Play Along(113)

“Are you sure?” Miller asks. “You don’t mind?”

“Do you want to go with the boys, Bug?” Kai directs his question to his son.

Max nods excitedly, clapping his hands as Cody carries him into their gondola.

The rest of the team disperses into multiple others, and Kai and Miller take their own, as do we.

As soon as the door closes, Kennedy takes the initiative to slide onto my lap as we face the window. “I’ve never been on a Ferris wheel before.”

“What?” I laugh. “Yes you have.”

She shakes her head no, watching as we slowly inch above the Chicago skyline. It takes me only a moment to register who I’m talking to. Sometimes, I forget that Kennedy didn’t have a normal upbringing. That there’s no way her pretentious mother would take her to the local fair or an amusement park.

“I got close once though.”

“Oh yeah? How so?”

“My parents had a house in the Hamptons and one summer while I was home, we were going out there for this big party my mother had planned. I think I was eleven or twelve, and I didn’t want to sit around while a bunch of older people faked that they liked each other. So, while the car was being packed up for the weekend, I ran away, got on the subway determined to spend my weekend at Coney Island. There was an old Ferris wheel there. It looked fun and I had never been on one.”

“You did not.”

She huffs a laugh. “I did.”

“Okay, rebel. And did you make it?”

“Nope. I did, however, make it to Brooklyn before one of the family drivers scooped me up and drove me straight out to the Hamptons. My mother didn’t even reprimand me when I got there. Even me trying to run away couldn’t get her attention.” She settles back into my chest. “A lot of people were impressed by my last name, but it wasn’t much fun growing up as a Kay.”

I slip my arm around her hip, finding her hand folded in her lap to run the pad of my thumb over her ring. “I don’t care what your last name was, Kenny. I only care what it is now.”

She chuckles. “You do know my last name isn’t actually Rhodes, right? Just because we’re married doesn’t mean I automatically took your last name.”

“Well, we should probably do something about that.”

She doesn’t respond. Just like she didn’t respond when I told her I loved her.

And that’s okay.

“When was the last time you talked to your mother?” I ask.

She shrugs. “I haven’t. Not since that dinner in Atlanta.”

“At all?”

She settles back against me again. “She tried to tell me that my attendance was mandatory at Connor and Mallory’s wedding, but Dean and I decided we weren’t going to go. I haven’t talked to her since, and I have no plans to. I’m tired of trying to be perfect for them. They don’t care anyway, so I’m trying to focus on what makes me happy instead.”

Fuck, I love that.

“Proud of you, Ken.”

A small smile tilts on her lips. “Me too.”

“Speaking of Dean, can I just express how much I hate that you two are staying at your place while he’s in town for this upcoming series.”

“Three quick nights. You won’t even notice I’m gone.”

That’s a goddamn lie and she knows it.

The wheel takes us up to the top of my favorite city. The sun is just setting off in the horizon, casting a warm, golden hue over Lake Michigan. The buildings’ reflections are clearly outlined on the water.

“I love it here,” I say to her quietly. “Chicago.”

She simply nods her agreement.

“Do you?” I ask, because that’s what I really need to know. Can she stay here? Can she be happy here even though staying wasn’t her first choice?

“I didn’t think much of it before, but it’s grown on me recently.”

“Are you talking about me or the city?”

“They go hand in hand, in my opinion. It’s kind of a package deal.”





Chapter 32


Kennedy


Tonight has been fun.

I enjoy being around the team, and it’s been nice spending time with them both in and outside of work. I used to be so afraid of getting in trouble for it, trying to be the perfect employee. But now, I just don’t care.

If Dr. Fredrick was going to fire me, he would’ve done it a long time ago, but he knows he can’t because I’ve done nothing to warrant it.

Well, other than marrying one of his players.

And blowing said player in the restroom at work.

God, that was fun.

“Ken!” Max yells, pointing down at me from where he sits on his dad’s shoulders. He has no idea how loud he is, thanks to the giant earmuffs he’s got on to protect his hearing from the fireworks that are about to start.

“Are you excited, Bug?”

He just smiles at me, unable to hear anything I have to say, and I smile right back.

A kiss lands on the top of my shoulder as Isaiah braces two hands on the metal fence in front of me, caging me in. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

“I like when you smile, Ken.”

“Me too.”