Offsides - A Forbidden Summer novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: The Toast

Nate waited until the white shirts had won and the room was full of noise.

Then he climbed onto the bottom step of the staircase with a beer in his hand and tapped it with a spoon.

"Everybody!" he called. "Quiet a second. Toast."

The room quieted, because it was Nate, and he had always been the kind of boy people listened to.

"To Coach Hayes," he said. "Best coach this county's ever had. And to his family, who've opened their house to us all summer."

The fathers cheered.

"And to Katie," said Nate, and his eyes found me against the doorframe. "Who I hear has been such a good daughter, sitting with him through every single game."

A few people laughed politely.

"Every game," Nate said. "Right on his lap, sometimes, when the couch fills up."

The laughter stopped.

It was a small silence, and a bad one. A mother looked at her plate.

Devin had gone very still in the armchair.

I put the stack of cups down on the hall table.

Then I walked into the middle of the room, because the worst thing you can do with a bomb is let someone else hold it.

"Nate," I said, clear enough for everyone. "You're drunk."

"I've had two."

"You've had six, and you've texted me nineteen times since Tuesday."

I took out my phone and held it up so the room could see the screen.

"This one says 'I'm outside.' This one says 'Answer me.' This one is from four this morning, and it says 'You'll be sorry.'"

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