Rundown (Curveball Book 2) (21 page)

“
No,”
he says, parking the car.  “This is.”

My
eyes trail from his face to the spectacular view ahead of me.

“
Wow,”
I whisper.

Sloping
hills on either side cradle the calm lake a mere hundred feet away
from where Drew’s stopped the car.  A light fog dances over
the top of the water and the way the early morning sun glistens on
the surface takes my breath away.  I open the car door and step
outside, stretching my legs and inhaling the scent of fall. 

“
What
do you think?” he asks, resting his hands on the roof of the car.

“
I
want to live here one day,” I reply without a second thought.

Being
at his parent’s house is like stepping into a Pottery Barn
catalogue.  It has this modern rustic feel, enhanced no doubt by
the Thanksgiving décor.  The best part is that it’s cozy and
smells amazing.  As if being here is second nature, the kids
toss their things on the couch and run outside to play with Drew’s
dad, while his mom helps Drew and me get settled.  

“
These
are for you.”  I hand Drew’s mom a flower arrangement and
balloons that the kids picked out.

“
How
sweet,” she beams, placing them on the kitchen counter.

“
Breanne,
I hope you don’t mind sharing a room with the kids,” she says,
leading upstairs and down the hallway.

“
Not
at all, Mrs. Scott—”

“
Nancy,”
she scolds.

“
Sorry,
Nancy.  It’s perfectly fine.  It’s only been a few days
since I told the kids how serious Drew and I were.  It’s
probably too soon to be sharing a bed,” I admit.  
Was that
too much information for his mother?

On
cue, Drew wraps his arms around me from behind.  “What she
means to say is that it’s ok for this trip but that we’re going
to start house hunting when we get back to Boston.”

“
Is
that so?” I ask, turning into him.

“
It’s
a fact.”  He kisses the tip of my nose and smacks my backside
before heading outside to join his dad.

“
Will
Drew be in the room across the hall?” I ask.

“
He’ll
be on the couch in the living room.”  

Nancy’s
smile fades and her gaze trails to the closed door across the
hallway.  
That must be Alexis’s room.

I
put my hand on her shoulder as she silently folds a blanket.  “I’m
sorry.”

“
Don’t
be silly, Breanne.  Alexis would want Drew to stay in there.
 It’s too soon for me though.  I can’t believe this
will be our first big holiday without her.”

Despite
having lost someone myself, I can’t quite find the words to comfort
her, so I hug her instead.

Later
that night, I’m restless in bed.  The unfamiliar sounds of
night in the country are driving me crazy so I decide to quietly make
myself a cup of tea.  As I’m waiting for the water to heat up,
I hear Drew mumbling in the other room.  Walking quietly behind
the couch, I listen.

“
Run.
Alexis, they’re coming,” he mutters.

“
Who’s
coming?” I whisper.

“
Spiders,”
he unconsciously replies and then rolls into the couch.  

I
consider waking him, but he needs rest.  Pulling the blanket
over him, I kiss the back of his head, deciding it’s better to let
him be.  Just as I cross back into the kitchen I hear him say,
“Some bites have no cure.”

“
Mom,
you gotta get up.”  Colin insistently tugs on my arm until I
roll over.

“
Mmm,”
I grumble, throwing my arm over my eyes to block out the light.
 Inhaling, I’m welcomed with the most wonderful scent.
 Cinnamon rolls and coffee.

“
Ok,
ok.  I’m getting up.”

I
quickly throw on clothes and freshen up in the bathroom before making
my way to the kitchen where I find a flurry of activity.  The
kids are eating at the counter with Drew.  Nancy is whisking
eggs while eyeing turkey-shaped pancakes on a griddle.  And Paul
is…stretching?  

“
Finally,”
Drew says upon making eye contact with me.

“
Why
didn’t you get me up sooner?” I ask, planting a kiss on his cheek
and then each of the kid’s heads.  I look at the clock on the
wall and groan.  “It’s only 7am.”

“
There’s
a lot to do today, my dear,” Nancy informs me.

“
More
pancakes Noni!” Maddie squeals.

“
It’s
coming dear,” Nancy sings, the joy over her new nickname evident by
her radiant smile.

