Page 125 of Nothing Less Than Everything

TATUM

“Get in here!” Ralph Porter boomed and laughed as he held the front door open for Wren and me. Winter wind whipped around the little front stoop. “Look at you—the championship MVP in my house!”

“Good to know I’ve been demoted,” Wren teased. “Thanks, dad.”

“Ah, come here, Wrennie girl.” He threw a burly arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “Missed you, kiddo.” Ralph looked over Wren’s head as they hugged and winked at me.

Wren and I had returned from Phoenix separately. Gideon and I flew back with the team after our press conference. Wren and Heidi caught their flight back home the morning after the game. Gideon nearly ran off the team’s plane to get home to Heidi before we had to be back at the facilities. Exit meetings and cleaning out the locker room flew by with more energy than I’d ever seen. The buzz of excitement following our dominating season wouldn’t fade for months.

Wren was waiting for me at my condo when I got home, wearing only my jersey. We celebrated our first day of freedom with orgasms and twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Ralph called me up the next day and insisted on having us down to Westerly for dinner to celebrate. My championship win was secondary to Wren leaving a job that no longer served her dreams, and I was okay with that. She spent five years of her life cheering for everyone else. It was about damn time she had someone celebrate her. Wren hadn’t quite figured out her next steps, but I had a few surprises up my sleeve.

I helped Wren out of her coat and braced her arm as she toed off her snow boots. Her thick socks bunched at her ankles. She adjusted her sweater and set our shoes off to the side as I hung our coats on the hooks.

The warm aroma of seafood, celery, and green peppers wafted through the house. I tucked Wren into my side as we followed Ralph into the kitchen. It felt so good to have her nearby. To wake up together. To walk down to Dunks, hand-in-hand whenever Wren needed a coffee fix.

Simple pleasures I would never take for granted.

Ralph had prepared a feast for the three of us. Clam stuffies, chowder, and deviled eggs. A mountain of warm garlic bread was in a basket, covered with a tea towel. I filled glasses with ice as Wren put the finishing touches on a caprese salad and added it to the mix. It felt natural. Right.

It felt like family and home.

Ralph, Wren, and I talked shop, discussing the Reds and what we thought the coaching staff would do during the draft in April. Not once did anyone bring up my game performance. There were no criticisms. No reminders of the shadow I was born into. Just good-natured banter.

On our way down from Providence, Wren stopped by Annie’s and picked up a pie to bring for dessert. We cleared the table, then retired to the couch with plates of cranberry-walnut pie and cups of coffee. Wren tucked her socked feet beneath her and sank into the couch cushions, resting against my arm.

In seasons past, I would rest up for a few days after the last game, then catch a flight somewhere warm and sunny before jumping into endorsement commitments and off-season training. But right now, everything was exactly how it was meant to be.

Claiming that he needed a recovery nap to survive the feast he had inhaled, Ralph wandered back to his bed with a dismissive order to relax before we pulled the leftovers to indulge again.

Wren set her plate on the coffee table and snuggled into my side. “A nap sounds good. Wanna go to the guest room?”

I kissed the crown of her head. “How ’bout we go on a drive instead?”

She raised a curious eyebrow. “Drive where?”

“You’ll see.”

We loaded into her SUV and headed for the stretch of backroad that edged the coastline. Breath came to me in staccato beats, never quite filling my lungs. I wiped my clammy palms on my pants. Nerves more powerful than those I’d battled during the championship game raced through me as I took a turn.

“I’m so excited for Heidi and Gid,” Wren said with a smile as she tangled our fingers together. She was too preoccupied with texting Heidi about a baby shower to notice where we were going.

I laughed. “Gid nearly pissed himself on the field when he saw her sign.”

“I kept telling her it was a bad idea to tell him before the game, but she was too excited. There’s no convincing her otherwise when she gets something in her head.”

“That’s Heidi,” I said with a dry laugh.

The SUV bobbed as we pulled through the crumbling gates of the old Victorian attached to the defunct lighthouse. Wren gazed wistfully at the mess of overgrown vines and dead trees. “Why’d you wanna come back here?” she asked.

I shrugged as casually as possible, but inside I was a fucking wreck. “Figured we could poke around.”

I crept up the long drive, letting Wren survey the property as it passed. There were gardens marked by stone retaining walls, though they had gone decades without any maintenance. A shabby gazebo was off to the side. It was visible through the barren trees, but as soon as spring rolled around, new leaves would hide it from any passersby.

“Can I ask you something?”

My question shattered Wren’s thoughts. “Hm?”

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