Page 86 of Courtside

He’d always been nice — sofuckingnice — to look at, but now Sage got the sense that maybe he felt like he was worthy of it all. His posture had straightened. His wide, uninhibited smile was almost constantly on his face. He moved decisively, spoke with certainty, and where Sage had been drawn to him before, now her body had convinced her that she belonged permanently cuddled up on his lap with her face nuzzled into the stubble on the underside of his jaw.

It was a ridiculous, almost silly feeling, but rather than laughing it off as a moment of hormone-fueled insanity, Sage found herself actually entertaining the idea. He’d said “After the season”when she’d kissed him, and she’d nodded. And now, finally, they’d arrived at that moment that had seemed so far into the future that Sage hadn’t totally believed that it would actually come to pass.

In the moments after the game, Sage had wanted, more thananything, to blow off her family and drag David Hughes to the airport and onto the next flight back to Charleston. Back to the world they’d created, together, between their two apartments. There was nothing stopping them from —whatexactly she didn’t know, but she hoped like hell that it involved seeing David Hughes naked and getting beard-burn from how much time she planned to spend kissing his jawline.

Another more hesitant, fragile part of herself hoped that it also included reading on the couch together and taking Daisy for walks. Sharing tots at The Grove. Grocery shopping. More dancing in David’s arms. A continuation of the things that made up the landscape of their friendship.

But her mom and Brinley had rushed toward her with open arms, and all thoughts of running away fled as she burrowed into the familiar warmth of her family.

“Tough loss,” Brinley said, tucking a piece of Sage’s hair behind her ear with a proud smile on her face. “But you looked like a badass up there.”

Sage leaned heavily into her mom’s arms, inhaling the familiar patchouli scent that she’d watched her mom dab onto her neck every morning throughout her childhood.

“Hey, Mom,” she said, feeling a wave of emotion that only a reunion with a mother could bring up. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too, Sagey.” She planted a soft kiss on her cheek and then drew back so that she could look her in the eye. “You are beautiful. You know that, right?”

Sage rolled her eyes as she felt her cheeks heat. “Stop it.”

Brinley let out a musical laugh. “She’s right, you know. You look hot as hell right now.”

“Did I see Coach White on the other team’s bench?” Her mom looked genuinely curious, like she was inquiring after an old friend.

Sage waited for her body to respond, waited for muscles to cramp and her gut to hollow with the dread that talking about Evan summoned in her. But there was nothing besides a little sliver of pain, like prodding a bruise that had faded to yellow.

“Yep,” Sage replied. “It’s him.”

Her mom beamed, her face carving into the deep lines of someone who had managed to find plenty of laughter throughout their life. “Did you say hello to him?”

“Yeah, Mom. Sure did.”

She caught Brinley staring at her from behind their mom’s shoulder, her eyes wide with the unspoken expression of a sister who’d been left in the dark. Sage shook her head, silently promisingLater.

“How’s your hotel?” Sage tried to listen to her mom and Brinley argue about the conventional air freshener the cleaners had used in their room, but her eyes had found David, who was standing among the players and their families on the other side of the lobby.

He was already watching her. She could feel his gaze on her in the way that two people who are somehow attuned to each other notice such things.

David looked at her without any hesitation, like he knew that they would go home together at the end of it all. And then his smile spread across his face, and Sage felt warm. Warm and good andright, like she was right and he was right and they were right together.

“Why is he looking at you like that, Sage?”

Sage snapped her eyes over to her mom, who watched her with that sharp, almost bird-like pointedness that had always signaled trouble.

Brinley let out a huffed exhale. “Mom, leave her alone.”

That only seemed to fuel the ire of Cheryl Fogerty, who rounded on her older daughter with a pointed finger. “What? I know about men like that.” She glanced back over at Sage, who was trying to use telepathy to tell the stupidly handsome man across the room tostop fucking looking at her. Her mom went on. “They come in all big and good-looking and powerful with their age and wisdom and convince you that you can’t live without them.” She shook her head. “Don’t fall for it, Sagey.”

It wasn’t her mom’s fault that she didn’t know what had happened between Sage and Evan White. In the eyes of Cheryl, Coach White had been an inspiring mentor who took a special interest in Sage’s future. The truth was that the situation her mom was warning her about had already happened. It had happened when she was young and naive and so jaded about love that an older man giving her attentionhadfelt life-saving at the time.

That wasn’t what she felt about David. That wasn’t who David Hughes was.

“Mom, he’s not like that,” she argued, keeping her voice low to avoid being overheard by the people around them.

Her mom gave her a wry, almost pitying smile. “That’s what they all want you to think. They see a strong and beautiful young woman like you and try to capture your shine all for themselves. Don’t do it! Don’t give up your freedom for anyone!”

Sage felt a throbbing bloom behind one of her ears.

Brinley stepped closer and put a hand on their mom’s shoulder. “Mom, stop it,” she hissed.

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