Vegas Aces: The Wide Receiver Complete Series

CHAPTER 15 TESSA

The next two days pass in a blur of lists and checkmarks.

I’ve barely had time to process that my photo is all over the internet alongside Tristan. I’ve set that aside. I can take a deep dive into it all and figure out where we go from here after the festival, but right now, that is taking all my focus.

I’ve double checked everything, made about a million calls verifying everyone is ready to go, and now it’s just a waiting game. I’m loading up the back of my car with banners and tablecloths I’ve been storing in the garage to take downtown when Tristan walks out his parents’ front door.

“Let me help,” he says, and he grabs a few loads and carries them to the car for me.

“Mrs. Harrison said I can store these on the first level at the B and B until morning. I was just going to drop a load off so there’s less to carry tomorrow,” I say.

“You can use my truck if you’ve got more,” he offers. “You need me to do anything else?”

“Maybe stop by the high school and just make sure Coach is all set getting the tables and chairs downtown?”

He nods. “Can I take you somewhere first?”

My brows knit together. “I don’t have a lot of time for that ,” I tease.

He laughs. “Oh trust me, that is all I’ve been thinking about since our date.”

“It’s all I’ve been thinking about, too,” I admit. “Once this festival is over, maybe life will get back to normal.” I say the words out of some ingrained habit, but then I realize…I don’t really have a normal. I don’t even know what normal means right now.

I have a baby on the way. I have no plans for the future. I’m living with my mom, and my boyfriend who lives next door is leaving soon to go back home.

Maybe the better phrasing is that once the festival is over, I can start planning for the future.

“Normal’s overrated.” He winks, and then he gets into my passenger seat. I drive us downtown, and he empties my backseat and the back of the SUV, carrying it to Mrs. Harrison’s first floor.

Once the car is empty, he grabs my hand. “Come with me.”

We walk down the block, and he stops in front of Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham’s corner house.

There’s just something about that house.

I’ve been inside it a few times for different occasions—that one progressive dinner, or because my mom had to talk to Mrs. Cunningham about something, or when there was a Christmas cookie exchange Mrs. Cunningham hosted.

It’s a dream of a house.

The balcony off the top floor overlooks the town I fell in love with as I fell in love with the boy next door, and the wraparound porch and the white picket fence makes it feel like something out of an actual fantasy. But the inside is what I always loved about it.

The floor plan was so beautiful to me. It’s open and spacious, with the first room when you walk in being a beautiful living room with tall ceilings. A huge Christmas tree sat in the front window at Christmastime, a fire roaring in the fireplace in the same room, and the staircase to go up was both grand and impressive. The floors were hardwood, and from the front door you could see the dining room and into the kitchen, which, as I recall, was all sparkling white and gorgeous.

I’m not sure what it is about this house, but any time I need to call up an image of my dream home, for some reason…this is it. It’s big but not a mansion at a little under four thousand square feet, with five spacious bedrooms and three full bathrooms plus a half bath.

There’s a shed out back that would be a perfect she shed , or, if I was living here with Tristan as I always dreamed, a perfect spot for a home gym. And the backyard is chef’s kiss perfection to raise children with plenty of grass to run around in and a fancy playground that was always the envy of all the kids in town.

He walks up the porch, tugging me along with him, and he unlocks the front door.

“What are you doing?” I whisper-yell. “You can’t just walk in.”

He laughs. “Why not?” He pulls me inside with him, shutting the door behind us.

And then he twirls me right there in the front room, dipping me down low and planting a kiss on my mouth.

When I come up for air, that’s when I notice…there’s no furniture in here.

The walls are empty, too.

As I recall, there was an entire row of framed photographs lining the stairwell, and they’re just…not there now.

“What are we doing in here?” I ask, my voice muddled with confusion.

“I, uh…” He glances nervously at me, and then he takes a deep breath and nods as if he’s strengthening his resolve.

My brows dip as I try to put together what the hell is going on.

“I bought it. For you. Well, for us , if you want me here.”

“You…” The question forming in my head dies on my lips as I look around, and then I look back at him. His face is so…hopeful. So earnest. So loving. So…everything. “You bought it?”

He nods, a smile tipping up the corners of his lips as he gauges my reaction. “Yeah.”

“I didn’t know it was for sale,” I say stupidly.

“It wasn’t. But Mr. and Mrs. C were always going back and forth to Cedar Rapids, and they’d been debating selling the place but felt like it would be a big hassle. I made it a little easier for them.”

“You bought it?” I say again.

He laughs. “For you, and the baby. And I’d love to live here with you, too, if you’ll have me.”

I feel a little dizzy.

I look around for somewhere to sit but come up empty since all the furniture is gone, and then I walk over to the stairs and sit on the bottom one.

“Are you okay?” he asks softly, slowly moving in my direction and standing over me.

I glance past him into the huge family room where I already see a Christmas tree in the front window and children laughing by the fireplace and Tristan’s hand in mine on the loveseat as we look at our family. I see warmth and love and happiness...things I didn’t think I was going to have in my life with him after what my father did to us. “I can’t believe you did this.”

