With his eyes glistening, he cleared his throat and said, “Yes, I’d like that very much. I have to see what my father has planned, but I think I can spend some of my Christmas break with you.”
“That’s great.” Mom swung in next to Dad and clapped her hands. “I love having a full house for Christmas.” She appeared to grab the phone from Dad, and the background blurred. “Tellme, do you have any food allergies? And what’s your favorite Christmas dish?”
“Oh…” Colton glanced at me and then said, “I don’t have any food allergies. My, uh, my mother passed away about five years ago, but she used to make roast beef.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, honey. Do you have the recipe?” Her gaze softened. “I’ll do my best to prepare it the same way she did.”
“I’ll see if I can find it.” Colton wiped under his eye. “That’s very nice of you, Betsy.”
“Oh, it’s the least I can do. I’m tired of making turkey and ham every year. This will be a pleasant change.” Her gaze shifted. “Travis, you send me that recipe.”
“I will, Mom.” Slipping my hand across Colton’s shoulders, I kissed his cheek. This might have been precisely what Colton needed.
Dad’s head came into view again. “Travis, I heard from Nicole again. She’s been busy, but she’ll probably call you before your game tomorrow.”
“Oh, sure, Dad. I’ll watch for it.” With everything that had happened with Colton, I’d almost forgotten about the agent Dad lined me up with.
“And play well, son. I’ll be watching.” He gave me a warm smile.
“I will, Dad.” I leaned in close to Colton. I needed to end this call so Colton could speak with his father before it was too late. “We need to get going now.”
“Okay, bye.” Mom waved behind Dad, and then Dad waved as well. “Miss you and love you and see you soon.”
“It was so nice to meet you all.” Colton smiled into the phone.
“Bye, love you.” With warmth streaming through my heart, I ended the call and shifted my attention to him. “So, do you want to call your father now?”
“I guess so.” He turned to me, pressing his cheek against myshoulder and throwing his arm around me. “Tex, your family is so nice. No wonder you turned into such an amazing man.”
“Hey.” I embraced him fully and kissed his hair. “You’ll be just fine too. I’m sure of it.” I didn’t want him thinking he was less than for another second. He was everything to me. Nuzzling his hair, I said, “Can we call your dad now, or do you need a moment?”
Taking a deep inhale, he lifted his head. “Let’s call him. I just want to get it over with, so we can relax and watch the rest of this game.”
“Okay.” I freed him and as he plucked his phone from the coffee table, tension grew in my gut. Was his father as bad as he made him out to be?
He called his father, and the phone rang over, and over until his voicemail message started. After the beep, he said, “Hey, Dad, it’s Colton. I’m calling to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. I’m sure you’re playing poker right now with your buddies. I’m spending the holiday with, uh, my friend Travis. You know, the lineman for ASU that I told you about.” He rolled his lips for a beat. “Anyway, I hope you had a good day. Bye.” He ended the call and set the phone in his lap with his head hanging. “I’m sure he’s too distracted by the poker game to see my call.”
I hugged him to my side. “At least he’ll get your message.” If I ever met his father, I might have a hard time liking him. But he’d given me Colton, so there was that.
He twisted his phone in his hand. “Who’s Nicole?”
Nicole? Oh…“She’s an agent my dad set me up with. I can’t sign with an agent until I’ve played my last college game, but I’ll need one when I prepare for the draft.” I’d bet he knew little about it. Maybe he knew how hockey worked from Evan, but not football.
“That’s cool. So, you’ll be in the draft this spring.” He tilted his head, eyeing me. “Do you have any idea where you’ll go?”
“No, I won’t know until I see who’s interested in me at the combine.” I gauged his reaction. We needed to discuss what afuture together would look like, but it was too soon for that. “In the spring, I’ll start a training program and then the combine is where teams will evaluate me. I’ll get an idea then of where I’ll end up.” I took his phone from him and set it on the coffee table, then held his hand. “Watch the rest of the game?”
“Sure.” With a soft sigh, he inched closer to my side.
EIGHTEEN
COLTON
There had been such a stark difference between Tex’s parents and my father—their warmth and acceptance, compared to my father’s indifference. I’d known all evening he might not pick up when I called, and some part of me was happy he didn’t. My therapist wanted to bring my father into our session at some point, but I didn’t know if he’d be open to it.
As the football game ended, I sat on my couch beside Tex, drinking beer, my attention on the flicker of our last fire log. I didn’t want Tex taking an Uber home. Hell, I didn’t want him leaving at all. But he had a game tomorrow and his roommates expected him to come home. “Hey.” I straightened and shifted to face him.
“Yeah?” He gave me a sly grin. “Something you want?” He walked his fingers up my thigh and to the button on my jeans.