The Risks We Take Duet Box Set

33. Cooper

COOPER

D ad left a pass for me at the will-call box for today’s Kings game. If they win this game, they win the division. I promised I’d do my best to be here. But I asked him to keep it quiet, in case something came up. He understood. Once he got over the initial fear and hesitance when I told him I was joining the Navy, he’s been supportive, like he always is.

He was upset I wasn’t going to college. I think he was disappointed he wouldn’t have another son following in his professional footsteps, but he never said it out loud. My older brother, Declan, the all-pro quarterback, will have to be enough for both of us.

After I grab my lanyard, I walk around the stadium and take in everything that’s changed since we first moved here years ago. Dad’s won two championship trophies for this team in the past five years. A huge picture of Declan throwing the winning pass last year takes up an entire wall now. I smile and wave to one of the team owners as I pass her.

My buddy Sebastian is marrying her sister at some point. When I’m here, I feel like I’m home in a weird way.

Maybe I should consider switching to Bravo Team permanently.

It would mean we’d be closer to the family.

If the family knew there was a we to start with.

I quietly let myself into the box suite, full of my family and friends, and watch them for a minute before they realize I’m here. We’re already ten minutes into the first quarter, and everyone is scattered throughout the room and in the seats that sit on the other side of the glass. It’s a room full of the people I love.

All but one.

I can picture her standing on the fifty-yard line a few years ago, belting out the National Anthem to the sold-out stadium. She was incredible. I remember wondering how that big voice could come from such a small body.

“Cooper?” Nattie’s voice brings me back to the present as she throws her arms around my waist. “Oh my God. What are you doing here?”

Her blonde hair tickles my face, and I inhale her familiar vanilla scent.

“Hey, Nat.” I squeeze her back. “I had the day free, so I drove up. I wanted to see Declan and Bash kick some Denver ass.”

I spend the rest of the first quarter catching up with everyone. But my twin doesn’t leave my side. A bit later, when I sit at the table with Brady and her, she asks the question I knew was coming. Call it twintuition .

“Okay, so what are the chances of you staying with the team in Virginia? I mean, they wouldn’t have asked you to fill in if they weren’t interested, would they?” She looks so damn hopeful that I feel like a fucking ass for leaving in the first place. It was the right decision for me, but she always knows how to make me feel bad.

“Leave him alone, sweetheart.” Brady rests his arm across the back of her seat and winds his fingers through her hair. “We don’t even know where we’re going to end up next year if I get drafted.”

“Listen here, Brady Ryan. You’re a finalist for the Heisman. There’s got to be a team on the East Coast that wants you. I don’t want to raise our babies on the other side of the country from our families.” If Nat was standing, she’d be stomping her foot with her hands on her hips. And judging by the smirk on Brady’s face, he knows it too.

“Hey now,” I laugh. “You two just got engaged. How about you give it a few months before you make me an uncle?” I’m kidding. I mean, yes, I don’t think my sister is ready to be a mom, but are any of us ready to be a parent until it happens?

Nattie glares at me even as her eyes sparkle with mischief. “Don’t change the subject, Coop. Don’t you want to move home? Maybe find a girl you want to see for more than a night?”

“Drop it, Nat.” I blow out a deep breath, knowing I need to tread lightly.

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. I just added fuel to the fire, according to the devious look on my sister’s face. “Come on, Cooper. You’ve got to settle down at some point.”

“Natalie Grace.” Brady stops her in a way no one else can contain what is Hurricane Nattie. “Leave him alone. If I didn’t have you, I’d be?—”

“You’d be what, QB?” Nattie’s attention turns from me to her fiancé, a new fire on her face.

I take my cue to get the hell away from the two of them before she explodes. When I cross the room, my niece Gracie lifts her arms up to me, and I toss her in the air. Her blonde ringlets fly high around her head before she comes down, and two chubby little arms cling to me.

“I missed you, Uncle Cooper.”

I bury my face in her hair. “Me too, princess. Me too.”

A t my sister-in-law, Annabelle’s, insistence, I follow her and my brother home for dinner after the game ends later that afternoon. My nephew, Tommy, shows me his room and all the changes he’s made since the last time I was here a year ago when Bash’s dad died. It’s hard to believe it’s been a year already. Dinosaurs still invade so much of the space, but so do his trophies from his buddy sports league. He shows me everything, tells me all about his games, his wins, and the few losses he says sucked.

