Page 81 of End Game
I can’t help but laugh. “I know. I’m just thinking about it, mostly to take my mind off Finn calling tonight. I told him you were here, and I don’t really know how well that went over.”
“He thinks I’m the worst choice you could’ve made.”
“Except I really didn’t choose you.”
“You didn’t, probably because you were smart enough not to. I hate that I’m the one in between you. You have this awesomedynamic and then I come in and fuck it up. I can’t just mess up your life, I have to do his too.” He shakes his head. “I’m on a roll.”
“We’ll get it figured out before the baby comes.”
“What if I’m a shitty Dad?”
“What if I don’t know how to be a mom? What if we disagree on everything and you do one thing at your house and I do another at mine and the kid is all screwed up?”
He laughs, almost reaching for me, but he stops himself short. “As long as we agree on what’s important, we’ll do fine.”
“So, like, religion and non-GMO’s?”
He makes a face. “I was thinking like the Legends, the Tennessee Arrows baseball team, and Beau McCrae’s music.”
“Oh, Beau McCrae,” I say, fanning my face.
“Second thought—no McCrae.”
“I’m going to have to disagree on the Arrows too,” I say, loving the easy smile on his face.
“Ha. No. There’s no compromise there.”
“I used to love them until Lincoln Landry retired. Now I pull for the Lions.”
“No way. My son willnotbe a Lions fan.”
“Yourdaughterwill do what her mother says.”
“You’re right about that,” he says, leaning against the cabinet. “My child, regardless of sex, will do what their mother says.”
My heart tugs at the look of sincerity in his eyes. His lips upturn, an easy, sleep smile that I find myself hoping to see one day with a baby in his arms.
Shaking my head, I refocus. “I don’t know what to do about Finn.”
He lingers against the cabinet, quirking a brow. “I have to head back to the city tomorrow. I have an interview and a fewappointments I have to get out of the way before the pre-season starts. Will you be okay here?”
“I’m leaving too, I think.” I toss the fork in the sink. “I have to get back into the real world and start making some plans.”
“Like what?”
“A lot of things . . .”
Not bothering to explain, I brush past him and head to my room. I hear him behind me, but he doesn’t say anything.
Pausing at my door, I feel him behind me.
“Night, Branch.”
“Night, Sunshine.”
CHAPTER 25
BRANCH
