I had free time, I met her at the coffee shop or at her house so she could write. Or we’d just hang out and talk a lot.
And sometimes we’d wind up back at my place, particularly when my brothers weren’t home. There was an element of sneaking around that seemed to make us both hot for each other.
As far as I could tell, Chief didn’t know, which was probably for the best. She’d insisted it wasn’t any of her dad’s business who she slept with, and I could respect that.
Jack stood next to me with his clipboard, squinting in the mid-afternoon sun while our team lined up on defense. Since I couldn’t play, I’d appointed myself assistant coach. I was pretty sure Jack appreciated my help.
“They’re going to try another pass,” I said. The game was almost over and our team was ahead, twenty-one to fourteen. But if they scored, they could tie it up and then go for an on-side kick to get the ball back.
“Evan and Levi see it,” Jack said, nodding to them as they adjusted their positions.
The other team’s center hiked the ball. Sure enough, it was a pass play, but Levi was there to bat the ball out of the air. Incomplete.
I whistled while Jack tucked the clipboard under his arm so he could clap.
The bleachers behind us were full of people, including Fiona, Cara, and Grace. It kind of made me wish Sky was here. She was doing something with Ginny today. And of course, it didn’t really matter. I couldn’t play anyway, and it wasn’t like Skylar was my girlfriend.
But it would have been fun to have her here.
The bleachers on the other side of the field were full too, with Pines or people related to them.
Plus a few fucking Havens.
Josiah, Zachary, and Theo were over there, probably scouting for when they played us later in the season.
Assholes. I glared at them whenever I caught them looking at me.
The Pines attempted another pass, but Evan had their number. The ball hit him right in the chest and a second later, he was running in the other direction. The crowd cheered behind me, Fiona loudest of them all, as Evan ran it back for a touchdown.
That was it. The game was over.
I slapped Jack on the back. “Nice work, coach.”
“Thanks, Gav. Think you’ll be ready to play next game?”
“Should be.”
“Good. We could use your speed against the Town Team.” He shot me a look. “But your doctor has to give the okay.”
“I know, I know. Why does everyone keep telling me to listen to my doctor? Doesn’t anyone trust me?”
He raised his eyebrows.
“I’m still wearing the damn boot, aren’t I?”
“Yeah, you are. I’m just not convinced you feel pain the way the rest of us do.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“The first time I met you, you fell off a roof, then got up and walked away like nothing had happened.”
I shrugged. “I’m just lucky, I guess.”
The rest of the team congregated on the sidelines, exchanging high-fives. Winning was awesome.
I turned around and bounced backward like I’d hit an invisible wall. Chief stood behind me dressed in a TFD jacket. Where the hell had he come from?
“Careful there, Gav,” he said.
“Hey, Chief.”
He eyed me for a second. Every time he did that, I tensed up, waiting for him to tell me to stay the fuck away from his daughter.
But he didn’t. Yet. Just gave me a nod and moved past me to talk to Jack.
I let out a breath.
“Hey, broagie.” Logan smacked me on the back. “We should get some filming done today.”
We’d started working on the movie we were going to film to hijack the Haven’s drive-in—a Bailey remake of Dirty Dancing. Since the drive-in would close for the season soon, we’d decided against a full scene-by-scene remake and opted for more of a highlight reel. But we still had a lot of work to do, and not a lot of time to do it.
I glanced up at the clear sky. “Yeah let’s do it.”
Logan called our other brothers over. “I need you guys for a few hours.”
“For what?” Evan asked.
“We have a lot of filming to do.”
Evan’s expression didn’t change, like his face was carved from stone. But he didn’t say no, either. That was progress with him.
“Don’t punk out on us now,” I said. “This will be way fucking funnier if we’re all in it.”
“Who do I have to play?” Evan asked.
“The grumpy dad,” I said. “That’ll be