Block Shot (Hoops #2)(129)

“I thought you were more honest than that, Foster,” he says with a microscopic smile.

“It is good seeing you. Of course, I’m glad you’re doing so well.”

“It has been a lot, and Banner has been invaluable.” He pauses. “Thank you for not making her choose or keeping her away from me.”

“You mean the way you kept her away from me?” I can’t resist asking.

That tiny quirk of his lips come again. “I deserved that.”

Yeah, you did.

“I was desperate to keep her,” he says simply, looking me in the eyes. “I’m sure you can relate, can understand. I really appreciate you allowing her to help me these last few months.”

“Allow?” I scoff. “You know I couldn’t stop Banner doing what Banner wants to do if I tried. Believe me, I’ve tried. I wouldn’t want to stop her. Banner is completely mine and wholly her own. I love that about her.”

He nods, a smile of understanding tugging the corners of his mouth. We don’t speak for a few minutes, lost in our private thoughts. Lately, I’ve been tossing something around in my head that he may be the only person who can appreciate.

“Have you ever heard of multiple discovery?” I ask, leaning against the terrace wall.

“Can’t say that I have,” Zo replies, frowning.

“It’s usually used for scientists or inventors. The phenomenon of two people discovering something in different places at essentially the same time,” I say. “You’d be surprised how often it happens. Calculus, oxygen, the blast furnace . . . all multiple discoveries. Even Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was postulated at the same time by someone else.”

Zo lifts his brows, silently asking what my nerd talk has to do with the price of tacos in Mexico.

“I think that’s what happened to us,” I continue. “We both met Banner at the same time in her life, and we saw something in her no one else saw yet. We made a spectacular discovery, and the rest of the world didn’t recognize it. Couldn’t see it when we could. It’s like we shared a secret, the two of us.”

“I get that,” he says quietly, lifting a speculative gaze to mine. “And how is it resolved? When two discover something at the same time?”

I shrug, shove my hands into the pocket of my pants.

“It becomes a matter of who tells the secret first,” I explain. “A rush to claim.”

“So are you saying if I had met Banner first, she would have chosen me?” Dark humor fills his eyes.

“No, I don’t think so,” I answer. “Banner is my opposite, but she’s my match.”

My equinox.

“The only way Banner would have chosen you,” I tell him frankly, honestly, “is if she’d never met me.”

We are magnets who distracted ourselves with career, family, other people for a decade, but ultimately couldn’t resist the pull of one another.

“And you? You would have chosen someone else?” he asks, but I think he already knows the answer.

“Probably not,” I answer quietly. “You’ll find someone else, Zo. I know you will, but Banner’s kinda my one shot.”

He nods, maybe starting to understand why I fought so hard for her. Why I bulldozed him and anything in my path. I’m not an easy man to love, and finding someone I can love for the rest of my life would be nearly impossible. Banner is my miracle. Maybe he gets that and can forgive me one day for doing whatever it took to have her.

The woman in question strides out to the terrace, her confident gait briefly broken when she sees the two of us together. She doesn’t voice the question written all over her face, but she’s probably discretely checking for blood.

“Zo, you’re supposed to wear this.” She holds up a facial mask. “A lot of good it’s doing by the punch bowl when you’re out here. I’m also not sure you should be out here. Sun’s going down, and there’s a little bit of a chill. Maybe you should—”

“Okay,” he cuts in, lips twisted in exasperation. “Bannini, I got it.”

Their eyes hold for a second. Hers concerned, his a little irritated but mostly indulgent.

“Alright, but you need to drink this.” She offers him a large cup and straw I hadn’t noticed her holding. “None of that food in there is safe. You wouldn’t be able to keep any of it down. This is sweet potato, lime, pineapple—

“I need to tell you something,” he interrupts, flicking a glance my way and then back to Banner before going on. “I hired a nurse to take care of me so you don’t have to do so much or come over all the time.”

Praise Jesus. I’m going to church every week from now on.

“A nurse?” Consternation wrinkles Banner’s expression. “Why? I can—”

“No, you can’t, Banner,” he says gently, firmly. “I need you not to for a while.”

She still looks confused, but I’m not. Zo needs to fall out of love with Banner and can’t while she’s there all the time being exactly the woman he wants.

“I personally think it’s a great idea,” I chime in, just in case they’re wondering.

They both shoot me a wry “I bet you do” look and turn their attention back to each other.