Page 47 of Make Your Play

“Okay,” he says after a beat of silence. “Hey, Ry?”

“Yeah?”

“I kind of fucking miss you.”

My heart climbs back into my throat. “I miss you too.”

“Good night, mama,” he says, his voice soft and warm.

I close my eyes to the sound of his voice, absorbing it. “Good night, Nash.”

The call ends and as if the baby can feel my emotions, he kicks my left side.

“You know, maybe it doesn’t have to just be the two of us, little man,” I say softly as I stroke my stomach, a smile pulling on my lips at the thought of Nash. He really is the missing piece I didn’t realize I needed.

Maybe this doesn’t have to be a temporary thing.

Maybe he has room for the two of us in his future…

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

RILEY

“Nova asked me if I could run to the store to get some things for today.” I look at Nash, raising an eyebrow at him. “Do you know why the hell she would need any of these things?”

I show the list Nova texted me and watch Nash’s face as he reads over the message.

Nova: I need a can of water chestnuts, some red beets, boba, and cotija cheese.

“She needs all this for the baby shower?”

“I have no clue,” I tell him, feeling a touch of confusion, but Nova wouldn’t respond to any other messages I sent her. “She asked if I could come drop it all off at her house and then she’d give me a ride to the venue.”

Nash moves about the kitchen, almost acting like he’s avoiding looking at me as he pours a cup of coffee. “I don’t know what to tell you, love. My sister’s strange sometimes.”

“Yeah, but I don’t get it,” I persist, reading over the list again. What the hell does she need a can of water chestnuts for? “I don’t even know what stores I need to hit to get some of this stuff.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Nash offers, lifting his mug to his lips as he takes a sip of the black bitter liquid. “I could see if I could get out of the team-bonding thing.”

I shake my head at him as I play over what he told me last night. They have some team-bonding activity today, so he planned on coming toward the end of the baby shower. “No, you can’t miss it. I don’t want you to get in any kind of trouble.”

“Don’t stress over the list Nova sent you,” he tells me as he sets his mug down on the counter. “Just get what you can and I’ll come get you from the shower later, okay?”

“Okay,” I say, nodding as I take a deep breath. “I’ll go to whatever stores I can, but if I can’t find something, she’s going to have to do without it.”

Nash walks over to me, his hands cupping the side of my face as he presses his lips to my forehead. “Good,” he says softly, pulling back to look at me.

“Speaking of weird things, you didn’t happen to see any packages outside yesterday, did you?”

Nash tilts his head to the side, his lips pulling downward as his eyebrows scrunch together. “No. What packages were they?”

My nostrils flare and I let out a deep sigh. “All the furniture for the baby’s room. I got an email that said it was delivered and I forgot to check yesterday evening. When I looked this morning, there was nothing there.”

Nash’s face relaxes, but he looks annoyed. “Where did you order it from? I’ll call them on my way to the arena and see if they know what’s going on.”

“I can do it,” I tell him as he takes a step away from me, collecting his keys and phone from the counter. “I hope they can send a replacement or track down the packages.”

“Give me their info, Riley. You don’t need to worry about any of that today.”

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