Tommy has autism. And when this kid—this teenager—opens his world to you, it’s a beautiful thing.

Later that night, after dinner and once the twins have been put to bed, Annabelle goes upstairs to nurse a cranky Nixon, and Declan and I sit in the family room, talking, like we don’t usually get a chance to do.

“It was a great game, Dec. I’m so fucking proud of you.” I look around the open room at all the pictures. All the toys. The mess. “You’ve got it all. You’ve got the dream.”

He puts his beer down on the coffee table and leans back, like he’s about to impart some older brotherly wisdom on me. There’s only a four-year age difference between us, but when I look around this house, it feels like a lifetime. He’s settled in this homey place with a family.

“What’s on your mind, Coop? Something’s bugging you.”

“Am I that easy to read? The Navy’s spent a shit ton of money making sure I’m better than that,” I laugh.

“Yeah well, the Navy hasn’t been watching you work through your shit your entire life. So, what’s up?”

“I can’t really talk about it, man.” No matter how much I wish I could.

Declan groans. “That’s bullshit, Coop. If you need to talk about something, talk about it. It won’t leave this room. I won’t tell a soul.”

“Not even Annabelle?” I shoot back.

“I tell Belles everything. But if I ask her not to say anything, she won’t.”

I eye him skeptically.

“Bullshit. Our family sucks at keeping things quiet.” I say it lovingly, but I say it all the same. It’s the truth.

Annabelle glides down the stairs, in one of Declan’s old tees and a pair of shorts, with knit knee socks pulled up her legs. “Cooper.” She sits on Declan’s lap and faces me. “Can I ask you something?”

I drag my hand over my face and grunt. “You’re gonna ask even if I say no, so go ahead.”

“Are you hesitant to talk about work... or about Carys?” My sister-in-law drops that bomb, then sits quietly while Declan tries to figure out what she’s talking about.

“What the hell are you talking about, Belles? What about Carys?”

I stand from the couch and walk away anxiously, then turn back. “How?” One word that carries so much weight.

“It was the beach. I had a feeling something was going on while we were on the beach. It was the way she looked at you. The way you two tried to avoid each other. But at dinner... her reaction to Murphy. The look on her face when she yelled at him, and the look she gave you before she went inside. I just knew.”

“Carys?” Declan asks, still in shock. But Belles and I ignore him.

“Does anyone else know?” Fuck, she’s gonna hate this. “She doesn’t want anyone to know yet.”

Belles’s face softens with her words. “No one else knows. I don’t think anyone was paying attention. I was next to her that night, and I was in the room with her after dinner.”

“You didn’t say anything.” Declan sounds hurt.

She turns in his arms. “I wasn’t sure. I just had a feeling, and it was none of my business.”

“You’re gonna pay for that later, baby.” Declan tightens his grip on Belle, who squirms in his lap.

“Promise?” she asks with a saucy wink.

Then Nixon cries out over the baby monitor.

“Damn it, he must have thrown his pacifier out of the crib again.” Belles stands from Declan’s lap and hugs me. “Be careful, Cooper. I don’t know what’s going on between you guys, but you have the power to destroy this family. If this goes bad, and you can’t be in a room together, you’re going to split us right down the middle. The longer you wait to tell everyone, the harder it’s going to be.” She kisses my cheek. “Be safe driving home.”

Declan watches his wife walk back up the steps, and then he turns on me. “You and Carys?”

I nod, not sure what to say.

“How long?” There’s a hard edge to Declan’s voice.

“Since this past spring. But I’ve been gone most of the time. We just want to get time together before we bring everyone else into it. We deserve that.” I try to defend myself, but my words sound like a childish excuse now.

Declan stands, and I follow him into the kitchen where he pours two shots of tequila. “Do you love her?” He downs the first shot.

“Yes,” I answer without hesitation, then push my shot his way too.

I’ve got a five-hour drive home tonight. Tequila won’t help.

“Fuck, Cooper,” he draws my name out, and I cringe. “You’ve got to be careful. Belles is right. If this goes badly, it could really fuck up the family. But if you love her, you need to figure your shit out. Put her first and show everyone that you’re both in this for the long haul. I think they’ll come around.” He throws back the second shot. “Eventually. But the longer you take to tell them, the harder it’s gonna be.”

Tell me something I don’t know.