Page 81 of The Long Game

Grady wasn’t sure what the message—a series of emojis involving a lot of fruit and explosions and fire—meant. He felt old.

“Looks like there will be hell to pay,” he observed dryly. “Can you text us Colton’s absurd coffee order once you have him?” he asked Jack before kissing his cheek.

Jack seemed surprised by the gesture but he smiled. “You could probably just ask for one pump of everything with sugar in it and four shots of espresso and he’d like it.”

Sam laughed. “I see Colton’s sweet tooth hasn’t changed.”

“Scary,” Grady agreed. “If you’re planning to stay for a while, Colton can introduce you to the entire staff at our local café. He’s becoming a celebrity there, thanks to his ability to build the most ridiculous concoctions.”

Sam tilted his chin up, a familiar stubborn posture Grady had seen in the mirror a time or two. “Actually, I wasn’t planning on leaving.”

Grady’s heart skipped beat, but he was afraid to hope. “You mean, anytime soon?”

“Ever,” Sam clarified. His gaze darted to Jack and back to Grady, a crack in his bravado. “I mean, unless you have an issue with that.”

“No!” Grady said vehemently. “No, not at all. God, really? You’re going to stay here in Moncton?”

“If that’s cool?”

“Cool?” Grady asked with an incredulous laugh. “Hell, where’s your luggage? I can offer you a couch, the floor, or the kitchen counter.”

Jack laughed and patted Grady on the shoulder. “Way to fight the bachelor pad reputation.” He winked at Sam. “I have an air mattress. You and Colton can work out who goes where once he’s moved in.”

“And I’ll find us a new place to live, I promise,” Grady swore.

“You don’t have to put me up,” Sam said.

“If you think you’re going to sleep in your car when I’m within a four-hundred-mile radius, kid, you have another think coming,” Grady growled.

Sam laughed. “Okay, I’ll take the couch then.”

The knot of worry in Grady’s chest unraveled a little. “Good. It’s settled.”

Colton blewthrough the door at a run and hurled himself at Sam. He would have taken them both to the floor had Grady not been close enough to catch them.

“Sam! Sam! Sam! Sam! I can’t believe you’re here!”

Jack shook his head as the cousins laughed and hugged. Sam ran his hands over Colton’s hair and squeezed his shoulders, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Holy crap, Colt. You’re so much taller than the last time I saw you.”

Colton shrugged self-consciously. “It’s been a while.”

“It sure has.” Sam looked so sad, Jack wanted to wrap them both up and hide them somewhere safe.

He dropped Colton’s backpack to the floor with a heavy thump and tucked it under the breakfast bar. He really needed to get Grady some stools.

“What’s all this?” Grady asked as he slid his arm around Jack’s waist.

Jack wasn’t sure what to do with his own arms. Or hips. Or shoulders. Hell, he didn’t know what to do with his whole body when Grady held him like this.

“Colton was waiting for me outside with this,” Jack murmured, poking the backpack with his toe while the boys chattered at a hundred miles an hour. “I didn’t think anything of it until I picked it up and realized it weighs a ton. I think it’s his stuff.”

“You mean,allof it?”

“Yeah.”

They both looked down at the tattered bag. Grady sighed. “I better call Daphne.”

“Levigne?”

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