all shake hands like country boys do, and I get four more beers for the men I’m still not sure are sure about me.

Colt is an even better conversationalist than I am, and as the eldest who took on the job of man of the house in his early twenties, a natural host, too.

“I read in theFinancial Postyou gentlemen signed a pretty mighty deal.”

Rio nods once. “That we have. It’s been a long time coming.”

Colt lifts his beer. “Congrats. I know how hard it is to get the attention of investors. Especially with controversial tech.”

I add, “We even had a tough time with the wind farm.”

Colt nods. “That we did.”

Santi grabs my shoulder. “Not sure securing that investment was as hard as winning a Stanley Cup.”

Though I offer a humble shrug, it’s hard not to go on about it. Ashton and I share a knowing gaze… we can talk shit about this to the grandkids for all eternity. Now’s not the time to gloat, but it’s nice to be able to impress Shay’s brothers with something.

Enzo, who is almost impossible to decipher from Rio apart from his Clark Kent glasses, chimes in. “In part we have you to thank.” He glances between Colt and Dash. “If you two didn’t help with sending over ranch hands and help to Dad, we wouldn’t have been able to stay in California.” He peers over at his sister who sings along with her girl gang.

“And Shay moving back…” his gaze meets mine now, “we never really realized what a sacrifice it was till now.”

Rio reaches inside his jacket pocket and pulls out a velvet ring box. “We brought you this as a gift. It’s for Shay actually. We figure now you have our sister and nephew,youdon’t need anything else.”

If he means it as a joke, I can’t tell. But he’s right anyway. I take the box and open it to see a vintage gold engagement ring with a simple small diamond.

Santi points to it. “It was our mother’s.”

Rio adds, “It was given to me, the eldest…”

Enzo interrupts, “By five minutes.”

“Older still,” Rio says, rushing over his brother. “The point is, it was supposed to go to the first to get married. Mom guessed wrong about us. We’re married to our work,” he says, with an almost melancholy tone. “It will be happier on Shay than in that box.”

Sometimes I wonder about men like these guys. What holds them back from diving in? Why haven’t such good-looking, intelligent and fit men found love? But we all have our reasons. I never found it either in sixteen years.

I know what Shay would say to this gift. She’s confessed to me how much she wished her brothers would settle down. I close the lid of the box. “She’ll be the placeholder until one of you falls.”

Rio’s laugh is dismissive, but he’s somehow grateful for the words at the same time. Somewhere inside there, just like was hidden underneath layers of Shay’s outward tough appearance, is likely someone sentimental. All humans are the same on the inside.

The conversation turns back to the thing we all have in common: ranch life, farming, and it all falls into place like it’s always been with the men of Starlight Canyon.

When the party dies down and we tuck up Nino at Luis’ house to take our honeymoon, which now as a parent basically means a night on our own, we get home, back to our bed, back to our little life that means everything to me.

I lead my wife by the hand to the bedroom. Even though earlier when I first saw her in this dress I was hasty to take it off, by the time I press her back into the wall of our room and kiss her, I do it with a heightened awareness. I touch her body like I’m retracing my steps to the purest place in my heart. I enjoy this day, the one that will become our official anniversary, the one where I’ll give her gifts of paper and silk, silver, gold, and platinum… if we’re blessed with so many years together. But we never know how long we have.

So I kiss her for today. I’ll never have a day like it again. I stare into her mesmerizing dark-brown eyes, and love fucking overwhelms me. Tendrils of ebony silk frame her face, and I’m in awe of how much soul is in her gaze.

I’m not a super religious man, but looking into Shay’seyes is a spiritual experience. It makes me think about my mom, my dad, Luis, and Shay’s mother. I think about how people so close to us once stood here like this, romantically pressed against the wall, behind a closed door in a wedding dress and a tux. I think about how fragile it all is, how blessed I’ve been to even get Shay back. I don’t want to be greedy but I sure as hell hope we’re given more years than our parents.

“Logan?” She cups my jaw. “What are you thinking?”

I’m making a wish, wishing harder than ever before in my life. “I’m praying to God.”

“For what?”

“To let me keep you for the rest of my life.”

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