I smile, knowing the answer already, and everyone else erupts into hoots and hollers. Colin claps Wyatt’s hand and pulls him in to pat him on the back. Chrissy prances over to me still holding Arthur and wraps her arms around me. “Welcome to the WAGs. You were an honorary member before, but this is your official welcome. Hmm, I should start making goodie bags to give out.” Knowing Chrissy—she’s completely serious.
“That’s not necessary,” Wyatt says, and I shoot him a look. If she wants to give me a goodie bag for fucking my best friend, who am I to stop her?
“Wait,” I say, and it comes out way too loud for the space. I feel like this is the perfect moment to reveal my plan. Everyone can hear it straight from me, and there won’t be any games of telephone. I take Wyatt’s hand in mine. “I might have made a phone call.” His brows raise at my admission. “Since the night you told me you love me and I told you not to be so selfless, I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out how to make something work for us that doesn’t involve self-sacrifice. And today, when we helped the Pattersons clear out all of their personal possessions, it hit me. So I called your Mom.”
“You what?” Wyatt sputters, but I march on.
“I know you have a designated parcel of Vandergriff Farms that you haven’t bothered doing anything with yet. I now have my share of a million dollars from winning the PVF championship.”
He steps into my space, putting his hand on my cheek, giving me the wherewithal to continue. “Turns out, it’s just enough money for the fee to get on a custom builder’s calendar.”
“You didn’t,” shouts Jaden from his spot next to Mack on the couch.
I shoot him a smile over Wyatt’s palm. “Oh, I did.” When he pulls me gently back to look at him, I see everything in his eyes. I see our years of friendship, I see our time apart, I see all of our fake-dating adventures, but most importantly, I see the future. “I want to live in Wisconsin, in that house, on your family’s land every June and July. I realized that our careers could always take us elsewhere, but with that house we’ll have a permanent place to call home. Something that isn’t controlled by a sports team, and doesn’t have rules about whether you can mount a TV on the wall. A place that is just ours.”
“You really didn’t have to do that. I have the money and–”
I place a small kiss on his lips to quiet him. “I wanted to. Consider it my equity in the house. You provided the land, I provided the builder.”
He smiles, and then he’s kissing me again, and I want more. I want it all. With him.
Audrey stands up from the couch. “Well, all these confessions have exhausted me.” Wyatt and I break apart like two kids caught making out in the school hallway. I can’t believe we’re sleeping in a house full of people on what couldhave been the most romantic night of my life. Oh well. We have all of eternity now, and soon we’ll have an entire Wisconsin cabin to be as loud as we want, anywhere we want. She looks to Noah, “Babe, are you ready for bed?”
He nods and stands, taking her hand. “We’re going to hit it.” They walk together through the living room, heading for the stairs. “’Night everybody.”
“Goodnight,” we all say back.
Vandergriff Signs New Deal with Hurricanes
Texas Football Today
After a long and tenuous off season, defensive lineman Wyatt Vandergriff has finally signed a new contract with the Houston Hurricanes. The six-foot-five graduate of U.W. came to Houston after finishing his rookie contract in Green Bay. His first year with the Hurricanes was a one-year deal where he had to prove his worth to the team. It seems after going to the playoffs and winning the Sack Leader of the Year Award, Vandergriff has been successful.
We are looking forward to a year packed full of Houston sports from January to December now that there are multiple H-Town teams to root for now.
Chapter Sixty-Five
WYATT
TWO WEEKS LATER
“Do you know what today is?” Nash asks me in a singsong voice that is much too chipper for this early in the morning.
I rub my hand over my face and ask, “What?”
“It’s officially two weeks since we started looking for Arthur’s owners. That means he’s ours.” The scruffy white dog looks at me from his spot on her lap. It doesn’t seem like he ever had any intention of leaving. Her eyes go wide and her head perks up. “We should celebrate!”
I smile at her enthusiasm for this even though she and that dog have been inseparable for the last two weeks. “What do you have in mind?”
“Let’s go to the pet store and officially get him a tag for his collar.” She pets his head and talks to him, “We wouldn’t want you to go getting lost again, would we?”
“Whose phone number should we put on his tag?”
“I think we should put both of our numbers. We both travel a lot; it’ll be easier that way.”
I’ve been trying to let her have the time she needs to start this conversation, but I think it’s time that I take the metaphorical bull in this relationship by the horns and step up. “How will we decide who gets Arthur when?”
“What do you mean?” she asks, still stroking his little head.