Chapter 19 #2
Had someone called my name? I didn’t usually talk to anyone when I was at the games. Even when some of my fellow faculty members were there, they usually sat with their families.
I scanned the crowd to see who’d called for me. Melanie waved with a friendly smile. Her dark hair was up in a ponytail and she wore a black jacket and jeans.
Luke was next to her, and as my eyes flicked around, I realized the whole Haven family was there.
Melanie gestured for me to join her. “Come here.”
Adjusting my glasses, I walked over to her. There wasn’t room on the bench, but she leaned over Luke and yelled for everyone to move down one.
“That’s okay,” I said. “I can sit wherever.”
“No, we’ve got it.” She scooted over and patted the spot next to her. “Have a seat.”
I sat down, feeling a nervous tingle.
“Do you know everyone?” She glanced around. “Never mind. It’s too loud; they won’t hear me. I’ll introduce you later. How is everything?”
“Not bad. I’m sorry I haven’t returned your clothes. I’ve just had a lot going on. I will, though, I promise.”
She waved a hand. “Don’t even worry about it. And my burn-down-his-house offer still stands.”
A guy behind us cleared his throat loudly.
Melanie turned with a wide smile. “Oh hello, Firefighter Bailey. I would never do such a thing. It’s a figure of speech. You know what I mean.”
I glanced back at him and blinked in recognition. “Hi, Levi. You are Levi, right?”
He smiled. “Yeah. Hey, Penelope. I thought that was you.”
“Do you know each other?” Melanie asked.
“Sort of,” I said. “We met once, when his twin brother went behind his back and created a dating profile for him and then swiped right on me and pretended to be him and set us up on a date. Obviously that was like a million years ago, and look at him now, with his beautiful family. And here I am with a nice roommate. Yay, me?”
I twisted in my seat, my cheeks blazing.
Melanie put an arm around me and hugged me against her. “Honey, I feel your pain. I was married to a jackass for basically a decade. My life fell apart and I moved back to my hometown, divorced and broke.” She squeezed me again. “It’ll get better.”
I straightened as she let go and pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose. “That actually does make me feel better. Thank you.”
“That’s what friends are for.” She smiled. “Speaking of friends, you and Theo are just friends, right? You’re not…”
“Right, no,” I said quickly. “Just friends. Definitely nothing else.”
She nodded slowly. “Maybe you can help me solve a little mystery, then.”
“What mystery?”
“Why Theo doesn’t date.”
I opened my mouth to reply, but I didn’t know what to say. It had never occurred to me that Theo didn’t date. He hadn’t dated anyone since I’d known him, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t. I’d sort of assumed he just hadn’t met the right person yet.
“I actually don’t know,” I said. “What do you mean, he doesn’t date? Ever?”
“That’s what he told me. He said he doesn’t, like it’s a rule he’s adopted for himself. I was wondering if he might have told you why.”
“No.”
“Well, shoot, now that I’m thinking about it, that was a rude thing for me to ask. If he did tell you, it could have been private, and I shouldn’t be trying to get you to break his confidence. Sorry about that. Sometimes my mouth moves before my brain can tell it to stop.”
“That’s okay. It’s not something we’ve talked about, so I really don’t know.”
She shrugged. “Oh, well. I’m sure he has his reasons.”
The announcer came on the loudspeaker to call the starting lineups, and everyone got to their feet. I clapped and cheered with the crowd and tried not to worry about what Melanie had said.
It wasn’t like it mattered. Whether or not Theo dated in general didn’t have anything to do with me.
Pushing all thoughts of Theo and dating, and even my own relationship failures, out of my mind, I focused on the game.
It was thrilling, a nail-biter with an intense back-and-forth between the two teams. By the end of the fourth quarter, it was tied.
Timberwolves had the ball, but they were on their five-yard line—ninety-five yards away from a win.
The center snapped the ball, and I held my breath.
The quarterback faked a pass, then handed it off to Owen Haven.
Owen broke free from the line and the crowd went wild, chanting his name as he ran, the other team’s defense scrambling to catch him. Melanie and I clutched each other, watching as he passed the fifty, the forty, the thirty, the twenty, the ten.
Touchdown!
We threw our arms in the air and cheered, adding our voices to the roar of the crowd.
Down on the field, the players jumped and danced and celebrated.
The last few seconds ticked down and the game was officially over.
A few of the players ran to get the big water cooler and dumped ice water all over Theo.
It was amazing.
Once the cheering and celebrating died down, people started to file out. I said goodbye to Melanie and Luke, then went to the railing to wave to Theo. He was busy talking to Coach Lewis, but right as I was about to give up and walk away—I’d congratulate him later—he turned and smiled at me.
My heart seemed to swell as I smiled and waved. He winked and held out his fist. I did the same, giving him another long-distance fist bump.
And tried not to cry at the thought that it was the last season of Theo’s career in Tilikum. Soon, it would be over. And he’d be gone.