Epilogue
Charley
My heel bounces up and down against the hotel meeting room’s patterned carpet. Cranberry red with gold diamonds. I haven’t been this nervous since my father’s surgery. It feels like my nerves are eating really important organs from the inside out. Soon, I’ll just pass out, and I won’t even be awake when they announce Cade’s name in the draft.
What is happening? How is this my life?
Months ago, I had zero friends, a father who couldn’t stand me, and the proud owner of a black shroud of loneliness that I didn’t even know was there. I was just a time bomb waiting to go off, and thank everything, the person who set me off was Cade Farmer.
Grandma’s hand comes down on my back, rubbing it. “Deep breaths, dear. You’re going to give me a coronary episode just looking at you.”
I choke out a laugh that sounds more like a deranged person, and holy shit, she’s right. I’m not going to make it if I don’t get my anxiety under control.
Taking a deep breath, I hold it in my chest, blocking out the noise from the rest of the room. Nearly everyone in Cade’s life is here, except for his parents, and only because they’re with him. His Nan is on the other side of my grandmother. His friends Briar, Lex, and the infamous Reid Parker are on the other side of me. I can’t even look their way.
The coach for the Wildcats is interested in Cade. Anything can happen on draft day, of course, but he wants him.
Cade can hardly stand the stress, and he says he’d be happy if he even got drafted, but I know how much it would mean to him to get drafted to play for Reid’s team. They’d be back together again. As someone who grew up with very few friends, I can’t fathom the kind of relationship that he has with the three people to my right. It’s the kind of thing you see in the movies in some tear-jerker, or some uplifting drama where souls just click.
“I’m not going to lie,” Cade said to me last night in our shared hotel room when we just lied there, staring at the ceiling. “It would be a dream.”
It would be the sort of ending everyone would root for. The last few months have been absolutely bananas. Not only were Cade and I navigating our new relationship, but there was a Championships win, an invitation to the Combine, and now this.
Cade is an absolute fucking rockstar. Scouts, meetings with possible teams, an agent. A freaking agent! I’m living my very own personal fairy tale because Cade is most definitely the prince in this scenario, and I’m the orphan girl who cleans houses with mice as friends.
Briar peers over and takes my hand in hers. “I know what it’s like. I wish I could tell you it gets easier, but I’m not sure it does.”
I squeeze her hand. I’m on a text thread with her, Bailey, and Kenna, and another friend named Jules who I haven’t met yet, but she sounds lovely. Taking another breath, I let it out slowly. “I think it’s because I want it so much for him, but there’s nothing I can do. I’m literally just stuck here, and my body wants me to be doing something to help, but I am relegated to this task of sitting and waiting.”
A knowing smile crosses Briar’s lips. “You’re a good one, Charley. If I could’ve chosen a girl for Cade, I would’ve picked someone like you.”
A genuine smile parts my lips. That means a whole hell of a lot coming from her. I bump her shoulder with mine. “Thank you.”
Reid abruptly stands and starts pacing. I watch his massive figure as he shoves his hands into his pockets and stares at the very same floor I’ve been looking at for the past twenty minutes.
“I think he’s more nervous for Cade than he was for himself.”
I’ve only met Reid a total of two times now, and he definitely gives off intense vibes.
“You guys are killing me,” Lex states, his gaze moving from Reid to us.
I spot his own leg jumping up and down. When he catches me looking at it, he, too, stands and starts to walk.
With the two guys out of earshot, Briar says, “I wish Coach C would’ve said something to Reid. Anything.”
“No indication whatsoever?”
“Nothing.”
My stomach clenches, and I place my hand over my belly button, willing my nerves to calm down. I really am going to worry myself into an early grave, and if what Briar said is true, it’s never going to get any better.
“I think it would be easier on everyone if we just wanted him to get drafted. He’s a shoo in. But?—”
“Oh, don’t jink him,” I tell her, my voice rising a few octaves.
“But,” Briar says. “I can’t wait to see him in a Wildcats jersey. It’ll be like Spring Hill all over again. Reid sent Coach their quarterback/receiver stats from high school. Who knows if it helped?”
I might need to go somewhere by myself soon. My gaze darts everywhere in the room. It’s truly nothing against anyone here, but I can feel my body surging toward panic, and the person who usually helps me through these moments is currently a few miles away about to have one of the biggest moments of his life.
The door to the meeting room opens, and a hotel staff member walks in holding a vase of roses. “Charley?”
“Right here,” my grandma says, pointing at me.
My face blooms red. The woman walks closer, setting them on the table behind us. “You must be special.”
I peer dreamily over at them, my heart rate finally evening out. The waft of perfume acts like a tranquilizer to my frayed nerves.
This man. He’s having the biggest day of his life thus far, and he’s sending me roses.
Briar pokes me in the side. “Well, look at the card. Maybe he knows something we don’t.”
