Chapter Four #2
I would help my family. I would make it so a medical bill wouldn’t be the source of my mom’s tears, so that we’d never have to worry about Ginny’s care. It would be the best care money could buy, I’d make sure of it.
And I had.
I transferred to North Boston University my sophomore year of college and immediately made a name for myself. Ever since then, I’d been sending nearly every penny I earned to my parents.
Including my signing bonus last year.
It wasn’t as flashy as my friends’ had been. Holden, Clay, Kyle, Leo… they all went within the first two rounds to teams willing to pay. I was a later round draft, but I’d made it — and that three-million dollars had felt life changing when I took it.
Something they don’t tell you, though, is that the number on that check isn’t exactly what you get.
There are taxes, agent fees, union dues, and more fine line items that slowly drain that money before you even get the chance to cash the check.
I paid off my parents’ house, made sure medical bills for Ginny were covered for a couple years, and then took what I had left and hired a financial advisor to help me invest it.
Every rookie drafted into the NFL got a four-year contract, so I was set with a salary for at least three more seasons. But after that, the money a team would pay for me would all depend on how I played these next few years.
I had a lot to prove — and I’d do it.
I’d do anything to make sure my family never had to worry again.
Mom, Ginny, and I talked on the phone while Sebastian played until I knew it was close to dinner time and I needed to get him home. He was wound up in the car, still buzzing off the new friends he’d made, and he barreled inside the house as soon as we pulled up.
Kyle had purchased a massive, stunning mansion in Magnolia with a view of the water and city that couldn’t be beat.
The old him probably would have turned it into a party house, but as it was, I walked in to find Sebastian cooing over his new baby sister in his mom’s arms, Kyle watching over it all like a proud papa bear.
“She sleeps a lot,” Sebastian remarked of Raven, the tiny little bundle of human being wrapped in a blanket.
“Can you believe you used to be this little?” Madelyn asked Sebastian.
“No!” He laughed as if his mom were crazy, and I slid my shoes off at the door, smirking a little as I made my way over to the sectional and plopped down.
“Well, you were,” Madelyn said, thumbing through her phone to find pics to prove it. Sebastian laid his head on her chest, pointing and laughing at each photo she showed him.
“Have fun?” Kyle asked me, and the way the jerk was grinning, I knew I looked as tired as I felt.
“That kid has more energy than a hundred Energizer bunnies.”
“Makes you feel old, doesn’t it?”
“Makes me feel like I need to get back on the field. Clearly, I’m out of shape if I can’t even chase a seven-year-old around the park for a few hours.
” I nodded on a smile over at my best friend, the one who’d tried so hard not to be friends with any of us when we were at North Boston University.
It was crazy to see him as a devoted father now, considering what a little prick he’d been back then. “How’s she doing?”
“Sleeping soundly, ready to keep Mom and Dad up all night,” Kyle said, booping his daughter on the nose like that was so adorable.
“I’m hungry,” Sebastian proclaimed.
“Come on,” Madelyn said. “Mom will make you a grilled cheese.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Kyle scolded. “Your dad just made that skillet scramble. You can heat up leftovers.”
“That’s cute that you think Sebastian will eat something with mushrooms and green peppers.”
Sebastian wrinkled his nose on cue. “Ewwww, mushrooms!”
“Here, you take Raven and I’ll—”
“I’m fine,” Madelyn assured Kyle, pushing on his shoulder before he could stand. She leaned down to press a kiss to his cheek, and the argument was won.
It was just me and Kyle in the living room then — along with baby Raven still sleeping in his arms — and I crossed my ankle over a knee, smiling at him.
“How you hanging in there, Dad?”
Kyle grinned and shook his head. “Dad. I don’t know that I’ll ever get used to that, but I love it.
” He sighed, looking down at his daughter in his arms. “Is it cheesy as fuck to say this is the happiest I’ve ever been, that it feels like a missing piece of me snapped into place the second she was born? ”
I wished I had some snarky comeback to tease him with.
Our former teammate Leo Hernandez certainly would.
Hell, even Clay Johnson would have a quip.
But seeing Kyle all dopey in love just made me happy for him.
I was glad he finally had someone he could be real with, someone who knew how much of a good guy he was, just like I did.
“I think it’s real,” I said, throat thick.
Our eyes met for just a brief moment of understanding, and then Kyle shook it off. “All right. Enough of that shit. When are we getting back to the gym?”
“Getting the dad bod already?”
