Page 35 of Forever Mine

I nod. “Me too. He did so well.”

Ford pulls his shoulders back and pats his belly. “Yep, I taught him everything he knows.”

We all laugh, and by now, Beau has joined us. The brothers shake hands, and I don’t miss the look Ford gives Beau, gesturing to me with a smile.

I look around the small group. “Where are Huddy and Elle? I really enjoyed meeting her the other night.”

Ford and Lilian look guilty before Lilian finally breaks the silence. “Uh, a spreadsheet is getting the best of them. They planned to come, but they had a report they needed to finish.”

They both are trying to hold back a laugh as Beau looks like he’s about to combust. He points at himself. “My spreadsheet? They’re easy, there shouldn’t be any problem. What spreadsheet is it?”

Before Ford can answer, Ollie runs toward us screaming. I barely have time to put my hands out before he’s jumping into my arms. There’s no way I’d stay upright if Beau wasn’t behind me to hold me up. I’m laughing so hard as I hold him in my arms. “You were amazing, Ollie! I am so impressed by the way you blocked those goals.”

We all laugh and listen as Ollie gives us a retelling of the game. He gives us the play-by-play. None of us complain, though. We may have sat through the whole game and watched every minute of it, but listening to Ollie tell it from his perspective is better than any game we could have watched. As we all listen, I can’t help but notice that Beau is off to the side on the phone.

Ollie is jumping up and down in front of me. “Go eat with us. We’re going to have pizza. Please, Aunt Natalie?”

I don’t even look at Beau to see if it’s okay because there’s no way I’m telling the kid no. “I would love to go have some pizza with you.”

When Beau joins us, he has a worried look on his face. He’s taken all this time off, and I know his job is important. I’m not going to complain that he has to go in and fix something. “Go to the office. Huddy and Elle need your help, and we’re all good here.”

He looks at me curiously. “No, I told them to send me the report and I’d do it later tonight.”

I shake my head, suddenly feeling like I need a breather and that maybe a little distance would do me some good. “No, really. Go fix it. Trust me, I know you, Beau Blaze, and you’re not going to be any fun knowing some spreadsheet is out in the universe and the formulas are broken.”

Everyone laughs around me, but Beau knows me well. “I can do it later. I think we need to talk.”

I shake my head. “Anything we need to talk about, we can talk about later. I’ll see you at home in a little while, but right now, I need to go. I have a date with a handsome young man to go play games and eat pizza.”

“Pizza!” Ollie screams, and we all laugh again.

We’re all walking to the parking lot, and Beau leans in next to me. “Natalie, it’s not what you think.”

The truth is I have at least ten questions for every damn scenario that’s come across my mind since I met Marlene tonight, but I’m not going to bring it up now in front of everyone. Ollie is begging Ford and Lilian to let him ride with me, and I glare at Beau. “So I haven’t been sitting at home wanting to be with you and your family and then find out you’ve been having dinner with my nephew and some woman and her kid?”

There’s no hiding the hurt in my voice or on my face. It’s there for anyone to see. I need to get myself together. “Like I said, we’ll talk about this later. Please, just go and let me enjoy tonight.”

“Natalie, wait! My mom and dad said I can ride with you.”

Ollie is running toward us carrying a booster seat with him. I throw my hands up in the air. “Yes! Well, let’s go, I’m starving.”

I take the booster seat from him and set it up in my backseat.

Ollie is bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. “Uncle Beau, you riding with us?”

“Yeah, I’m riding with you,” he answers before looking at me. “If that’s okay.”

I don’t have to answer. “Duh, Uncle Beau. You can ride with us, but none of that kissing stuff like Mom and Dad. It’s so gross.”

I can’t help but laugh as I walk around to where Beau is. I drop the keys into his hand.

He’s surprised. “You want me to drive?”

I nod. “Yeah, I need to DJ.”

“DJ?” Beau and Ollie say at the same time.

I point at the door for Ollie and watch as he buckles himself in. “Yes, DJ. We just won a ball game. We need to play some victory tunes on the way to our victory dinner.”

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