“Thanks,” I say weakly. It’s about all I can muster after the day I’ve had so far.
“Houston?” Darcy says my name warily. She can probably see my tension clear as day as she stands on the driver’s side of the truck.
I turn to give her a smile but flinch instead. She’s dressed as Tamlin, which I should have expected, but a part of me wonders if yesterday was a dream and she’s still a different person.
As if reading my thoughts, she gives me an easy smile and says, “I told Jordan that he has to make us waffles for lunch today because I ruined the last batch.” Her false blue eyes flick to my dad, who’s looking back at her with curiosity.
And while I know they’re both expecting an introduction, my dad is one part of my life that I’d like to keep separated from the rest as long as I can. Turning to face him, I give him a single nod. “Maybe I’ll be in touch,” I say, which is as much as I’ll give him until I’ve had time to process the fact that he hasn’t been as completely absent as I always thought. Watching my games isn’t much, but it’s something.
“As foryou,” I tell Darcy and round the truck to get to her side. Dropping my duffel, I pull her out of view and then benddown to kiss her like I’ve been wanting to do all morning. She responds eagerly, running her hands through my hair the same way she did yesterday and solidifying the fact that she’s the same woman I’m in love with, no matter how she looks.
When I pull away, she laughs and uses her thumb to wipe her lipstick from my mouth. “I should have told Jesse to go with a long wear lip stain,” she says with a wink. “He insisted I needed this shade to match my dress.”
I know my dad’s still standing on the other side of the truck, but I like pretending we’re completely on our own right now. I don’t have anything else to say to him anyway. I take a step back, giving myself the opportunity to examine Darcy without reservation. It’s still hard to wrap my brain around the idea that Darcy is underneath all of this, especially when her body shape is so different.
Something clicks in my brain suddenly. “Wait,Jessedoes your makeup?”
She laughs. “There is no way I could do all this myself. He had his last shift at the tattoo place tonight, so I had to enlist him earlier than I would have liked. I hope you don’t mind.”
I shake my head. “You’re still Darcy, right?”
“Always.”
“Then I don’t mind. Want to get out of here? You get me for three hours before Roundy starts tracking me down.”
Her smirk pulls me back in, though she speaks before I can kiss her. “I can think of a lot of things we can do in three hours. But you’re not allowed to touch my face. Lipstick, I can do, but the rest?” She crosses the space between us, giving me a kiss that puts all of her in danger, not just her face.
I groan and lift my hands behind my head before they get ahead of themselves. “Got any ideas that aren’t this?”
“I was thinking mini golf so I can prove to someone that I really do know how to putt. I hate that I didn’t make any shots in Albuquerque.”
That sounds like a fantastic way to spend the afternoon. “Something tells me the full version of you is a little scary.” I make sure she sees my smile so she knows I’m only halfway serious. “I thought you were perfect before—both of you—and now that I know you’re the full package, I’m going to feel insignificant by comparison.”
Scoffing, she hooks a finger in the collar of my t-shirt and pulls me flush against her. “Don’t even pretend you’re not Mr. Perfect yourself. I fell in love with you for a reason.”
My breath catches. That’s a word she didn’t use yesterday, something I hadn’t really noted until I heard it today. I wasn’t expecting her to say it, as much as I wanted it, but hearing it now sends my heart into a frenzy. “Say that again,” I whisper.
She turns a bright pink. Maybe she didn’t realize what she just said, but she’s aware of it now. What if she didn’t mean it?
She smiles after taking in my probably panicked expression. “Yes, I’m in love with you, Houston Briggs.”
“Why?” I clap a palm to my face. Of all the stupid things I could have said… “You don’t have to—”
Placing her hand over my mouth, Darcy gives me one of her honest and genuine smiles. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize that smile before; it’s so Darcy, and it doesn’t matter how much makeup she wears or how many fancy dresses she squishes herself into. She’s still the same person.
“I love you because you make me feel beautiful on the inside,” she says gently. “Because you care so much about everyone around you. Because one of the biggest reasons you had such a hard time giving up baseball didn’t have anything to do with yourself. You are the most selfless, respectful, generous man I have ever met. And you brought me nachos.”
Then she pulls me into a kiss that is a thousand times better than Grey Bird nachos. And that’s saying something.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Houston
At some point, Darcy—Tamlin, to everyone else—arranged a whole setup for my announcement. There’s a stage erected at the stadium with a Red-tails banner behind it. She’s got lighting set up and a fancy camera ready to go, and she even went through my closet this morning and picked out her favorite shirt and jacket for me to wear. The team’s owner has shown up along with all of the coaches, and half the team is here too, which makes me wonder how they found out about this.
Still, it’s kind of nice to see familiar faces as I stand off to the side with Roundy. It would have been harder to talk to just a camera, even with Darcy right there next to me.
“Last chance to change your mind,” Roundy says quietly, and there’s a bit of pleading in his voice that I didn’t expect. He’s been with me from the beginning; almost nine years is nothing to laugh at, and I know I’m the reason he’s become such a big name in the world of sports agencies. I was his first big client, and we owe each other a lot.