The Chad Next Door (Love in Sun City) by Dana LeCheminant

Author:Dana LeCheminant [LeCheminant, Dana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dana LeCheminant
Published: 2023-10-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Hope

After a day of making the biggest snowman I’ve ever seen—not hard considering I’ve never seen one in my life—and a snow cave that fits all four of us and Duke with room to spare, I experience what might be the easiest bedtime of my life. There isn’t a single complaint from Zelda, who tends to try to stay up as late as she can, or any sign of a tear from Link, who is happy to lead Duke to his bed again and cuddle up with him. They both fall asleep with smiles on their faces, which is quite possibly the best sight I’ve ever seen in my life.

Well, maybe a close second to the sight of Chad watching Red-tails baseball highlights from Monday’s game. He’s settled on the couch with two mugs of hot chocolate in front of him, complete with mini marshmallows. He wears sweats and a t-shirt, freshly showered and looking completely at ease as he laughs at something on his phone. Then he looks over at me, and his smile grows even wider.

“I’m guessing they fell asleep quickly?” he says, holding his arm out in a clear invitation.

I snuggle right in. I’ve borrowed some of his clothes again—turns out I packed myself some terrible options—and I have never been comfier despite his shirt being way too big on me. “I’m surprised they stayed awake long enough to brush their teeth. And don’t worry; I brushed my teeth too.”

“I wasn’t worried.” He proves it by kissing me softly, adding to this already great day. We focused more on the kids today, making sure they were warm and happy as we played in the snow, so I haven’t kissed him since this morning. Way too long. “I’m sorry about the Burrs losing, by the way.”

I shoot him a mock glare. “You’re not sorry at all. Your brother pitched a good game, though.”

“Yeah.” He frowns at the TV, watching a replay of one of Houston’s pitches. It’s a good pitch, but Chad doesn’t seem to like it. “I think he might be injured. He didn’t throw as well as he usually does.”

Well, that doesn’t sound good. “Why didn’t they sub in a different pitcher?”

He rolls his eyes, like I’ve asked a dumb question even though teams have multiple pitchers for a reason. “Because my brother likes to play the hero. Or, in this case, the martyr. He’s good at hiding when something’s wrong.”

The camera does a close up of Houston, who looks tired but as determined as ever. I’m pretty sure he usually pitches whole games instead of subbing out halfway through the game. The Red-tails probably would have won by more points if they had let a relief pitcher come in and close out the game.

Chad runs his fingers along my arm as he watches Houston strike out the Burrs player up at bat. “He didn’t lose a game this season,” he mutters. “The fact that his team was losing probably made him play harder in the last inning as a matter of pride.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.