Todos os capítulos de The Quarterback's Roommate : Capítulo 81 - Capítulo 90

Chapter 81 – Honeymoon (Eli POV) The beach house smelled like salt, sunscreen, and the faint coconut of the candle the rental company had left on the coffee table “for ambience.” It mingled with the briny breeze slipping through the open sliding doors, carrying the steady rhythm of waves rolling in just beyond the deck. We’d arrived after dark. No ceremony. No schedule. Just a key under the mat, a handwritten note on thick cardstock that read “Welcome, Mr. & Mr. Cruz-Summers,” and a bottle of champagne sweating in an ice bucket on the counter, condensation already pooling on the wood. Dante carried both suitcases inside one-handed still stubborn about the shoulder even though the doctor had cleared him weeks ago, still flexing like he needed to prove the scar didn’t own him anymore. I followed with the cooler of snacks I’d insisted on packing “in case we get stranded in paradise,” because apparently my brain still operated on worst-case scenarios even when the worst case was a pri

Chapter 83 – Career Crossroads (Eli POV)The email arrived at 9:47 a.m. on a Tuesday that had started like any other.I was still in pajamas—Dante’s old gray hoodie that smelled faintly of his cedar deodorant and the coffee I’d spilled on the sleeve last week. The kitchen window was cracked open, letting in the early-spring smell of wet grass and distant lawnmowers. Dante was already gone for morning PT; he’d kissed my temple on his way out, left a protein bar on the counter like a love note, and promised to be back by noon.I opened my inbox half-asleep, expecting the usual mix of freelance invoices, spam, and my sister sending another wedding-planning Pinterest board titled “Rustic But Make It Gay.”Instead, there it was.Subject: Offer – Senior Editor Position – Relocation Package IncludedSender: HarperCollins West Coast AcquisitionsI stared at it until the screen dimmed from inactivity.When I tapped it awake, the words hadn’t rearranged themselves into something safer.A mid

Chapter 85 – Full Circle (Eli POV – 15 Years Later) The dorm looked smaller than I remembered. Three flights of stairs still felt like three flights of stairs, but my knees complained more now sharp twinges with every step that hadn’t been there the last time we climbed them. Dante carried the small box of books we’d brought “just in case,” his shoulder long since healed, though he still rolled it absently when he thought no one was watching. The old fracture site had settled into a dull ache on rainy days, but he never mentioned it unless I asked. We’d come back for alumni weekend. Officially. Unofficially, we’d come back because the invitation email had arrived on a quiet Tuesday morning, landing in the inbox with a soft chime while we drank coffee at the scarred kitchen table we’d bought the year after the wedding. We’d looked at each other across chipped mugs—still the same table, still bearing faint rings from too many late-night writing sessions and spilled coffee—and said,

Chapter 87 – Ten Years, One More Light (Eli POV) Ten years felt like a number that belonged to other people. Not us. Not yet. But the calendar didn’t lie, and neither did the tiny handwritten banner our daughter, Lila, had taped crookedly across the kitchen doorway in bright purple marker: “10 YEARS OF DADDY E + DADDY D (AND PUCK & MILTON)”. The letters were uneven, the tape peeling at one corner already, but she’d spent twenty minutes getting it just right, tongue poking out in concentration the whole time. She was nine now—curly dark hair like mine, icy blue eyes like Dante’s, and an obsession with fairy lights that rivaled my own at her age. She’d inherited my habit of stringing them everywhere “for ambience,” as she proudly told anyone who asked. Puck—the hyper border collie who still thought he was a puppy despite turning seven last month—sprawled under the kitchen table, ears perked for any sign of falling food. Milton—the golden retriever who believed the world owed him b

Chapter 89 – Twenty-Five Years, Still Glowing (Eli POV – 25 Years Later)Twenty-five years should have felt impossible.Instead it felt inevitable.Like the way the sun rises every morning or the way Dante still rolls his shoulder when he thinks no one is watching.We gathered in the backyard on a late-summer evening that smelled like cut grass, charcoal smoke, and the faint vanilla of the candle Lila had lit on the picnic table “for ambience.” The fairy lights were everywhere—draped across the pergola, wrapped around the old maple tree, looped along the fence, strung in obscene amounts because Lila had declared “twenty-five years deserves excess” and then doubled down by bringing extra strands from her own apartment.She was twenty-four now. A graphic designer in Brooklyn. Still curly-haired. Still bossy. Still convinced fairy lights fixed everything.With her came her girlfriend, Maya—quiet, kind, with a laugh that made Lila’s whole face light up—and Maya’s little broth