Chapter 35 #2
The safety tries to undercut, but slips.
I throw high toward the back pylon.
Brody elevates above the crowd of bodies, arms extended.
The ball drops over his outside shoulder.
He secures it as a linebacker crashes into his ribs, and they tumble across the goal line. Then the official’s arms shoot straight into the air. Touchdown.
The sound of eighty thousand people cheering detonates, and it shakes the stadium like an earthquake.
I don’t remember running to him, but I’m pulling Brody off the ground as the rest of our line piles on. We’re screaming, laughing, helmets smashing together.
Thirty-eight seconds left on the clock.
After this field goal, they won’t have time to make it down the field.
I jog to the sideline and watch the replay on the Jumbotron.
We get the field goal, punt, and then game over.
I walk out onto the field, looking for Archie and Silas, who I’ve gotten to know pretty well. He married Beck’s sister and also played for Walker with my friends and Aston and Ace Griffith after I left.
I see Archie first and wrap my arm around him.
“Well done, brother.” Archie slaps my back. “Helluva play there at the end. Finding your groove with these guys?”
“Yeah, I feel pretty good about the season.”
Aston walks over, and Silas is behind him.
Archie and Aston hug, and Archie lifts him up, as a big brother would.
I grip Silas’s hand and pull him in. “Great game, man.”
“Today wasn’t our day, but it was good to see you. Settling in here okay?”
“It’s been great. You coming to my place tonight? I’d love for you to meet my girlfriend and my daughter.”
“I can’t. I don’t have the same freedom as Griff here has,” he says, putting a hand on Archie’s shoulder.
“What can I say? I’m like a favorite child. Coach loves me.” Archie pats his own chest.
“Fuck off.” Silas laughs. “I’ll see you guys later. Good to see you both.” He hugs Aston one more time, then fist bumps me and walks off to go say hi to a few of my teammates.
“You feeding us, Pitz, or do I need to grab something before I head your way?” Aston asks me.
“What the fuck do you think?” I laugh, shaking my head.
“Just checking, asshole,” he chides.
“Okay, I’ll see you guys later. I need to go say hello to a few people,” Archie says.
We break apart, and I stop to give a few interviews.
“Congrats, Liam. Great start to the season. How do you feel after that win?” The reporter holds the microphone up to my face.
“It feels good. I couldn’t wait to get the season going, and it’s always good to win the first game.”
“What do you think the difference is between last season and this one?”
I glance up, looking for my family.
“My priorities.” I don’t elaborate.
“Thanks for your time, Liam. Congrats.”
I nod. “Thanks.”
After a few more interviews, I head back to the locker room and clean up fast. I want to get to my girls and get home so I can finally be there for my daughter’s birthday.
We’re at Alie’s place in Manhattan. It’s a small party, including her parents and sister. Archie holds Emma’s hand while she has their newborn son, Tucker, strapped to her chest.
There are pink balloons everywhere and streamers that say 2. And lots of sugar.
Archie’s kids, Lainey and Duke, are running around with Sera like they’re on sugar fumes, and the cake hasn’t even been cut yet.
Aston shows up late, of course, holding a stuffed unicorn that’s almost as big as Sera.
“For the MVP,” he says.
She beams. “Fank you!”
“God, Pitz. She looks just like you,” Emma says warmly.
“She really does,” Alie agrees. “It’s not fair that we do the cooking, then they look like their dads.”
I wrap my arm around her. “Maybe the next one will look just like you.”
“Next one?” She looks at me with her brows raised.
We haven’t talked about more kids, but I want as many as she’ll give me.
Instead of answering, I lean down and kiss her.
“This is … insane. Much more hectic than her first birthday party,” she murmurs.
“Good insane though?”
“Yeah, she’s having a blast with them.”
We eat some food, visit, and the Grants get to know my friends. Having Archie and Emma here to meet my girls and celebrate my daughter means the world to me. I’ve really missed them.
When it’s time for cake, everyone sings, and she squeezes her eyes dramatically before making her wish and blowing out the candles.
“What’d you wish for?” Aston asks her.
“Secret.” She grins.
Smart kid.
The party winds down, and Alie’s parents and sister are the first to leave. Everyone else leaves soon after because Archie and his family have an early flight back to Dallas tomorrow.
Sera’s crashing hard from sugar and a full day of excitement.
After her bath, she tries to convince us to let her wear my jersey to bed, but it has smeared cake and … unidentifiable stains.
She holds onto her football and Stallion like she doesn’t want to let go.
“Daddy stay?” she asks.
“Yes, sweetheart,” I say immediately.
“Mommy, baby story,” Sera says.
“Baby story?” I ask.
“She likes it when I tell her about the day she was born.” Alie sits on the edge of the bed.
Sera grabs my hand as Alie starts.
“Two years ago today, I knew it was your day to arrive. After working really hard to get you out of my belly, I heard the tiniest cry.”
“Me!” She points to herself.
“Yep, it was you. And when the nurse brought you over to me, I fell in love instantly. As soon as she put you in my arms, you stopped crying.” Alie traces a finger down her cheek.
“You had chubby, rosy cheeks, the most perfect little mouth, and your eyes … were wide and curious, like you were studying everything around you. There was a puff of brown hair on your head, and no matter how many times I tried to smooth it down, it wouldn’t lay flat. ”
Sera pats her hair.
Alie smiles at me over Sera’s head.
“I wike that,” Sera says with a yawn.
“I like that story too,” I whisper.
We watch her fall asleep, then close the door behind us.
The apartment is quiet as we make our way over to the couch.
“Today was perfect.”
“It was.” I sit next to her and take her hand in mine.
“You were amazing today.”
“Thanks, baby.” I brush my thumb along her jaw.
She curls her legs on the couch and leans into me.
“I want more days like this,” I say, feeling content.
“We’ll have them,” she says, tilting her head to look at me.
I kiss her slowly, wanting her to feel my love and commitment to her and our family.
The season just started, but for the first time in my life, so has the rest of it.