Chapter 3

CHAPTER

THREE

CHARLIE

O ur flight was delayed at O'Hare, because of course it was. In the past four years we'd traveled from Tokyo back to the States more times than I could count, and it seemed like we always got delayed at O'Hare. It meant we'd be arriving late at night in Richmond, so I sent Briar a text letting him know, and offering to grab an Uber once we got there instead. It didn't take long for him to reply:

Are you fucking kidding me???? I'll be there!

"Briar's still gonna come get us," I said, and then, when I didn't get an answer, I looked over at the seat next to me. Tanner was sprawled out in it, his legs stretched out, his hands tucked under his chin like a squirrel, and his hoodie strings pulled so tightly around his face he looked like Kenny from South Park. Never mind that he'd already slept most of the twelve hour flight to Chicago. He just had this knack of conking out on the move, which I put down to all the time he spent on tour buses. I wished I had the same skills; I'd spent the whole flight watching movies and wishing I could sleep, and now my eyeballs felt scratchy and my skull was stuffed with cotton balls. The second leg of the trip might have been the shortest, but it was also going to be the hardest, because the last thing I wanted to do right now was get on another plane.

I checked my phone for the time. We still had over an hour until we boarded our next flight. I needed coffee.

"Tan?" I asked. He didn't respond, so I poked him in the ribs. "Tan?"

He snorted, and emerged blinking from his hoodie. "Mmm?"

"I'm gonna get a coffee. Keep an eye on our bags?"

"Okay." He stretched.

"Do you want a coffee?"

He wrinkled his nose and gazed blearily around the terminal area. "Uh... a hot chocolate?" He brightened. "With a shitload of cream and marshmallows? And maybe some pizza? And some candy?"

Tanner had been retired from professional baseball for five days now, and he was still in the middle of his dietary blowout. To be fair, he had a lot of catching up to do. I'd barely seen him eat an empty calorie or, God forbid, some sugar, in all the years I'd known him. And he was so lean that whatever he ate, he'd still fit his suit for the wedding. Honestly, it was kinda cute to see him getting excited over all the different snacks he could have now.

"I'll see what I can find," I said, and headed off to kill some time.

Airport terminals were weird places. They were whatever the opposite of magical was. Like, they seemed like they'd have everything you could possibly need, but when you walked along the endless row of shopfronts, it turned out that unless the thing you needed was bottled water, a neck pillow, or six hundred different phone chargers, they had jack shit. Still, I managed to pay a ludicrous amount of money for some hot drinks and snacks, and wandered back to Tanner feeling like a moderately successful hunter-gatherer .

"I didn't see pizza," I said, sitting back down beside him, "so I got you these."

Tanner's face lit up like Christmas when I handed over the bag of donuts. He dug in straight away, and then looked over at me. "You're not checking your email again, are you?"

"No," I lied, and put my phone away.

"Babe, it's like ten p.m.," he said. "Nobody is going to be emailing you at this hour."

"But what if they did?"

Because Tanner might have retired last week, but I hadn't. When I'd agreed to go to Japan with Tanner, it had meant putting my career on hold for a few years. I hadn't minded—I'd loved Japan, and I'd been lucky enough to get work teaching English. But ever since we'd known we were coming home again, I'd been putting in for jobs in law. I had all the right qualifications, but I was worried that I didn't have the experience. And I tried not to let that worry show, because I didn't want Tanner to feel guilty, but I'd been getting anxious. Then, two weeks ago, I'd had a great interview with a law firm in Richmond, which seemed perfect, and I'd thought they loved me, except I still hadn't heard anything back. And it wasn't as though we were hurting for money—the NPB didn't pay major league money, but it paid a hell of a lot better than the minors—but I couldn't help those terrifyingly vivid ‘what if' scenarios running through my head.

What if neither of us could get a job and we drained our bank accounts in months?

What if we had to move back in with my parents?

What if we had to move back in with his parents? I mean, I liked Tanner's parents a lot, but sharing a basement with Colt and his girlfriend of the month? Hell, no.

What if Tanner decided he wanted a partner who could pull his own financial weight for once?

