Page 18 of End Game
“You’re a smartass, you know that?” he asks.
“It’s been said.” Sitting up, I brush the sand off my hands. “What does your grandma think about her grandson being a football star?”
“I don’t know. She wears my jersey to her card games on Thursday nights and asks me to send her signed pictures for her friends and members of her church. I guess you could say she’s a fan.”
“I bet she is.”
“Hell, to be honest, she’d probably be just as much of a fan if I dug ditches for a living. I’m the only grandson she has from the three daughters she gave birth to,” he says, rolling his eyes that my joke was actually right. “I’m kind of the favorite.”
“And you struggle with accepting that, I see,” I giggle.
“It’s a lot of pressure! I can’t let Gram down.”
We laugh softly, the breeze coming off just cool enough to keep the sweat away. Boats float around, their flags waving brightly against the bright blue sky.
“So, tell me about you,” he says.
“You know Finn and you’ve met my parents.”
“How do you know I’ve met your parents?”
“Let’s just say Mom was impressed,” I shrug.
“Ah. That’s why she sends me baskets of those peanut butter chip brownies when she sends Finn his monthly care packages.”
“She sends you those?” I bark, dropping my jaw. “Those are my favorite and she never sends them to me.”
He looks adorably amused as he strokes a hand down the center of his stomach. “You don’t have the goods, Sunshine.”
Scooping up a handful of sand, I toss it on his legs. “I officially loathe you.”
“Just for that?” he laughs. “It usually takes at least one date before they loathe me.”
The necklace bounces against his chest as he laughs, the little beads sparkling in the light. I reach over and pick up the end, turning it over in my palm. “What’s this?”
“That’s from Gram. It was a graduation gift from high school. My grandfather had one like it, only his beads were yellow and mine are red.”
He watches me examine the intricately carved wooden beads and the shiny red ones. They’re the color of rubies and heavier than I expect.
“This is beautiful, Branch.”
“Thanks. I kind of like it.” His head turns to mine and the soft smile deepens into a smirk. “I kind of like you in that bikini too.”
The necklace drops to his chest as I squirm away from him. “I thought we were having a moment.”
“Sunshine, I’ll give you as many moments as you want.”
“I don’t want any of those moments with you,” I say, picking up my notepad again. “It would just amp up that ego that’s already out of control.”
“I beg to differ,” he gasps. “My ego is totally in control, thank you very much. I can’t help it I just say what I think and what you want to hear, even if you won’t admit it.”
Finding my pen half-covered with sand, I scribble out a few things that have been lingering in my head. When I look at Branch, he’s grinning.
“What?” I ask.
“I want to ask you a question.”
“Okay.”
