beautiful mistake - joe burrow

84

After dinner, Robin and Lauren moved to the kitchen and grumbled at anyone who tried to come near them to help with the dishes, so everyone else moved to the sofa.

Joe turned on the NFL game, Bears vs. Lions, which was already in the third quarter but was just playing relaxed in the background. Harry and Jimmy, who had become almost best friends in a few hours, immediately started discussing plays and players.

"watch out, if those two spend too much time together, they'll get the idea of coaching an NFL team together" Joe whispered in Elle's ear, which immediately made her laugh.

She leaned against Joe, who immediately put an arm around her and gave her a kiss on the temple, while Elle let her eyes wander around. Her brothers were sitting on the sofa like Joe and her with their significant others in their arms.

Her dad and Jimmy were still discussing as they gestured wildly with their hands toward the TV throughout. Ian sat on his blanket and played with the dinos while uttering unintelligible words every now and then. The joyful chattering voices of Robin and her mother, sounding from the kitchen, rounded out the action perfectly.

Elle had to smile. It was so beautiful. It was the moments she was most grateful for this year. Her old family and her newfound family in one pile, united. Never would she have imagined at the beginning of the year that it would be like this on Thanksgiving.

"What are you thinking about?" Joe murmured in her ear before placing a kiss on her hair. Elle intertwined her hand with his and pressed a kiss to the back of his hand. "Just how lucky I am right now to have a day to spend with my whole family" she murmured back. "I can understand" Joe replied smiling and nodding in amusement at the two fathers. Elle giggled.

"Elle, how's your campaign going by the way?" Eric interrupted Elle and Joe's observation and looked at his sister expectantly. He was very proud of her that after all she had been through in the last few years, she had still decided to come out in the open and fight for what she stood for. It was clear to him that Joe played a big part in the whole thing and Elle drew a lot of strength from that relationship.

Elle laughed out loud. "Pretty good. A lot of companies or influential people ask every day if they can be involved in some way. PJ already hates me for it because right now everything marketing is still going through him and he's almost triple his usual workload. He's been desperately asking me for days to finally find a PR manager for the campaign and me. He doesn't want to let me down, but it's just not his job and he can't do it forever. If I don't have anyone in two weeks, however, I'll have to do it myself"

Joe looked at her in surprise. "You haven't even told me that yet" "well, it's not that exciting part of the campaign. The people already working on it are so great. We're working on a website right now" Elle explained.

The campaign was like a baby to her. Her first real project and with all the support she was already getting, it was a breeze to get this project up and running.

"I could work for you as a PR manager" Leila suggested. Elle looked at her in surprise. "You would do that?" she asked. "Sure. I'm not that happy with the job right now anyway, and I like the way you advocate for women. If I can help out with that, I would love to" Leila smiled.

"Ok, I mean...that's great. That would be so awesome. I...I'll give PJ your information right away, then he can explain what your duties will be and...and when you could start" Elle beamed happily at Leila.

"I can also just come by tomorrow and we can work it out with PJ personally" Leila suggested. "that would work too, but I don't know when PJ is free and surely you don't want to go home too late tomorrow?" Elle looked at Leila questioningly.

"We're not going home tomorrow, Elle" Easton grinned at her. "What do you mean you're not going home tomorrow?" Elle asked, confused. "Well, that we're not going back tomorrow yet. We're staying until Sunday. Joe got us all tickets to the game against the Steelers. About time we got to see you live on the sidelines" Eric explained.

"Is that true?" Elle looked at Joe, who nodded with a smile. Overjoyed, Elle squealed and fell around Joe's neck. "Thank you, thank you so much" she whispered to him. "You're very welcome" Joe whispered back before breaking away from Elle and standing up.

"While we're on the subject of games, I still have what you asked me for, Easton" he grinned to the crowd before disappearing briefly and returning a few minutes later.

"Here" he handed Easton a piece of cloth. Grinning, Easton unfolded the tiny Bengals jersey. "Is this for Ian?" Elle asked, laughing, while Easton and Tammy contentedly examined the back of the jersey.

"I don't think Easton would fit in there" Eric quipped. "And what number did Ian get? I hope you didn't give him 9 like you did me back then" Elle grinned at Joe.

"no, he got something much better" Easton turned the jersey over. Elle had to fight back tears. The little jersey had "auntie lele" written on it in big letters and the number 17. "that...is so cute" she stammered and got up to hug her brother and Tammy.

"Do you want to put it on him?" Tammy asked, holding the jersey out to Elle. Smiling, she accepted it and sat down next to Ian on his play blanket. "Lele, look at this" immediately the little boy pushed a car into her hand. "This is a great car, Ian" she grinned.

"But look, I have something for you" she held the jersey out to him. "Do you know what this is?" Ian's eyes got big before he nodded. he turned and pointed to Joe. "Joe's uniform" Elle giggled.

"Yeah, Joe wears that a lot, doesn't he?" Ian nodded. "You know, Joe wears that because that's his job. He's a football player" she explained to him. "Football player" Ian repeated laughing. "Exactly. And Mom, Dad, you, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Eric and Leila, you're all going to watch Joe and me work on Sunday and you can wear Joe's uniform."

Joe's heart melted at the sight of Elle sitting cross-legged in front of her nephew while she explained what a jersey was. The admiration with which Ian looked at his aunt was just cute.

"And look, Ian" Elle turned the jersey over, "it says auntie Lele on it. Do you know who that is?" she asked. Ian nodded. "You..." he pointed at Elle. "You're auntie Lele" Elle nodded laughing. "That's right. I'm auntie Lele. And that..." she pointed to the number. "That's a 17. And the 17 is on it because that's the zip code of.., Ian, where are you from?" "Mansfield" the little one replied, beaming. "That's right, that's the zip code of Mansfield".

Ian reached out his little hand and ran it over the jersey. "This is your jersey, Ian. Do you want to try it on?" Elle asked, smiling. Ian nodded. "Ok, come here" Elle pulled Ian to his feet before pulling the jersey over his head and smoothing it out.

"Come with me" Elle stood up and took Ian in her arms. Together they went into the guest bathroom and Elle lifted Ian in front of the mirror so he could look at himself. "Do you like it?" she asked as she set him back on the floor. Ian just nodded, beaming. "Thank you, auntie Lele" he squealed and hugged Elle's leg.

Elle giggled. "You have Joe to thank. He got the jersey for you. Will you tell him thanks?" she leaned down and tousled the little guy's hair. He nodded, beaming, and ran ahead while Elle followed, grinning.

Arriving at the sofa, he pulled himself up and sat next to Joe. "Thanks, Joe," he said as he rested his head against Joe's torso. Joe just grinned, "You're welcome buddy. But you have to wear it too when you watch Elle and I work on Sunday, promise?"

Joe held out his pinky. Ian, a bit confused, just nodded and encircled Joe's pinky with his whole hand. "Promise" he replied as everyone giggled.

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As thank you i will tell you a little secret 🤫 the next chapter will contain a smut scene 😉

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