Which was stupid , because once I got my job it would be my turn to be the main breadwinner while Tanner relaxed for the first time in years. Japan had been great, but there had been a whole lot of mornings where I'd woken up alone and he'd already been at training, or on a flight somewhere, or working out at the gym.

"Also," I hedged, "I wasn't just checking for that. What if there's a problem with the venue, or the groomsmen or something?"

Tanner raised an eyebrow. "Yes, because Briar would allow that to happen."

"Fine." I stole a donut. "What if there's a problem with Yuki?"

"She's fine," Tanner said, reaching out to hold my hand. "She'd better be, for what we're paying that place."

I leveled a stare at him. "What did I say, Tanner? I said, ‘No, we can't get a cat. We're not staying here forever. It'd be a huge hassle.' And what did you say?"

Tanner wrinkled his nose. "I said, ‘But look at her face. You can't say no to that face.'"

Yuki would be arriving in Richmond in two weeks, which would hopefully give us time to get a place, or at least find a pet-friendly hotel. And hopefully I'd have a job by then, and one of Tanner's sports broadcasting leads would have come through. Otherwise, we'd just have to figure out which of our friends had a couch big enough for two unemployed guys and a cat.

This was fine. It'd be fine.

There were a lot of things still up in the air, and they had to all fall into place in exactly the right way, but it was fine.

"Charlie," Tanner said, squeezing my hand and nodding at my jiggling leg. "Breathe. You're doing the thing again."

"But what if?—"

"What if it all works out perfectly?" Tanner bumped his shoulder against mine. "I mean, it always has so far, right?"

"Uh," I said. "We don't have jobs, and our cat is on the other side of the world without us, and our flight is late, and what if I didn't pack our suits, and I couldn't even find pizza , and?—"

"And it's all worked out so far anyway," Tanner said firmly, and then flashed me a grin that dared me to argue.

And once I followed his advice and took a second to breathe, I had to admit he was right. We'd fallen on our feet every step of the way since college. When Tanner hadn't made the major leagues, getting picked up by the NPB hadn't been on our bingo cards, but it had happened anyway. And then I'd fallen into teaching, and my quirky insta account about being the tall redhead in Japan had picked up a following, and when I looked back on them, the last few years had actually been kind of amazing. And sure, moving overseas not knowing a soul had been scary and intimidating—not knowing the language had been terrifying—but if anything, that shared experience had made us even closer.

Everything else might be up in the air, but Tanner and I were rock solid, and that was what mattered.

"You didn't sleep on the plane at all, did you?" Tanner said.

I shook my head.

"And now you're tired and hungry your time zones are fucked all to hell and you're just an anxious bunny," he said. "Just like every time we travel."

I raised my eyebrows. "Is this your way of telling me to eat a Snickers?"

Tanner bit his lip like he was doing his best not to laugh. "Maybe? Or maybe try and catch a nap?"

"I can't catch a nap," I said. "There's only an hour until we board. What if they move the gate or change the flight time and I miss the announcement?"

"Babe, I love you, but you're not the only one who wants to get on the plane," he said. "I can listen out just fine." He wrinkled his nose. "Whose idea was it to have a destination wedding again? "

"I don't think it counts as a destination if they're from there," I said. "And we're moving there."

"Trust a lawyer to get technical."

" Factual ."

"Pedantic," he countered with a grin. "Now, eat this donut, and then lean against me and close your eyes. I'll wake you up when it's time to board."

"Okay." I drew a deep breath and reached for the donut. "Yeah, we've got this."

" Charlie! "

The yell was the only warning I got before Briar slammed against me in front of the baggage carousel, wrapping his arms around me in a hug that left me winded. I hugged him right back. I'd missed the fuck out of him.

Once he'd finished squeezing me tight, he stepped back and looked me up and down critically. "Have you slept, or did you do that thing where you panic and stay awake the entire time and then fall apart when you land?" he demanded.

"He did the thing," Tanner said, grinning and pulling Briar into a one armed hug of his own. "He always does the thing."

"I'm a vigilant traveler!" I protested.

"Sure, babe," Tanner said.

"Are these all your bags?" Briar asked. "Only Casey's driving in circles around the airport because he refuses to pay for parking."

