Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 24377 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24377 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
I find her on my way to the bar and give her a hug.
“Love you,” she says in my ear.
“Love you, too.”
And I do. These people are my family, and Mila has become the sister I never had.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Ford
Once everyone is gathered in Colby and Mila’s main family room, I approach Mila.
“Okay if I do it?” I ask quietly.
Her eyes widen slightly with surprise. “Sure, of course.”
She moves to stand with the others. I wait for Cam and Rowan to make their way into the room, admiring it even though I’ve been in here many times.
The main family room is a giant-open two story space with a wall of glass doors that open onto an expansive covered patio that overlooks the ocean. The room is painted a crisp white and it has warm bamboo floors. Vibrant, colorful artwork by local artists adorns the walls.
This room has two huge leather L-shaped sectionals that are laid out in a loose square shape. There are also several other chairs in the room, which can easily seat around thirty people. This is where we spend most of our time when we’re here.
“Everyone here?” I ask, looking around the room.
My gaze lands on Elle, who nods slightly. She’s my North Star. The one I always look to when I need guidance or confirmation. The one who always has my back, even when I don’t even realize I need someone there.
I clear my throat, feeling the same slight rush of nervousness I used to feel when giving a speech to my team as their captain. It’s different as a coach; I have to be confident and certain of what I’m saying in those speeches. But with my teammates, I always had the same sense of not knowing what to say, not any better than any of them. We were all the same, just like we are now.
“I just want to echo what Mila said,” I say. “It’s hard to balance everything with kids in school and work and all the other things we have going on, but we always find a way. And I think a lot of that has to do with Mila and Colby.”
Mila looks nothing short of shocked. She was expecting this toast to be just about Colby.
“You’re so much more than just the Coyotes team owner,” I continue. “And I’ve never known a couple that complements each other better than you two. Colby is the calm and Mila is the storm.” That gets low laughter because we all know how true it is.
I turn serious. “Colby, you’re my brother. A brother to all of us. For as long as I live, I’ll never forget seeing how hard you fought to stay around for your family. You never gave up. Never even considered it. You knew how much Mila and the girls needed you and how much you needed them, too.” I meet his eyes and he nods slightly, his eyes shining with tears. “And Mila, sometimes a storm is exactly what’s needed. You fought for more testing, second, third and even fourth opinions on Colby’s treatment. You never backed down and let the doctors tell you to just trust them. You were by his side every step of the way. I know I speak for everyone in this room when I say we admire and love both of you, and we’re grateful for everything you do to keep us all together. To Colby and Mila.”
“To Colby and Mila,” everyone echoes.
Elle approaches and takes my arm, smiling up at me. “Well done, Captain.”
“No! God—no! It’s how you make your Bronco go!” Dom yells an hour later.
None of us are used to day drinking. It’s not even noon and we’re all buzzed and relaxed—with the exception of Dom. He’s very competitive when we play Taboo, especially when we got smoked by the girls last night.
“Drive!” Rowan says helplessly. “Accelerate? Fuel? Gas?”
All the guys are yelling out the most obvious answers on repeat, but Dom just gets more frustrated.
“Skip,” he mutters, setting the card aside. “Steering wheel, morons.”
The timer beeps and he glares at us. “We got three.”
Tess is up for the women. She sets her martini down and stands up, a stack of cards in her hand.
“Okay,” Ben says, resetting the timer. “....go.”
Tess looks directly at Cam. “It’s what we used to make on Saturday nights at the Stonybrook apartment.”
“Pizza!”
“Yep.” Tess puts the card in the point pile and moves on to the next one.
“Great Aunt Gail used to do this every Sunday at her church.”
“Play the organ!”
“Right.” She sets the card down and Dom gets up from his seat, stalking to the other side of the room.
“Um...okay, you can get French tips when you get a...?”
“Manicure!” Stella says.
“Right.”
The women’s turn continues like that, and they’ve scored eight points by the time the timer beeps.