The No Regrets Groom Read online

  Ziggy was stunned. “How did you know all that?”

  “I’m psychic. Ask me what your future entails.” He winked at them. “Beautiful women, that’s what.”

  All of his brothers laughed heartily. Ziggy was still skeptical.

  His mother smiled at Ziggy. “Ty talks with Soph’s mom more than I do.”

  “Since I’ve been diagnosed, she texts me all the time.” Ty waggled his eyebrows and put his chin into the air. “I know you’re all jealous.” He had taken on this brave guy schtick in front of all of them. He pretended he was fine, that he was handling everything perfectly.

  Ziggy saw right through it. “Hmm.”

  “Quit being jealous of how much Soph’s mom loves me. She would have loved you more if you wouldn’t have been an idiot so many times.”

  His words had bite to them, and the table got quiet.

  Ty put his hands up in the air, surrendering. “Hey, I’m just playin’ ya. Man, everyone’s so touchy.” He rolled his eyes and grabbed for another piece of bacon. “The truth is that the infamous Marshall sucked! Guess you have a chance now, dude. Don’t blow it.”

  This whole conversation felt off, and Ziggy didn’t know how to react.

  “You should go for her,” Ty encouraged. “I know this because, well, I’m dying. I’ve decided that you know things when you’re dying.”

  “Stop,” Dax said. Ocean and Boston voiced their displeasure as well.

  “What the heck, Ty?” Ziggy didn’t like how Ty had been throwing around “I’m a dying guy” lately.

  Ty scoffed at them. He snatched a piece of bacon and let his mother swipe at him. “I am. The sooner you all accept it, the better.”

  His mother blinked rapidly, which meant she was about to cry. Dang it.

  Ty shrugged. “That’s why I am going to live better than all of you. I’m going to do what Tim McGraw says and ‘Live Like You Were Dying.’” He busted out into the chorus. “I went skydiving, I went Rocky Mountain climbing …”

  Ziggy exchanged glances with his brothers, and his mother let out a long sigh. He knew she was worried about Ty because he hadn’t really been sad.

  They didn’t have time to say anything, because Ty kept talking. “Before long, Ziggy will start singing, ‘Oh, baby, give me one more chance … I want you back.’”

  This got everyone to laugh, and they all joined in, even his mother.

  “It worked last night,” Dax said as he lifted a victory fist into the air.

  All his brothers lifted their fists too. “Woot!” Ocean yelled.

  Dax grinned. “When I took her to the airport earlier, she was still smiling about all of us singing that song.”

  Ziggy shook his head at the stupid happy look on Dax’s face.

  “I’m going back to Puerto Rico to help her with her project.” Dax nudged Ziggy. “Dude, I can totally share the song, especially with Soph. Let’s go sing it to her right now.”

  “Yeah.” The rest of his brothers laughed.

  “Oh, darling, all I need is one more chance.” Ty belted the song out.

  The rest of his brothers added in the harmony. “To show I really love you.” They snapped their fingers to the beat.

  “Stop!” Ziggy blurted out, wishing it could be that simple.

  Ty tipped back his head. “I want you back.”

  “I want you back,” the rest of his brothers sang.

  Ziggy laughed at their antics. “Stop! I’m pretty sure she hates me.”

  “She’s still hot.” Boston wiggled his brows. “Worth the song.”

  Ocean winked at Ziggy. “Yeah, she is.”

  “It’s complicated.” Ziggy thought about how her boyfriend was supposed to propose.

  Ocean nudged Boston, looking mischievous. “Good, then you won’t mind if we take a shot with her.”

  “Yeah,” Boston agreed. “How many of us had a crush on her?”

  All of them raised their hands and laughed. Ziggy’s hackles rose, and he suppressed a growl.

  Dax pushed him. “Dude, chill, she always was into you. I don’t know what happened on graduation night at the bonfire.”

  Ziggy still got fired up by the memory of Sophia kissing Travis Miller. “I don’t know.”

  Obnoxiously, Ty punched him in the shoulder. “Fix it. Go get her back.”

  “That simple?” Ziggy challenged.

  Ty pretended to kiss his fingers, the kind of gesture a chef would make. “From a dying man’s lips.”

