Unforgettable (Cloverleigh Farms #5)(3)

“That’s because you never come home anymore.” On her feet again, she stepped back from me with tears in her eyes. “God, I missed you, you asshole.”

“I missed you too.” I hooked an arm around her neck and ruffled her dark hair the way she’d hated when we were young. “You know, you can always come visit me more often. Planes do fly both ways.”

“Stop it!” Laughing, she tried to swat my hand away. “Don’t make me sorry I invited you to my shotgun wedding.”

“Are you even old enough to get married?”

She rolled her eyes. “Tyler, I’m twenty-eight.”

I pretended to think about it. “No way. That would make me thirty-six.”

“Exactly. You grumpy old man.” She grinned, suddenly looking exactly like the pigtailed, gap-toothed, dirt-under-her-fingernails little girl who used to play in the park on summer afternoons while I was at practice. Before games, she used to give me a shamrock she’d plucked from the ground, telling me it was for good luck. No matter how many times I told her that four-leaf clovers were good luck and shamrocks only had three, she’d insist her gift would be my lucky charm that day and made me promise I’d keep it in my pocket. I always did.

When I left home at eighteen, she’d given me a shoebox full of them as a going-away present. I probably hadn’t cried since elementary school, but that day, I came damn close.

“Come on,” she said, tugging at my hand. “We’ve got a table already. I can’t wait for you to meet Josh.”

I let her drag me toward the back of the place, where her boyfriend—now fiancé—sat at a picnic-style table with long benches on either side. He stood up as I approached, looking a little nervous for a guy with so many tattoos. Then again, I could be pretty intimidating. I might not have had my pitching arm anymore, but I was tall, broad-shouldered and muscular, with a menacing glare honed by years of staring down men from sixty feet away. Just to be an asshole, I decided to give Josh here a little taste of it—he was more than likely a perfectly good guy, but he had knocked up my kid sister. I wanted him to know he couldn’t mess with her—or me.

“Tyler, this is Josh. Josh, this is my brother, Tyler.” Sadie looked on anxiously as her fiancé held his hand out and I waited just a second longer than necessary to extend mine.

“Nice to meet you,” Josh said. His grip was firm, his smile tentative but genuine. He met my eyes squarely. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Oh yeah?” I cocked a brow at my sister, wondering what her stories about me were like.

“All good stuff,” she said, gesturing to the bench across from Josh. “Why don’t you sit there?”

I did as she suggested, and Sadie sat next to Josh, scooting close enough to loop her hands around his heavily inked bicep. She gazed up at him adoringly, and he planted a kiss on her forehead. I was simultaneously grossed out, baffled, and happy for them. I mean, I sure as hell wouldn’t be able to do the whole ’til death do us part shit, but good for them, I guess.

The server came by, and we ordered drinks—beers for Josh and me, water for Sadie—and while those were being poured, we looked over the menu. Josh recommended the tacos, and Sadie loved the turkey club. I decided on a burger and fries, but mostly I just wanted that beer. When it arrived, I tipped it up and took several long, cold swallows.

“So Ty,” my sister said, “there’s something I want to ask you.” She glanced at Josh. “Something we want to ask you.”

“What?”

She took a deep breath. “Will you be the baby’s godfather?”

I froze with the beer glass halfway between my mouth and the table. Then I lifted it again and took another drink. “Me?”

“Of course, you.” Sadie smiled at me and shook her head. “How many big brothers do you think I have?”

“You really think I’m qualified?” I looked from one to the other. “Josh, you don’t have a brother?”

He shook his head. “Just a sister. She’ll be the godmother.”

“I don’t even go to church,” I told them.

“That’s okay.” My sister shrugged. “It’s not so much a religious thing for us. We just like knowing that if anything happened to us, the baby would be taken care of. We want someone we can trust.”

My chest grew tight, and I quickly took another sip of my beer.

Trust. I used to have trust. In my arm. In my mind. In the knowledge that a baseball would fucking land where I threw it.

But I did my best to smile. “Of course I will. I don’t know the first fucking thing about babies, so you better stick around, but I’m honored. Thanks.”

Sadie beamed, her eyes tearing up. “God, I was so scared you’d say no.”

“She wasn’t even going to ask,” added Josh.

“Well, it’s a lot of pressure.” My sister wiped her eyes. “Sorry, I’m emotional these days. It’s hormones.”

“A lot of hormones.” Josh lifted his beer to his lips.

Sadie elbowed him and went on. “Anyway, it’s a big ask, and I didn’t want you to feel obligated to say yes. Wait.” Her gaze turned suspicious. “Did you say yes because you feel obligated?”

“No,” I lied, praying that this one time she wouldn’t see through it. “I said yes because I wanted to.”