Page 5 of End Game

“It’s okay if you date a little. Make some new friends.” Mom winks. “There’s nothing wrong with fooling around a little.”

“Cecilia.” My dad frowns. “Let’s not—”

She rolls her eyes. “I know you weren’t a virgin on our wedding night, Stewart.”

I clap my hands over my ears. I don’t want to hear about this.

Barrett tugs on my arm, taking my hand and squeezing. That’s new. Normally, I have to push him to give me a hug hello and goodbye. Since I saw him over spring break, he’s suddenly cuddly and wants to hug and touch. It’s not sexual—it’s familiar, like coming home from a long day to find dinner is already made.

“I’ll take good care of her,” he tells my dad, like I’m some sort of possession. I glare at him, and he grins. “I have a good group of friends. Nobody that I’d set her up with, of course.”

“Thanks,” I tell him sourly.

He winks and tugs on a lock of my hair.

The host shows up to deliver us to our table. It’s a small little booth in the back of the pub. I slide in, and Barrett sits beside me. He props his arm on the back of the booth behind me.

“What’s good?” Dad asks.

“I’ve never had a bad meal here,” he admits, scratching idly at his chin. He missed a spot shaving. I can see a few errant hairs on the corner of his jaw. “A few friends and I usually come here after a game. It’s not a bad place to spend a Saturday night.”

When the waiter comes by, we all place our orders and subsist into silence. My mom looks like she’s about to burst into tears at any moment.

My dad coughs. “You can come home and visit any time you want, kiddo.”

“I know, Daddy.”

“Your room is always open.”

“I know.”

“And if you want, I can come down and get you. You don’t need to take the train. I can—”

“I know. I will.” I swallow and meet his eyes. “I’m going to be pretty busy with training and conditioning. I might not have a lot of free time the first few months.”

We’ve gone over this; they don’t expect me to be home all the time, and neither do I. But being an hour away is better for all of us than being clear across the country, and now they can visit, or I can go home for a weekend once soccer season is over. I know they’ve missed having me around the last few years, and I’ve missed them, too. I just wish I hadn’t had to come home this way. None of us wanted this to happen.

“Don’t be a stranger,” Mama says. “Have a good time, but don’t party too much. This year is so important.”

“So no frat parties?” Barrett shoots me a sly grin. “There’s a toga party tonight at the Delta house.”

Dad frowns. “No.”

Mama nods yes. “It’s okay, Stewart. She’s twenty-two years old. Let her live her life.”

“I have practice the day after tomorrow. The time for parties is practically over.”

“I have some friends I’ll introduce her to so she has some people in her corner,” Barrett adds. His enormous hand lands on my shoulder. “Good people.”

“Greg and all them?”

I remember his roommates from my brief visit over spring break. I liked them, though I’m not sure they’d say the same thing about me. Most of the trip, Barrett and I went off and did things by ourselves, only meeting them for meals.

I’ve always liked how we can pick up where we left off without any awkwardness. He’s my best friend, my other half. Being apart was normal for us for all these years, a fact of our friendship; now we’ll find out what it’s like to be all up in each other’s business all the time.

His eyes narrow a fraction. “Yeah.”

I turn back to my parents. “See? I have friends here. You don’t have to worry about me.”