Chapter 26
JAMESON
We’re standing shoulder to shoulder along the sideline as the national anthem begins to play. The feeling of being here with my team while eighty thousand people cheer us on is so overwhelming that I don’t know whether to cry, smile, or pass out.
Add in the grand gesture I’m about to pull off, and my brain is working overtime.
I don’t know for sure that Penelope is watching, but I can assume she is. And if she isn’t, her girls are. I made sure of it.
I asked Francesca to make a call to them and let them know it’s something they wouldn’t want to miss. I know there’s no way they would have gotten her to the game without a fight, so I’ll settle for letting her see me on national television, and then I’ll fly straight to her tonight.
Hopefully.
We won the coin toss and chose to receive first. The game begins, and the crowd is so deafening that I’m having a tough time hearing my team. And they can’t hear me. We look sloppy, and the coaches aren’t happy.
We huddle up, and my voice is hoarse from screaming over the crowd.
“We know our plays! We know each other! Just go out there like it’s practice, and let’s do this! We need a TD here, fellas. Give it to me!” We clap, break, and get into formation. I’m behind my center, ready to receive the ball, and my mind flashes back to Penelope and me in the hotel room.
Fuck.
I miss her.
“White 80! Comets! Comets!” I take the ball, back pedal a few steps, and move to my right. Spotting Connor open yards away, I launch the ball to him. He catches it seamlessly, turns and runs for the end zone.
“Go! Go!” He steps away, crosses over, and the stadium erupts. I follow him and jump into the pile.
“Fuck, yeah! That’s how you do it!”
Sitting in the locker room with the team during halftime, my nerves haven’t settled. We’re leading 21-7, but that means nothing. We still have an entire half left to play, and our opponents are going to come out hungry.
But not before I get my say.
Francesca worked it out with the cheerleaders to help me with my grand gesture. Just like her proposal, when we won States in High School, the cheerleaders are going to hold signs declaring my love for Penelope.
The team lingers in the locker room, and I head out to the field. I know I’ll bring attention just by being out there first and alone.
I come up to our bench and grab the camera guy that’s closest to me. Dave is a long-time rep on the field, so I’m glad he’s here.
“It’s your lucky day, Dave. I’ve got something for you to do.”
“Jameson, what do you have up your sleeve?”
I smile and have him follow me as I jog to the cheerleaders. “Just make sure you’re filming them and their signs. Call up to the main board and see if they’ll switch it out to the screens in the stadium. And if someone will put it on broadcast, even just one channel, I’d be forever grateful.”
He smirks and calls into his radio.
I see my team running from the tunnel, so I know it’s go-time. At my command, the cheerleaders all flip over signs that read:
“You’re it for me, Pip.”
“I don’t care about that Rent-A-Date contract.”
“There’s only one contract I need.”
“And it changes your last name.”
With each flip of the sign, the crowd gets louder. My team circles me and lifts me on their shoulders as the cheerleaders hand me the last sign.
“Super Bowl Ring or Diamond Ring? Truth? I’m bringing you home both.”
No, I didn’t jinx us by talking about a ring.
I’m confident in what I’m doing. Never have I been surer that the Warriors and Penelope are my two greatest loves in life.
A soulmate doesn’t come into your life peacefully.
No, they barrel in, or rather trip in, spill the tea, and make you question who you are.
Love is being with an ordinary person who displays extraordinary love, spice, and everything that makes this world go around.
And I found her.