“Bro, I’m not kidding — my wrist is on fire. I feel like I got banged up in a bad tackle. They call it mommy wrist.”
“Not just for moms, I see.”
“Hell no, it isn’t, and I feel like a fucking wuss because it’s kicking my ass right now. And my shoulders! Don’t get me started on that.”
Turned out I didn’t have to, because Kyle kept on, telling me all the things I didn’t know about how hard carrying a newborn around to try to soothe them was on the body.
The conversation drifted to baseball and hockey after that, the sports we watched now that we were in the offseason for football. We were watching highlights on the TV when Madelyn rejoined us after having Sebastian run up for a bath.
And at the same time, my phone buzzed in my pocket with a text I had not been expecting.
“Bad news?” Madelyn asked, taking Raven from Kyle to get set up for nursing. I averted my eyes to give her privacy while she got herself situated.
“Not bad,” I said, still reading over the text. “Just… interesting.”
“Do tell,” Madelyn pried.
“Our PR coordinator wants me to join them for the Tacoma Girls Flag Football Jamboree in a couple weeks,” I said. “They’re looking for about ten players to go out, and apparently, I’m on their list.”
“That’s awesome,” Kyle offered. “Why do you look like they just asked you to do team laundry?”
“Yeah. Riley and Zeke would be so proud of you if you attended,” Madelyn added. Riley and Zeke Collins were former NBU teammates of ours, too. But as Riley was female, there wasn’t a chance for her to get drafted into the NFL like the rest of us.
And so, she and Zeke went another route, setting up a foundation that focused on young girls playing flag football and preparing them for careers in sports, whether as players, reporters, analysts, trainers, or whatever else they wanted to pursue.
So yeah, this would be right up their alley. The Tacoma Girls Flag Football Jamboree aligned with the broader mission to get girls’ flag football coded as a sanctioned sport. I’d be a coach, if I agreed. And I would.
Even if it meant…
“I’m excited for the event,” I said, though I was fairly certain my tone didn’t sell it. “I told them at the end of the season to let me know if there were ways I could get involved with the community. It’s just…”
“What?” Kyle probed when my voice faded.
It faded, because again, all I could think about, all I could see in my mind was Emily Huxley.
“Nothing.”
“Nuh-uh,” Madelyn argued immediately. “No lies in this house. Spill.”
I let out a heavy sigh. I loved Madelyn for my best friend. She was the swift kick in the ass he always needed.
But I was not a fan of that energy being pointed my way.
“The cheerleaders will be there.”
Kyle and Madelyn shared a look, and then Kyle deadpanned, “What a travesty.”
I glared at him. “Don’t be an ass.”
“Did I miss something? Why is that a bad thing?” Madelyn asked.
“It’s not,” I said, dragging a hand through my hair. “It’s just… there’s a new cheerleader who just made the squad and she’s kind of a pain in my ass.”
That was one way to put it. How else did I explain that she both intrigued me and infuriated me, all within the first hour of knowing she existed?
“How have you already met her?” Kyle asked.
“I volunteered to be there on finals day, when the squad was selected. I don’t know. I was bored,” I said instantly, knowing Kyle would ask why. “Plus, you know how Miss Woodrow can be. It was more of a voluntold than anything.”
Kyle nodded, knowing the truth in that statement.
“Anyway, this cheerleader is just… she’s trouble. One of those girls who learns the rules only so she can figure out how to break them.”
“I like her already,” Madelyn mused.
“I have a feeling you like her, too,” Kyle added. “Which is why you’re all weird about the event.”
“I’m not weird about it,” I defended, standing and tucking my phone away. I regretted saying anything about it — because now, I had yet another teammate to add to the list of people giving me shit right now. “I’m going. And I don’t like her. I’m annoyed by her.”
“I think you could use someone to ruffle your feathers a bit,” Kyle said. “Someone to get you off your yoga mat and out causing a ruckus.”
“Did you just say ruckus?” I asked.
“Don’t change the subject.”
“There’s nothing more to talk about,” I said, and I walked over to clap hands with Kyle before nodding at Madelyn. “I gotta run, but please don’t hesitate to call if you want me to get Sebastian out of the house or take him for a night or two. He’s always welcome at mine.”
“You’re the best,” Mads said. “Thank you for today.”
“Can’t wait to hear about the flag football event,” Kyle chimed in with a grin.
I flipped him off, and then I left.
And I definitely did not think about the fact that I’d be seeing Emily Huxley again in just two short weeks as I drove home.