“
Why
is your dad stretching?” I quietly ask Drew.

“
Flag
football baby.  Hurry up and eat.”

“
What?”

“
Thanksgiving
and football go together.”

“
Why
can’t we just watch it on TV?  Isn’t that the tradition?”
I ask.

“
Colin
wants to know the rules of the game.  There’s no better way to
learn than to actually play, so we’ve decided on a new tradition.”

“
Shouldn’t
I be helping your mom with all the cooking?”

“
Oh,
I appreciate the thought Breanne.  I’ve got it under control.
 Enjoy yourself.”

I
turn to grab a piece of sausage and roll my eyes, knowing I’ll have
to put on my happy face.  

“
I
saw that,” Drew says, pulling me into his lap.  “It’s
going to be fun.  Promise.”

Twenty
minutes later, I walk outside and watch as Paul and Drew hold
opposite ends of a measuring tape, while Colin is spray painting the
grass parallel to the men, and the girls toss the ball back and
forth.  

“
What
are you guys doing?”

“
Marking
the end zones,” Drew says like it should be obvious.  “Could
you put the spray paint on the table by the garage?”  

I
take the spray paint and head over to a table that has a portable
flip scoreboard and a countdown clock the size of a boom box.  

“
Wow,
you really take your sports seriously.”

“
Anything
worth doing, is worth doing right,” Paul chimes in.  

“
Alright,
let’s do this.”

Paul
explains the rules and splits us up into two teams of four.  It’s
Drew, Paul, Aubrey and Corinne against Maddie, Colin, Everett and me.
 We’re all handed two pieces of cloth which we stick inside
the waistband of our pants and huddle up to plot our strategy.  Since
our team won the coin toss, we get the ball.  Everett decides
that I should run the ball while Maddie and Colin block.  He
hikes the football and as soon as it’s in my hands I take off down
the field, juking past Aubrey and narrowly missing Paul on my way to
the end zone.  Having lost track of Drew, I glance over my
shoulder feeling ridiculously excited, only to be side-tackled and
thrown to the ground.   

“
What
was that for?” I exclaim, breathlessly.  “You said there’s
no tackling!”

Drew
gets up and offers me a hand, hysterically laughing. “Did you think
I was just going to let you score that easily?”

I
brush his hand away and stand up unassisted.  I fist his shirt,
pulling him towards me, and press up on my tiptoes so that we’re
nose to nose.  “Do that again and I can tell you who won’t
be scoring outside of this game anytime soon,” I warn and then
forcefully push him away.

“
Talk
about fighting dirty.”

Drew
behaves himself the rest of the game, and I have to admit that I’m
enjoying our new Thanksgiving tradition.  Having each scored a
few times, and run several laps up and down the field, the kids are
exhausted.  Maddie makes the last touchdown.  Colin and
Aubrey run and lift her up as she chucks the football backwards over
her head, causing it to roll down an embankment to where the driveway
pavement meets the yard near a tree.  I run to grab it so that
it doesn’t roll down into the road.  I bend over to pick it up
and flinch when my fingers brush against a half-smoked cigar that’s
still burning.  I step back cautiously and look around the
surrounding area, suddenly feeling as if I’m being watched.  

“
Guess
I forgot to put that out,” Agent Spencer says, walking up behind
me.

I
smile faintly, feeling slightly on edge.  

“
Mom!”
Maddie shrieks excitedly as she runs towards me, latching onto my
leg.  “Noni has warm apple cider!”

Not
wanting my active imagination to interfere with today, I shake off
the unease and go inside to clean up.  

“
Breanne,
dear.  Can you go into the hutch and grab the dishes.”

“
Of
course.”

I
head into the dining room and take out ten dishes.  Carefully
setting them out, I notice I have one too many.  As I set it
back inside the hutch, a beautiful turkey shaped basket filled with
paper catches my eye.  Taking it out, I read several individual
notes that say things such as family, baseball, warm weather, and
1-4-3.  Just then Nancy walks into the room, setting a bowl of
mashed potatoes on the table.  She walks over to me and takes a
piece of paper from the basket and bursts into tears.