  “Stop it.” Ziggy pulled free, taking the whole plate of bacon and dashing off. “Enough!”

  “Hey!” Ocean called out, chasing after him.

  After they settled down and ate breakfast, they all sat around discussing the success of the fundraiser from the previous night and what they could do next to raise more money.

  Ty sat off to the side quietly. Ziggy could imagine how overwhelming this whole thing must be. The diagnosis was so unsure. The average length of life for someone with ALS was between two and five years, some shorter, some longer. Ziggy’s heart broke whenever he thought of losing his baby brother.

  Worst of all was that while Ty would still be mentally fine, his body would be a shell. Once again, those thoughts pushed Ziggy into action. What could they do? They needed big money. They needed the kind of money that could produce a cure.

  His brothers threw out a bunch of ideas for television show appearances to draw more attention. Funds they could start. Different events they could raffle off, because they were all NFL players and people wanted to hang out with them.

  As if a light bulb had switched on, Ziggy realized what he would really like to do for Ty. A group of YouTubers were travelling around the country, doing fun things with famous people and then recording it. They were making money off of it, but Ziggy had another idea. “What if we did a couple of things you always wanted to do and put it on YouTube?”

  The kitchen fell quiet as everyone stared at him.

  “Don’t do that,” Dax said, worried. “Ty needs to be careful.”

  His mother frowned at Ziggy. “I don’t like that.”

  Ziggy knew that ALS brought on a deterioration of the muscles, but Ty would be fine. “You’re good, right?”

  “Dude.” Ocean shook his head. “Ty will have time later.”

  Boston looked at his hands. “Too much, Zig. We’ll do cool stuff once it’s cured.”

  Ziggy put his hand up. “Let me finish. What if we used Ty for ads so people could donate to ALS?”

  No one said anything.

  Ziggy felt stupid for saying it. “Never mind. I … I just …”

  “That’s brilliant,” Ty said, nodding quickly. “We could make it my No Regrets list. Yes, I talk to America. I mean, I’m all over the press anyway, but this way I control the conversation, right?” He stood and paced, snapping his fingers. “We could do a documentary, and I could make it all really meaningful because I’m dying.”

  “Ty!” Dax scowled at him. “Don’t say that.”

  Ziggy agreed with Dax. “Don’t ever say that, Ty. I … it was a stupid idea.”

  Ty put up two fingers and turned to Dax. “Two to five years.”

  Dax frowned. “What?”

  Ty looked at all of them, pausing on his mother. “That’s the usual life expectancy for my diagnosis. Two to five years.”

  “That’s junk,” Ocean stated with determination in his eyes.

  Boston pounded the table. “You’re beating this, Ty.”

  “Yeah,” Dax said.

  Ty looked sullen for a moment, then put his hand up. “At the fundraiser last night, I just kept thinking about how this is about more than me now. It’s more than just about my life.” He blinked. “I’m done touring with Sloane. I told him that a couple of days ago. I want to focus on my family. I want to focus on doing important things. This would be important.”

  Chills washed over Ziggy.

  His mother blinked and nodded, taking Ty’s hand.

  “Even if I di
e,” Ty said, “we cure this thing. My brothers cure this thing with or without me!”

  Tears were in all of their eyes. Ziggy put his fist in the center of the group, just like his father used to do with them.

  “Heck yeah, we do.” Dax put his knuckles in.

  “Yep,” Ocean agreed, adding his fist.

  “Dang straight.” Boston nodded.

  Ty grinned at them, adding his fist. “You’ve been the best big brothers. I’ll count on you to keep on going and pushing, even if I’m gone, do you hear me?” He leaned in. “On three! One, two, three!”

  “Brady Five!” they all called out, lifting their fists into the air. Ziggy’s chest warmed with love and purpose.

  Ty nodded. “It’s not just about me. I feel like maybe it’s me because I have the kind of family that will figure this out. Did you know the guy who cured polio did it because his wife got it?”

  Ty’s mom had tears running down her face. “We won’t disappoint you, Ty. Will we, boys?”

  “No, ma’am,” they all said.

  Ty pointed to Ziggy. “I vote you the one in charge of working with Helping Hands to figure it out.” He blinked, and a huge smile crossed his face. “We need Sophia on this with you.”

