After the Game(69)

I wanted it for them. So did the rest of this crowd. Cowbells were being rung. Cheerleaders were already starting up, and banners were everywhere. I tried not to let it get to me when I saw signs in the crowd that said I LOVE HIGGENS, BRADY HIGGENS IS MY HERO, and the worst one yet: MARRY ME BRADY.

I figured this was just the beginning of all that. He’d be playing for an SEC crowd next year and the female adoration would increase. Yet today . . . he’d told me he loved me.

My heart fluttered in my chest at the memory, and I wanted that. I wanted Brady. What we could have. But winter was almost here. Soon spring would come, and then with its end he would graduate and things would change once again.

“I’m not sure my nerves can handle this,” Willa said, looking over at us nervously. “And to think two months ago I didn’t care a thing about football.”

Maggie laughed. “I know what you mean.”

The three of us had changed too. Each for different reasons. Maggie and Willa had also fallen in love, but they had plans. They would go to college with their boyfriends. Build their life together. They didn’t have a daughter that came first before anything else.

It made falling in love much more complicated for me. I had been trying to protect myself, and my heart had just gone on ahead and done what it pleased. But then, Brady Higgens was hard not to love. He made it just about impossible.

Coralee reached over and squeezed my hand. “He’s looking for you,” she said.

I turned my attention to the field and Brady was there staring up at us. I waved and he blew me a kiss before running to the field house with the rest of the team. Warm-ups were over. This would all be starting soon.

“I like you so much more than Ivy,” Maggie said. “I did like the brownies, but they did not make up for her endless pointless chatter about stupid things.”

Smiling, I wrapped my arms around myself as if to keep warm from the cold wind, when I was actually holding in the warmth that being accepted created inside me. I hadn’t expected acceptance here, yet I was getting it. All because Brady Higgens had chosen to believe me. He held a power that most didn’t have and he’d used his power for good. In my world, that made him a superhero. If this town had one, it would be Brady.

Not because he was a star quarterback but because his heart was big. He wasn’t perfect, and he had made mistakes, but at the end of the day if he had to make a choice, he tried his best to make the right one. Even if it hurt to do it. That was superhero status in my book.

“Not sure what he’d have done without you through all this,” Coralee said beside me, her voice laced with emotion. “For him to see what he did and deal with it through the toughest two games of his high school career seems impossible. Him having you has made the difference. You give him strength. I have seen it this week.”

I didn’t think I’d given him anything but an ear and some advice. Because I knew what having your world fall apart felt like. Brady was strong before I came along. But if I had any part in his making it through all this, then maybe I was a superhero too. Smiling, I reached for my soda and took a sip.

“Ivy seems to have a new interest,” Willa said, pointing to the field at the sign Ivy was holding up: GET US STATE, RYKER!

I wondered if Ryker knew he was next for her. Maybe he wanted to be. She was beautiful, and she was the head cheerleader. Ivy had always been the good girl and a little overly sweet. But if she was moving on, then I was happy for her.

“Anyone want a hot dog? The smell is getting to me,” Maggie said, standing up.

“I do,” Coralee said.

I did too. I stood up. “I’ll go with you.”

Willa shook her head. “No, thanks. Too nervous to eat.”

“Want another drink?” Maggie asked her.

“I’m good for now.”

We headed down the stairs and toward the concession stand. It seemed all very normal, like I belonged here. I guessed I did now. Actually I always had. Just because others hadn’t accepted me hadn’t made me less of a person.

“I know Brady has already said this, but thanks for this week. Your bringing Bryony to visit has helped Aunt Coralee.”

I wondered if anyone had asked Maggie how she was doing. “How have you been through all this?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s my uncle, but until I moved here I didn’t know him that well. I spent more time with Aunt Coralee than with him. Now I know why he was rarely home.” She winced. “I’m stronger than Brady because I’ve already lived through a nightmare.”





Oh God, Save Me from the Mushy Shit





CHAPTER 52