Page 101 of Hometown Halftime

Knox is still staring at me suspiciously. “You’re living with Weston?”

“Again,” I say carefully, “temporarily.”

Cam grins slowly. “And how’s that going for everybody?”

“Totally fine. Just two normal roomies,” I answer.

Beside me, Riley mutters, “We’re lying now?”

I elbow him hard enough that he coughs. Unfortunately, that makes everything worse, because suddenly all the men in the room are looking between us with identical expressions.

"Ohhh," Ty says.

“Yup,” Cam agrees.

Knox points his beer at Riley. “Are you making moves on my rugby coach?”

Riley doesn’t even hesitate. “Respectfully? Yes, sir.”

Embarrassment fills every cell of my body while Brynn bursts out laughing, and Kate nearly spits out her lemonade.

“Oh my God,” I groan, covering my face. “Can everyone stop talking?”

“Nope,” Levi says with satisfaction. “This is the most entertainment we’ve had all week.”

Evie wanders into the dining room at the worst possible moment, holding a can of soda.

“What’s making moves mean?”

Every adult freezes.

Knox recovers first. “Something we say in sports.”

She shrugs, unbothered. “Okay.”

She skips away, and I let out a breath.

As we all settle around the dining room table, the teasing has subsided, and we’ve all moved onto other topics. Cam asks Riley about football, and they discuss what his coaches back at school are telling him. Ty launches into a story about one of his hockey players trying to fight his own teammate during the season opener.

And Riley just…fits.

He doesn’t sit awkwardly at the edge of conversations trying to impress anyone. He folds into the group naturally, listening when people talk, giving shit back without overdoing it.

At one point, he held a five-minute conversation with Evie about sharks. Riley takes it all in stride, like this is a completely normal Sunday evening. I feel a sinking feeling in my chest, knowing Brynn was right when she called him a swoon-muffin.

“Oh no,” Brynn whispers beside me.

I tear my eyes away from Riley. “What?”

“You have ‘the look,’” she says with air quotes.

“Ew, I do not.”

“I had that look when Knox won me over,” Brynn adds.

I scrunch my face in disgust. “My face doesn’t do that.”

Kate snorts. “It does now.”