“We can’t stay in our parents’ houses forever, and I know how much this town means to you, to me, to both of us. I’m not sure where you want to settle, and that’s okay. It could just be a place for me if you don’t want it, or if you don’t like it, it wouldn’t be hard to flip it and sell it, but you mentioned wanting a place for the baby and I know we’re moving fast, but I want to be there with you for all of it. We need a home base because I don’t know if I’ll be in Vegas forever, and I thought…why not make Fallon Ridge our home base?” He’s rambling, and his nerves over this whole thing might be the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.

I stand, and I touch his arm to try to calm him. “I can’t believe you did this for me. For us.”

“I love you, Tessa. On the one hand, it feels fast, but on the other hand…it’s been half our lives. You know?”

I nod, and I lean over to press a kiss to his cheek. “It’s perfect. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know how to thank you. Nobody’s ever bought me a house before.” It sounds ridiculous saying it out loud. And it’s not just any house. It’s my dream house, and he knew that.

And now it’s mine. Ours .

“You don’t need to.” He curls an arm around me and pulls me into him.

“I love you, and of course I want you here with me. I never want you to leave.”

“I won’t,” he says. “I promise.”

My heart squeezes and my chest aches.

He can’t keep that promise. Not really.

Maybe he won’t leave me in the emotional sense, but physically, we’ll be apart. He mentioned he needs to go back for some workouts in April. April is just a week away, and then he’ll leave me whether he wants to or not.

He holds me tightly against him, and then he backs up to angle his head down for a kiss.

His phone starts to ring, interrupting our kiss. “Sorry, I need to take this.” He answers. “Tomorrow’s not good, but Sunday or after works,” he says. He says some more things as I start to walk around the house, imagining how I want to decorate it. It feels like way too big a space for my meager belongings. I need furniture. A couch. A dining table. A bed.

A crib.

I have a little bit of money saved from what Sara sold for me back in Chicago, but I was planning to use it to buy things for the baby.

He ends his call, and he turns to talk, but I beat him to it.

“Tristan, this is too much. I can’t accept a house from you.”

“It’s already done. If you want, you can think of it as my house and I’m just extending the offer to have you move in with me. Does that make it any better?” he asks.

I think it over. “It does, actually.”

“I’ve got a crew of painters coming by later today to give it a fresh coat. Just white—you can pick colors later if you want. I just wanted a clean palette for you to start with. The cleaning crew has already been through, and after the festival we can get whatever furniture you want on order. Or, if you want me to, I can take care of all of it.” He ducks his head a little as he tries to catch my eye, like he senses that I’m overwhelmed by all of it.

“I’d love to make those sorts of decisions together,” I say softly.

He nods and grabs my hand. “Come with me.”

We walk together up the stairs, and he pauses outside the third door we pass. “I was thinking this could be the baby’s room.” He opens the door, and sunlight floods the room. It’s cheerful even though it’s empty. The room overlooks the backyard, and I get the sense a little girl would love growing up in here. I picture a four-poster bed with a big pink canopy—the exact bed I wanted when I was little.

“I figure it’s the second closest room to the master bedroom so it’s not too far for those late-night wake-up calls, but it’s far enough away that any extracurricular noise won’t wake her up.” He winks at me, and I giggle even as tears form in my eyes.

“You’ve got it all figured out,” I murmur, and he nods.

“I’ve been planning this a little while. I figured you’ll never know if you don’t ask, and Mr. and Mrs. C were incredible about the whole transaction,” he says. “They were especially pleased that the legacy of the home they built forty years ago would go to a family who call this their hometown as well.”

“A family,” I repeat. Baby girl, me, and Tristan.

“If it’s okay. If it’s what you want.”

I walk over to the window and overlook that perfect backyard. I picture rounds of hide-and-seek and hours pushing our children on the swing set and Adirondack chairs with a firepit in front of it and roasted marshmallows and glasses of wine and laughter. So much laughter. So much joy.

“I don’t want you to think for a second that it isn’t everything I’ve dreamed about since I was twelve,” I admit. “But I want you to make sure you realize what you’re getting into.”

“I know exactly what I’m getting into, Tessa. And it’s everything I’ve wanted since I was twelve, too. It’s you, and that’s all that matters to me. You are everything.”

“I hope I can live up to the picture you have of me in your head,” I say softly.

He walks over and stands behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist in a backward hug. “You already do. Every single day.”

“Then I want you to stop saying things like if it’s what you want . You are what I want. You, me, and our baby.” I run my hand along my stomach, and he does the same, following my path. I place my hand over his, linking my fingers through his, and it’s our silent vow that maybe he’s not biologically this baby’s father, but he’ll be her daddy in every way that matters. It’s the first time I’ve called her ours , and I want him to feel the power of those words as we both hold a hand over where she’s growing.

I turn in his arms and kiss him as we seal that vow. It’s another moment I wish could last forever, another moment of calm that only signals to me that the storm is coming.

I just didn’t realize it would be coming quite so soon.