"Yeah, that's it," I said, nodding at the stacked luggage cart next to Tanner. I stifled a yawn and stretched, trying to get the kinks out of my spine. I'd managed a nap at the airport before we took off, but it hadn't been nearly enough. And sleeping on the plane hadn't been an option. The guy in front of me on the flight had insisted on reclining his seat, so I'd spent most of the time with my knees around my ears, even with the extra legroom seats that we'd booked. Tanner had suggested flying business class, but past me had been too concerned about saving money to agree.

Past me was an idiot, for the record. Next time we flew anywhere, we were flying in style.

Briar pulled out a phone and fired off a text. "He'll meet us outside at the pickup spot. It's so great to see you guys! It's been too long!"

Tanner pushed the cart toward the exit, and Briar slung an arm around my shoulders and herded me in that general direction.

"Okay, so I've got the bed in the spare room made up for you, and I'm not going to keep you awake all night talking. You can kick me out if I try it. You need to get unjetlagged as soon as possible, because it's the bachelor party tomorrow night, and you need to be in peak condition so we can all get absolutely fucked up."

"That seems counterproductive," Tanner said over his shoulder.

"It's a bachelor party," Briar said. "Counterproductive is like the theme."

"As the wedding planner, shouldn't you be doing everything you can to make sure the grooms are in top condition for their wedding day?"

Briar snorted. "‘Top condition.' They're friends, not an antique dining setting. Besides, I need to get fucked up after planning this thing. I mean, it's going to cement my reputation, but I might have been an asshole to Casey along the way."

"You? An asshole? Unthinkable," I said, deadpan.

"Shut up," Briar said, grinning. "Luckily I'm engaged to the most forgiving man in existence."

I stopped dead and stared. "You're what?"

Briar slapped a hand over his mouth.

I reached out and pulled it away. "Did you just say what I thought you said?" I inspected his left hand, but there was no ring. Maybe I was more jetlagged than I thought and I was hearing things. Like, I knew a lot of guys wouldn't wear an engagement ring, but Briar most definitely would. And it'd be sparkly as all hell.

"I wasn't supposed to say anything until after the wedding," he said in a stage whisper, "which is why I'm not wearing the ring. But you guys are in the cone of silence now, okay? So I'm going to show it to you when we get home, but I'm swearing you to secrecy until after the wedding!"

"Omigod," I said, "that's awesome!"

"Yeah, congratulations," Tanner said. "That's great! And yeah, total cone of silence. We're in."

"How over the top is the ring?" I asked, unable to keep the grin off my face.

"Oh, it's flashy as fuck while also being classy as hell. Like, it screams, ‘my partner has money, but also taste,'" Briar said. "It matches my tennis bracelet."

"Do you even play tennis?" Tanner asked, pushing the cart outside into the cool night air.

"No, but if I ever take it up, I'll be appropriately bejeweled," Briar said with a grin. "Maybe I should start. Those little skirts are super cute. And think of all the potential clients I'll meet playing those mixed up pairs matches."

Tanner snorted out a laugh. "Mixed doubles. And that right there is why you're not taking up tennis."

"You would look great in the skirt, though," I said.

"Of course I would. I'm fabulous."

A black SUV pulled up to the curb. The driver's door opened and Casey emerged wearing a pair of sweats that were so old I suspected they'd been downgraded to pajamas. The way Briar's face lit up when he saw him though, he may as well have been wearing a three piece suit. They were so fucking gone on each other.

"Hey," Casey said, throwing his arms around me. "Welcome home! "

Home.

Maybe it was just because it was so late and I was so damn tired, but hearing him say it had a lump forming in my throat.

We loaded up the car and piled in before Casey could get in any trouble for stopping too long, and then we were on our way. I stared out the window, watching the lights slide past as we turned onto Williamsburg Road and headed into Richmond. Briar chattered away in the front seat, and Tanner answered him. I think they both knew I was too wiped to contribute much.

I really needed to sleep, but there was just so much to do. Nothing that I could actually get done at midnight, of course, but that didn't mean I couldn't worry about it.

"Babe," Tanner said, his voice cutting through my brain fog. "What did I say about nobody emailing you at this hour?"

I hadn't even realized I was looking at my phone until he said it.