  Ziggy did a double take. “You vote me to work with Soph?”

  The other brothers snickered.

  “We need Soph.” Ty turned to the brothers. “I know you all have lives, so I start this thing with Ziggy. We go for ten days. Then I go do stuff with each of you. Are you in?”

  The others nodded. “You bet,” said Ocean.

  “Yeah,” Dax and Boston agreed.

  “You and me and Soph for the next ten days,” Ty told Ziggy. “We make YouTube videos wherever we go. We can have someone come and film a documentary.”

  Ziggy drummed his fingers against his leg, considering. As leery as he was of working with Soph, he could see that Ty was really excited about this.

  “Of course.” Dax patted Ty on the back. “Whatever you want to do. We can regroup in Puerto Rico in two weeks when you all come for my beach wedding.”

  “What?” His mother was on her feet, leaning over the table, reaching for Dax. “Two weeks?”

  Dax laughed and stood, hugging her. “We decided we don’t want to wait and we don’t want a big wedding. Just the beach with family.”

  Ty pointed at him. “No regrets, man!” He put his hand up.

  Dax high-fived him. “No regrets.”

  The center of Ziggy’s heart melted. He liked the woman Dax had brought home with him. He liked the way Dax and Sky clearly only had eyes for each other, and he was happy for them.

  After the brothers took turns congratulating and hugging Dax, Ty moved to the chalkboard his mother had in the kitchen, the one she’d always used to keep them all organized. He picked up the chalk. “So for the next ten days, Ziggy and I do some ‘bucket list’ stuff on the No Regrets Tour.” He paused for effect.

  Ziggy grinned. “I like it.”

  Ty put a number one on the chalkboard. “First we rent a retro RV. I’ve always wanted to RV up through Wyoming.” He added a number two. “Second, we stop in Rawlins, Wyoming, and tour the old Rawlins prison. Sloane Kent and his wife, Hope, met on a bus trip. He always tells a story about how he fell in love there but how there are some creepy cool stories about the place.”

  Ocean burst out laughing, his hand over his mouth. Ziggy couldn’t blame him—this was crazy.

  Undeterred, Ty continued, adding a three. “Third, we stay at the Haunted Baxter’s Mansion in Jackson.” He laughed and winked at Ziggy. “I’ve always wanted to stay at a haunted mansion, and I know all about your obsession with ghosts.”

  All his brothers cracked up.

  Ziggy remembered the night he’d nearly lost it in ninth grade when he’d thought there was a ghost in the shed in the backyard. “Ha. Ha.”

  Ty pointed at him. “I think Sophia was the one who saved you that night.”

  Ziggy frowned, not wanting to think about Soph or the ghosts.

  Boston elbowed him. “Dude, you’ll be fine.”

  Ziggy shifted awkwardly. They all knew he hated ghost stories. “Shut up.”

  Ty jumped around to face them all, the chalk in the air. “River rafting down the Snake River.”

  “It’s February,” Ziggy said.

  Ty scowled at him. “It’s a mild winter. Plus, I know Cameron Cruz owns a Snake River tours company up there. You could ask him.”

  His mother looked uncertain, but threw up her hands. “I don’t know.”

  “Graffiti art, baby!” Ty yelled out loudly, making everyone jump.

  Dax nearly choked on his food. “What?”

  “No!” his mother said. Her expression was one of dread, a look she’d always had before he and his brothers did something crazy.

  “Yes.” Ty gave them all an excited grin. “I’ve always wanted to do it. We go to Devil’s Tower and climb it. At the top, I graffiti it.”

  Dax shook his head, a scowl on his face. “No. No way.”

  “No,” Ziggy agreed, wondering what he’d just gotten into.

  “It’s like a thing. I love to graffiti, but I gave it up after rehab. You know that.”

  Ziggy thought about Ty’s stint in rehab. None of them, especially his mother, liked to talk about it.

  “Dude,” Ocean said. “I think we’re all thinking about how we’re lucky you found music or you might be living in prison. Not just visiting.”

  Ty glared at him, then turned back to the chalkboard, puffing out a breath. “It’s on there. And guess why?” He glanced over his shoulder. “Because I’m dying, and I get to pick. That’s why.”

