Charlotte heard the pride, the affection. “It must be tough for Jake to miss the entire second half of the season,” she said, knowing Jacob Esera had suffered a broken arm in the accident.
Gabriel nodded. “He’s healed well and the physiotherapist sees no problems ahead. The fact Danny managed to injure himself at the same time gave him some company at least.”
“He has incredible footwork on the field,” Charlotte said. “Daniel too. I can’t believe he got the ball over the line his last game.” Tackled by a huge opposition player, Daniel Esera had stretched out his arm even as he went down under a bone-bruising tackle; he’d slammed the rugby ball to the earth an inch over the try line.
“You’ve just proven you’re my perfect woman.” Gabriel’s grin lit up everything inside her. “You like the game.”
“I used to watch with my dad.” The memories were wonderful ones. “He turned the spare bedroom into his den, and the two of us would sit on this old, comfy couch, yelling at the television until my mom poked her head inside and told us to remember we were humans, not gorillas. Then she’d bring us more chips, a beer for my dad.”
Old pain had her rubbing a fisted hand over her heart. “I couldn’t watch for a long time after he died.” It had been too quiet without his ongoing commentary about the players’ moves, too sad without her mom’s affectionate head-shaking. “But then it became a way to remember him, remember them both.”
Gabriel took her hand, placed it on his thigh. “Was it an accident? With your dad?”
Feeling him so strong and warm under her touch somehow made it easier to talk about it. “No, he died in his sleep.” Peacefully and with a smile on his face, a smile Charlotte hadn’t seen since her mom passed away. “My mom and dad were so in love, like newlyweds their whole life together.” Charlotte had dreamed of the same kind of love before everything went wrong. “I knew my dad wouldn’t last long after my mom, but I didn’t expect to lose him four days after her.”
Gabriel put his hand over hers. “Ah, baby, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Turning her hand so she could lace her fingers with his, she found she could tell him the rest. “We came home from my mom’s funeral and he said he had to lie down. I hugged him and told him I loved him, and he said the same. That was the last time I saw him alive.” She blinked rapidly. “I’ve always been grateful for that—that I got to tell both of them how much I loved them before they were gone.”
“They would’ve known anyway, Charlotte.” He brushed his thumb over the back of her hand. “My brothers and I are firmly convinced parents know everything and have eyes in the back of their head. Sailor and Jake swear their back-of-the-head eyes started growing the instant they became dads.”
She laughed wetly. “When we were about sixteen, Molly and I decided to read an erotic romance we’d found in the library. When we left the room to grab snacks, my mom sat us down and said, ‘Girls, if you’re going to read erotic, don’t read that trash. Read this.’” Charlotte laughed at the memory of their mortification. “We were still gaping at her when she gave us three more books!”
Gabriel grinned. “I bet you were horrified.”
“You have no idea.” The two of them had scuttled back into the bedroom, red as beets. “Molly was still pretty bruised up inside with everything that had happened over the previous twelve months”—the details of which were now public knowledge—“but that day, we started giggling once we were in my room and couldn’t stop.”
It had been worth the mortification to see her friend laugh after the hell that had been Molly’s fifteenth year of life. “What about your mom and dad?” When he moved his hand to shift gears as they hit an incline, she turned hers palm-down again. “Any good stories?”
“A suitcase full of them.” His thigh flexed under her touch; Charlotte didn’t remove her hand because, blush or not, she liked touching him, liked feeling all that power so close.
“Staying on the erotic theme,” he said, “one time, Sailor and I decided to sneak out of bed after our parents and younger brothers were asleep so we could watch porn. We’d figured out the password to get past the child lock on the TV, and we were teenagers by then anyway.”
Charlotte turned in her seat to face him. “What happened?”
19
THE UNFORGETTABLE NIGHT OF PORN
“SO THE TWO OF us are staring goggle-eyed at the screen when we hear ‘Boys, real women do not look like plastic’ from behind us.” He shuddered. “As the oldest, I stood up, ready to take responsibility, but instead of telling us off, my mother came over and kissed me on the cheek. She told me to make sure we went to bed after the movie was over and to remember what she’d said.”