"Oh," I said, and then my phone pinged as a new email loaded. "Ha! It's... okay, it's a voucher from Domino's."

"Well, there's dinner for tomorrow night," Casey said.

I tucked my phone away and pushed down the seeds of worry that were doing their best to take root.

"No. We are not having cheap pizza before our fancy whiskey bar," Briar said. "Domino's is for after, when we're so drunk we don't care anymore."

"Don't care about what?" Casey asked.

"About anything ," Briar said darkly. It was good to see the prickly little punk I'd met in college hadn't completely disappeared.

My phone pinged again and I pulled it out, expecting another nothing email, but it was a text from Scout.

Whatever Le Febvre Wilson offered you, ask for another 10%. They'll pay it .

I blinked at the screen. Sometimes it was scary just how much Scout knew about what was going on in my life. He was wrong this time though.

Well they've offered me zero, so what's zero plus ten percent?

The three dots appeared, disappeared, appeared.

Those assholes. They were meant to send through the offer today.

"Babe?" Tanner said. "Is everything okay? You look like you've seen a ghost. Oh, no. Is it Yuki? Is she refusing to eat? You know how fussy she gets."

I let out a slightly hysterical giggle. "No, it's Scout. I think he just bullied Le Febvre Wilson into hiring me."

There was a moment of silence, then Casey shrugged and said, "Sounds right. The Talbot-Smith name has a lot of clout in this city, and Scout's terrifying."

The knot that I hadn't known was lodged in my chest loosened as it sank in that I had a job and I wouldn't be living on anyone's couch. Of course, I wasn't going to fully relax until I'd seen and signed the paperwork—I was a lawyer after all—but in my gut I knew it was true.

Tanner reached out and took my hand, running a thumb over my knuckles. "I told you it'd work out, babe."

I turned to him, eyes narrowing as a thought struck me. "Wait. Weren't you texting Scout before we flew out of Tokyo? Did you have anything to do with this?"

Tanner fixed his gaze somewhere over my left shoulder, the shifty little fucker. "Not exactly?"

I narrowed my eyes further, knowing Tanner couldn't lie for shit.

"Okay fine. I maybe mentioned you were stressing out. And he might have asked for the name of the firm you applied to. That's all, I swear."

Casey snorted. "If you think Scout wasn't gonna make sure you're okay, you're delusional. You do remember the ‘accommodation scholarship,' right? Bro takes care of his own."

"Yeah," I said, a grin spreading over my face as I remembered how Marty had let it slip a couple years after graduation. I remembered the fake scholarship, and the way Scout would take me for breakfast and refuse to let me pay, and, when my piece-of-shit car had finally died, how whenever I was finishing up late at work at Hole Foods, he just happened to come in at closing ‘for a snack' and then drive me back to campus. "Has he figured out that we all know he's a sweetheart yet?"

Briar laughed out loud. "I'm telling him you said that."

"Nah. Let him believe he's subtle," I said.

I still hadn't texted Scout back, and my parents had raised me right, so I pulled out my phone.

Thanks for whatever string pulling you did. Seriously.

Scout's response was nothing if not predictable.

I don't know what you're talking about. I just happened to overhear a conversation.

He was such a liar. I snorted and tucked my phone away. Then I closed my eyes and curled into Tanner's side. "Love you," I whispered to him.

"Love you more," he murmured back.

"My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite."

"Did you watch Romeo and Juliet on the plane?" he asked. "You're such a nerd."

"You recognized it," I said. "So touché, motherfucker. "

Tanner gave a soft laugh. We'd both watched that movie too many times to count. And we both teared up at the ending still.

Briar turned up the volume on the stereo, and I wanted to make fun of him for listening to soft jazz or whatever it was, but it was too relaxing.

I let out a slow breath, and watched the lights again. It looked like everything was falling into place after all. We were home, and Tanner's fingers were laced with mine, and even though I was dog tired, that text message from Scout had flipped everything around. All my anxieties weren't anxieties anymore—they were opportunities. New jobs, a new place to live, and a new chapter in my life with Tanner. And I was going to grab every one of those opportunities with both hands.

Just as soon as I had a good night's sleep behind me.