  Ziggy pointed at him. “If you keep saying that, we’re not doing this.”

  Ty frowned.

  “I mean it.” Ziggy said, giving him his best big brother “you’re going to get it” look.

  Ty rolled his eyes again. “Whatever.”

  Boston patted Ziggy’s shoulder. “Guess we’ll visit you both in prison after you deface government property.”

  His brothers laughed.

  “We won’t get caught.” Ty dismissed them with a wave of a hand. “Then we meet up for Dax’s wedding on the beach.” He drew a pic of a heart with two stick figures. “Then we decide what’s next from there.”

  Ziggy’s heart pounded as he wondered how he would get Soph to help them. Honestly, it made him nervous to go talk to her, especially since she would be heartbroken from not getting proposed to, but he would do anything for Ty. “Okay.”

  Ty wrote down Puerto Rico. “Maybe we help build some stuff while we’re down there too.”

  Dax nodded. “A working wedding. I think Sky would love that.”

  “Then you come to Florida,” Boston said. “So figure out some stuff you want to do there.”

  Ty’s face brightened. “Deal.”

  “Don’t leave out Los Angeles,” Ocean grumbled. “I’ll figure out a big thing to put on there, and dude—” He flashed Ty a grin. “—we’ll surf.” He put up a surfer sign.

  Ty laughed and gave him the same hand gesture. He added LA to the list. “Great.”

  A loud sniff drew Ziggy’s attention. He and all his brothers turned to look at their mother, who was dabbing at her eyes with her breakfast napkin. “You are all amazing. Do you know that? I am so proud and grateful for you all. Your father would be too.”

  “Group hug,” Dax said, and they all leaned in.

  His mother grinned. “Brady Five again on three—one, two, three!”

  “Brady Five!” They all put their right fists into the air.

  For the first time since he’d heard about Ty’s illness, Ziggy had a feeling that maybe it really would all work out. Now, he just had to figure out a way to convince Soph to help them.

  Chapter 4

  Sophia Charles sat in her office at Helping Hands on Monday morning and focused on the projects on her task list. Sure, it’d been a rough weekend. The truth, she now realize
d, was that Marshall loved himself more than anything else. Yes, he talked about meaningful and important issues, but in the end, she clearly didn’t make the list of important things—or at least, she did not rank high enough on it.

  Her mother had badgered her all weekend with texts and calls. She’d replied once, but she refused to go out there and ignored everything after that. Instead, she stayed in bed in her sweats, drinking orange blossom tea and watching classic romance movies with romantic gestures like Sleepless in Seattle.

  However, today she had her work, and she was more than pleased with the fundraiser for ALS. She looked over the numbers and was proud of what they’d been able to do.

  “Ms. Charles, would you come to my office?” Her boss’s voice blasted through the speaker.

  She jolted at the speaker’s crackling noise and pressed the button. “Coming.”

  She liked working for Mr. Henley. He had a wicked smart sense of business. The whole reason he’d started this company was because he’d lost his wife to a rare cancer ten years ago. After that, he’d been determined to help others who were facing similar situations. That’s how Helping Hands was born. With all of her marketing skills, it didn’t pay what would she could make in the private sector, but it mattered. It changed people. It raised money for families facing big problems, for children who had cancer, and for mothers who had incurable diseases.

  As she turned the corner, bam! There sat Ziggy Brady in her boss’s office. With his flowing blond hair, he looked every bit the Aquaman.

  She stopped froze in the doorway of Mr. Henley’s office.

  Ziggy stood, a small smile playing at his lips. His black T-shirt stretched nicely across his shoulders. Dang, the man was way too good-looking. And huge. The center for the Denver Storm wouldn’t be a little man. Six-four and roughly two hundred and seventy pounds, but why would she know that? No, she hadn’t looked up his statistics over the weekend. Man, his muscles were huge.

  “Hey, Soph,” he said quietly, like he knew he was in trouble.

  Mr. Henley grinned, his “new client” face in place. “I know you’re familiar with the Brady family. Ziggy was just telling me how you have been friends your whole life. Ziggy and Ty have requested your help on a new project.”