Page 97 of Chasing Smoke

“Xavier Greene, good to meet you.” He shakes our hands, and that’s when it dawns on me where I recognize this man from.

“Holy shit. You used to play quarterback for the San Francisco Kingsmen.”

He chuckles. “I did. Feels like a million lifetimes ago, though. I leave football to my sons now.”

My attention goes to Emelia. “You didn’t tell me that your uncle played for the Kingsmen.”

She laughs. “Yeah, and my Uncle Rylan is a professional soccer player. Should I have mentioned that he’s married to Easton Bailey’s cousin?”

“Easton Bailey, the shortstop for the Chicago Colts?” My mind is blown right now.

Collins laughs and rubs my back. “Breathe, Ansel.”

After I’m finished interrogating Emelia about what else she might have forgotten to mention—newsflash, it’s that her uncle’s wife is also the niece of the Phoenix Bailey, whom I’m not afraid to say I lusted after during my teenage years. She was the biggest pop star at the time. We head over to wish my uncle a happy birthday where he sits, wearing a Bad Bunny shirt in the same La-Z-Boy chair he’s had since I was a teenager.

“Don’t get up.” I wave him off when he starts to put down the leg extension. I set his present to the side of his chair with all the other ones. “Happy birthday, old man.” I lean in to give him a hug.

“Happy birthday, Roy.” Collins hugs him.

He whispers something in her ear I can’t hear, but when she pulls back, they share a look. He takes her hand and squeezes before letting it go.

Sutton joins us in the living room, and until now, I didn’t realize she was absent. Probably because I’m not used to having her home. “All right, the cake is iced and ready to go.”

When she extended the invite, she made it clear that the gathering didn’t involve a meal—merely cake, drinks, and presents.

“Your sister made a flourless banana cake to celebrate.” Roy feigns excitement.

Sutton sets her hands on her hips. “I saw your lab work. None of you have been watching him. He’s prediabetic and needs to watch his sugar intake. Diabetes is no joke.”

“Never said it was. But what’s the point in living if you take all the fun out of it?”

She shakes her head. “You act like I’m running a boot camp.”

He looks from her to me. “She’s forcing me to go on hikes now that the weather is warmer. Hikes, Ansel.”

“Thought you were looking a little trimmer around the middle.” I wink at him.

“You two sound like an old married couple,” Jimmy says, laughing.

Sutton tells everyone to head into the dining room so we can have cake and asks me to bring the presents over to the table so Uncle Roy can open them there. My sister runs a tight ship. Always has. I wasn’t surprised when she went into event planning.

Everyone else goes into the dining room while I’m bent at the waist, collecting the gifts. When I straighten up, Sutton is still there.

“Happy for you, brother.”

I know she’s referring to Collins and me. “Thanks. I’m happy too.”

“Oh, boy. You and Elliott are a match with those hearts in your eyes. Now we just have to get Hollis a woman, and it’ll be a trifecta.”

“What about getting you a man?” I arch an eyebrow.

She waves me off. “Not worth the time or the trouble.”

Sutton helps me with the last few gifts, and we join everyone in the living room.

The night passes in a blur of the usual chaos you’d expect when we’re all together, and before I know it, I’m backing out of the driveway to leave.

“That was fun.” Collins runs her fingers through the hair on the side of my head.