40. Postgame
FORTY
“Stay right here after the whistle,”Pippa ordered, watching the overtime clock count down. “I have to keep track of Cam and Coach Keyes while everyone smacks hands and pretends they like each other. I’ll come get you when they go to the locker room, and then it’s the press conference.”
“You should get a cute picture of Cam with Ethan. I bet they’ll hug. Write something about sportsmanship and how everyone wins in friendship or something, and post it.”
Pippa pressed her hands to her cheeks. “I kind of hate you for putting that in my head,” she said. “Shelby would lose her mind. I love it.”
Avery grinned. Until Cam’s injury in the fourth quarter, she roamed the sidelines with Pippa and took in the rush of big game from the field level, surrounded by reporters and cameras from all the major sports networks. Everything was louder and brighter, and she only had to remind herself once not to look for familiar faces on the bench. After the final whistle, she tried to catch Cam’s eye, and caught her brother’s instead.
Justin wrapped her in a sweaty hug, crushing her against his pads in the sweetest discomfort when she recognized both of her brothers in his arms. She stood on her toes to rest her head on his shoulder.
“You looked good out there, Jussy,” she whispered, falling back on the name she called him as a child. “Breaking hearts and playing ball.”
“And I’m all out of ball for the night.” He drew back and looked at her. “How’s your heart doing, Avie?”
“A little worried for Cam. Less worried for Cam and me. How’s yours?”
“Less worried for you now. Still working on me.” He put his helmet back on and knocked on the side. “But I’m ready.”
Still in his orange hat, Cameron adjusted the microphone at the podium and spoke in his natural voice.
“Before I take any questions, I’d like to address right now the issue of my fourth-quarter exit from the game.”
He looked to Coach Keyes and waited for his nod.
“Like everyone on my team, I’ve heard all about the signs and symptoms of concussions. I took a big hit out there today, and I didn’t feel right when my guys helped me up.”
Cam cleared his throat. “I would greatly appreciate it if every one of you in this room would make space in today’s reporting for one thing besides the score. Player safety is more important than any points on the board. I believe I have the full support of my team and my coaching staff in saying that. We might have won if I’d gone back in. A piece of me was screaming to go back out there for my guys. Fight through it. Be stronger than the pain. Sometimes, you’ve got to be smarter than the pain.”
He glanced around the room until he met Avery’s eyes and smiled. “I’m so proud of Archie Hawkes for getting right in there to wrap up the game,” he continued. “None of us should hang our heads over this loss. It was a well-fought game against a heck of a team, and some things just didn’t go our way. I’m feeling all right, and our medical staff will continue to monitor my condition according to concussion protocol. We’ll update the website and UND social media with my activity status for next week as usual. I’ll take some questions.”
“Did you lose a bet?” one reporter asked, tapping her head to indicate Cam’s hat.
He patted the hat and grinned like he’d forgotten it was there. “I grew up less than an hour away, and I got this hat right here when I was a kid,” he said. “Peyton Manning signed it for me at Manning Passing Academy, and it’s one of my most treasured possessions. Since the scariest member of my P.R. team isn’t here tonight, I figured I could get away with wearing it.” He held up a hand to pause the laughter. “Did Ethan Engel wear the one I got him when you all saw him? He did? I have so much respect for Ethan and the Vols, and I am looking forward to crushing them when they come to see us next year. Next, please.”
“You’ve been Mr. Comeback all year with these fourth-quarter rallies. Was it hard for you to not see this one through?”
“Definitely. But there’s a fine line between being tough and being stupid. I listened to my coach and our trainers, and I turned my attention to what I could do for my guys from the sideline.”
Avery recognized the next person he pointed to: a reporter from Indianapolis who regularly covered home games.
“Cam, how did you get a tattoo in the middle of the season?”
“It’s not real, Brent. Just some special markers.” He pointed to the bee and smiled. “It held up pretty well, all things considered.”
“Heck of a test run,” Brent said. “Maybe it’s good luck. For your arm, anyway.”
Avery curled against him as he sprawled in the luxury of the king-size hotel bed. “Absolutely not,” she said, stroking his chest. “There will be no bouncing or thrusting or riding or blood rushing up or down until your brain is better.”
“I’ll power through. I’m a fighter.”
“Ten minutes ago, you were popping painkillers. You’re an idiot, and I love you.”
“I love you.”
