“Hindsight is such a bitch, isn’t it?” I consider my lack of foresight with Bishop. “The whole team is back?”

“Yeah. Bishop couldn’t get off the plane fast enough.”

“So he’s probably home now?”

“There’s a good chance. You want me to drop you off at the condo?” RJ offers.

I don’t want to make Bishop wait any longer than I already have. “I think home would be a good place for me to go.”

He turns the car around, and I send a message to Pattie and Jules that I’ll have to take a rain check on brunch. It’s time to stop burying my head in the sand.

I send Bishop the message I should have days ago.

CHAPTER 27

UNDERWEAR DECLARATIONS

Bishop

Things I should have done before leaving for a series of away games:

rescheduled my cleaner to come the day before I get home;

done my laundry (or had my cleaner do it);

changed my goddamn bedsheets;

ordered a bunch of shit to prove to Stevie that I’m it for her and she’s it for me, and fuck everyone else and what they think;

shaved my balls.

Things I did before I left for the series of away games: none of the above.

So as much as I want to knock on Stevie’s door and force her to deal with me the second I arrive on the penthouse floor, I have a bunch of shit to take care of.

Nolan is sitting on the couch, watching TV and eating carrots and some kind of dip.

I take in the pigsty that is my apartment. “Nice of you to pick up after yourself while I was gone.”

“I’m taking it you still haven’t talked to Stevie,” he says through a mouthful of chewed-up vegetables.

“Not yet.” I pause and pick up the can sitting on the coffee table, ready to give my brother hell because it’s barely noon and he’s drinking, until I read the label. “Since when do you drink nonalcoholic beer?”

“Uh, since the past week, I guess.” Nolan runs his hands over his thighs, almost like he’s nervous.

“Did something happen while I was away?” Nolan drinks light beer most of the time, and he always balks at me when I get him a six-pack of the fake-out stuff, since he’s really not supposed to drink at all.

“I had an incident a while back.” He chews on a nail.

“What kind of incident?”

“I misplaced my insulin, and Stevie helped me out.”

“What? When the fuck did that happen?” And why the hell didn’t Stevie say anything to me?

“It was during your last away series, before the viral video. I asked her not to say anything because I didn’t want you to worry more than you already do. She took me to urgent care, and we had a talk about me taking better care of myself.”

I motion between us. “You and I have that fucking talk all the damn time.”

He shrugs. “I know. I guess I just never really realized how hard it was on you. Or how selfish I was being until she pointed it out. So I figured it would be a good idea to take better care of myself so I can keep being a pain in your ass for as long as possible.”

I get a tight feeling in my throat. “Right. Okay. Well, that’s good. I’m glad.”

“Yeah.” He nods like a bobblehead.

“I’m always going to be here to make sure you’re taken care of,” I say, because it’s true. “But it sure would be great if you valued your life as much as I do.”

He clears his throat. “I know. I get that. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t live your life because you’re afraid of the way I’m living mine. I realize the best way to make it easier is for me to take my diabetes seriously so you don’t have to worry as much.”

I blink a bunch of times and rub the back of my neck. “That’s really good to hear, Nolan.”

“I figure you’d need me to be around for dating advice eventually.” He grins.

I roll my eyes. “I already told you. I don’t need dating advice.”

“Oh really? Does that mean you’ve fixed things with Stevie?”

“Not yet. I’m about to, though, right after I clean this mess up.” I motion to myself and head for the hall, pausing to squeeze his shoulder as I pass. It’s as sentimental as I’m willing to get with him.

“I love you too, bro!” he calls after me.

“Yeah, yeah,” I mutter, but I smile as I drop my duffel on my bed. At least I have one less thing to be concerned about.

The cleanliness of my apartment is not my first priority, since we can talk at Stevie’s place, but the personal grooming and gift buying need to happen before the door knocking.

I shower, shave all the important parts, and head back out to buy nice things for the woman I want as my girlfriend, hoping that by the end of the day that’s exactly what she’ll be. I buy two hundred dollars’ worth of chocolate and an equally expensive bouquet of flowers. I’d stop and grab a pizza, because it’s kind of our thing, but I’d prefer not to have olive-pineapple breath in case we make out later. Also, my hands are already pretty full.

I step out onto the sidewalk, prepared to return to my apartment and have a long-overdue conversation with Stevie. The sun has disappeared behind the clouds, and it’s started to rain. Perfect. I didn’t have the foresight to bring an umbrella with me, so there’s no way to hide from the rain. I’m waiting at the crosswalk for the light to turn when my phone buzzes. I shift the giant bouquet of flowers and adjust the bag of chocolate that’s cutting off the circulation in my forearm so I can fish it out of my pocket.