I already know what the card will say. I don’t want to disappoint Briar, but I do want to read Cade’s words, so I pluck it from the plastic holder and open it.
When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, he had three missed calls from Chuck Norris.
I bite my lip, a smile playing over my lips, and at once, the stress whooshes from my body like an ocean wave.
“Well?” Briar asks.
I shake my head. “Just the usual lovey-dovey stuff.” I fold his card back up and put it in my pocket before sniffing the flowers. Cade knew I would need this. Even when he should be so focused on himself, he found time to think of me.
My eyes sting with unshed tears, but then Reid shushes everyone and unmutes the television in the front of the room. “It’s starting.”
Nearly at the same time, Coach T and my dad walk through the doors, both sweaty from the hotel gym. My dad wipes at his face with a towel, and it’s absolutely insane to think that this is the same man from six months ago. He’s nearly lost half his weight and is looking healthier than ever.
The first thing he does is walk toward me. He glances from the screen to my face and smiles before giving my free hand a squeeze. “Hey, Bumblebee. You okay?”
I nod. “I’m okay, Dad. Thanks.”
He leans over and kisses me on the cheek, and then does the same to Grandma before moving back over to Coach T who’s now standing with Lex.
Probably the best thing that happened to me since Cade is having my father and grandmother reconcile. She’d said, “If he can shed the hate he had in his heart for himself, then I can let go of my resentment. There. Done.” And that’s truly been that.
“Ahh, there he is!” Briar screams.
My gaze flicks back to the television, and there’s my boyfriend. He winks at the camera as it pans. The banner on the screen reads, Cade Farmer, WR, Estimated First Round Draft Pick.
It’s actually happening. How Cade looks so relaxed is beyond me. I know he’s feeling it. He told me. But on camera, he’s the picture of calm and serenity as if he knows exactly how this day will play out.
If I had an ounce of his charisma…
Just as the camera pans to someone else, I spy him take out his phone. For a moment, my heartbeat soars. He told me that often, players find out minutes or even seconds before their name is called.
A few seconds later, however, my phone buzzes. The man on the screen announces the number one draft pick. It’s not Cade. Statistically, wide receivers don’t go first in the draft, though, so it’s okay.
Cade: Watch this, Sunshine.
I smile and shake my head.
Me: Oh, I’m watching. You look damn sexy in that suit.
Cade: This old thing?
I send a heart-eyed emoji back, but then his texts stop. Minutes go by. More draft picks. I keep checking my phone, half-hearing the speakers on the TV.
Somewhere to my right, I hear buzzing. I check my phone, but it’s nothing, but then Reid stands from his chair. “Holy shit.” He works his fingers through his hair with his free hand while staring at his phone.
Just then, the guy on TV announces that the Wildcats have negotiated with another team for the next draft pick. We’re sitting at the ninth overall pick.
Briar stands up after him. “What is it? Reid?”
“Dude,” Lex states.
“I—”
But then our attention gets drawn to the TV when someone I don’t know and never heard of brings the microphone close to his mouth. “For the ninth overall pick, the Wildcats take Warner University wide receiver, Cade Farmer.”
Ninth? Nine?!
The room erupts around me in applause and peels of joy. My mouth unhinges as the camera switches to Cade again. He’s giving his mom a hug as his dad pats him on the back.
Briar shakes me. “Ninth!”
“Oh my god.” They are the only words that can form from my mouth.
“That sounds really good,” Grandma says from behind me.
Pieces of information filter into my brain and out the next second. I stand in shock as Cade takes pictures with a black and turquoise Wildcats jersey, surrounded by important looking men.
This man is going to have an amazing life, and he just swept me up in the journey. It almost doesn’t seem real.
Right before he walks off stage, I see him kiss his fist and point to the ceiling. On his lips, I can nearly lip-read the word Brady.
“Hey…” Briar pats at my face, and it’s only then that I realize I’m crying. She gives me a hug followed by Lex, Reid, my grandmother, my dad, Coach T. I’m like a revolving door of people stepping into my grasp and leaving, and I still can’t believe what happened.
“Charley?”
The door to the meeting room opens again and the same employee stands there with an even bigger bouquet of flowers. This time, they’re not roses. They’re simple, understated, yet they’ve been dyed turquoise.
She hands them to me with a smile. “I told you you were special.”
I set them down on the table next to the roses. My hands shake as I reach for the notecard.
Move to Wildcat country with me?
This man said he’d make me love him, and boy did he ever. Even now, reading this card, I swoon on my feet. Through everything he’s going through right now, I’m still on his mind. All his dreams are coming true, and here he is, letting me know he wants me on the journey with him.
Move in with him? That’s going to be the easiest decision I’ve ever made.
Hell yes.
Watch out Wildcat country…because we’re coming for you.
Your personal invitation to Wildcat country is here.