She scooted up the bed and kissed him, lingering on his lips as he slid an arm around her and held her close. “And I will take care of you, Cameron. I will fuss over you when you need it and cheer you on when you don’t. You’ll never have a bigger fan. I am so proud of you.”
Color crept up his cheeks. “Did you hear my mom say she was proud of me at dinner? I couldn’t believe it. I thought after I went down she’d be in full panic mode, but she seemed genuinely happy.”
“I think she and your dad were just so happy to have you home for a little bit, they got past some of the coddling. That, and seeing you have a small army of medical staff at your beck and call was probably soothing.”
Cam’s phone buzzed with a text message.
Pippa
We just got back. There’s a big box for you at the facility and it’s from Nike. What do you want me to do with it?
Cameron
Is Shelby there? Has she seen it?
Pippa
Yes, and not yet.
He dialed and put the phone on speaker. “I didn’t expect that to arrive for a few weeks. Is it something you can kind of scoot out of the way so she won’t be tempted to open it?”
“It’s heavy. I can scoot it, but not far.”
“Can you scribble out my name and write ‘Property of John Keyes’ on it real big?”
Christmas presents?Avery mouthed. Cam nodded.
“That, I can do,” Pippa said. “Okay, your name isn’t showing. But it’s not exactly inconspicuous.”
“Are any of the guys still around? See if they can take it down to the locker room and leave it there for me. Please.”
Avery smashed her hands over her mouth to keep from giggling.
“I don’t know where they went after they got off the bus.” Pippa lowered her voice to a whisper. “She is looking at me.”
His thumbs flew over the screen to message any teammates close to the facility to get back and help Pippa with the box. You won’t regret it, he told them.
“Help is on the way, Pips. Thanks for the heads-up.”
“And thanks again for the sideline pass,” Avery piped up. “I had so much fun meeting you today. We should hang out again, okay?”
“We absolutely should. Hey, there’s Tucker, so I’m going to—Cam? What’s in this thing, anyway?”
“Remember the blue and gold Dunks that make me so limited-edition and special because no one else has them? I’m not so special anymore. Go team.”
“You must be joking. How did you do that?”
“My P.R. crew made me look good all year, so someone who knows someone at Nike was happy to take my call. I was going to do just the O-line for the traditional Christmas present, but they cut me a hell of a deal, so the whole offense gets them. Defense can have theirs on my next check. There’s a pair in there for Garrett, and the smallest ones I could get for you and Shay. If they don’t fit, I’ll get more with the next round. The equipment room staff doesn’t keep P.R. shoe sizes on file, for some reason.”
“Did you get a pair for Shelby?”
“What do you think?”
“I think you did.”
“And I am signing them with your favorite glittery gold pen.”
“You do passive-aggressive so well,” Avery said, rolling over to tickle his stomach after he ended the call. “I like how you made that crew your buddies. You were green at the thought of P.R. when I first met you, and you’re a total pro now. Shay and Pippa went to work on you because I know it wasn’t Shelby helping you along.”
“A lot of people helped me along.” He snuggled her close. “In lots of different ways. I hated it so much at first because it didn’t make sense why I had to do any of it. I just wanted to play ball and not get singled out.”
“What changed? Besides your amazing girlfriend coming on the scene to be your biggest fan.”
“The ‘why’ is becoming a little clearer. Why people care so much about who does this job, for one thing, but also why it had to be me.”
“Do you think you know why Jordan left, then?”
“Some of what happened today helped it click. On the drive down, you brought up some questions I should have been asking myself. Maybe I was deliberately not asking them, because I was afraid someone else would ask me.”
“You think your coaches knew more than they told you?”
“The vibe from the podcasts and other stuff they fed to P.R. all spring and summer made it so obvious. They had to have suspected something was wrong.”
“And yet they didn’t look for a veteran starting quarterback in the meantime.”
Avery reached up and stroked his hair, pushing curls off his forehead, and was relieved to note the flush of emotion had cooled. Ethan and his girlfriend Kaia had offered to change their original plans to take them to a campus party if Cam was up for a quiet booth in the hotel restaurant instead, and she knew he’d be miserable if he didn’t go. Ethan knew something about Jordan too, and maybe, like Cory, he was clinging to a promise made for reasons Cameron would never understand.
He squeezed her tighter. “Maybe it was worse than Jordy ever let on. Maybe the coaches just thought that if he didn’t come back, I could handle it. I’m not sure I’ll ever know why he did it this way, or the whole truth about why he left at all. But I think I can forgive him for ditching us, and that might have to be enough.”