Change of Hart(70)

“We know. He’s been peeking through that window all day,” someone replied.

I chuckled. “Yeah. That sounds about right. He is quite intrigued by all your equipment. I don’t know whose satellite truck that is, but he thinks that is the coolest thing ever.”

“Jason, there has been some speculation that you and Addison began dating before her husband died. What is your response to that?”

That is exactly the kind of rumor Addison was worried about. As much as I wanted to deck the big-nosed dude that asked me the question, I stayed cool. I didn’t want to make things worse.

“I would say that is a ridiculous speculation since we only met a couple months ago. You guys can expect a press release soon with a little more information. In the meantime, we have a game coming up tomorrow night if you have any questions about football.”

I was only asked a couple questions about the game, which is exactly what I expected. No one was here because they thought I would be. But it still seemed like a nice compromise . . . give the reporters a little and they back off a little.

At this point, I’d take what I could get.





Me: How’s it going so far today?

I hit send on my text to Addison and sat on the bench of the locker room, waiting for a response.

I had stayed up late last night watching all the news reports and internet updates to see if any more intrusive stories popped up. So far, with the exception of the one article and the media in the street, things were pretty quiet. But I still wanted to make sure.

Addison: There are still a couple people out there. Mostly it’s before the news starts when they are doing a live shot.

Me: Good. I’ve been worried.

Addison: ;) You’re sweet. I’m really glad Judy put that picture in the press release. I looked hot!

I chuckled.

Me: Yes, yes you were. And yes you are. Gotta go, babe. Pre-game meetings and interviews. See you at the game?

Addison: I’ll be wearing your number.

I smiled at the thought as I turned off my phone, put it in my locker and shut the door, ready to go to work.

Two hours later, we were on the field warming up and getting revved up for the game. Deuce was always really energetic before we played. Ran around like a fool talking to people, cracking jokes, meeting fans. Me? I had to get in the zone. Block everything else out. I didn’t think about anything or anyone except football.

Tonight was a small exception. It was the first time Addison was going to be here in the stadium during one of my games and I’d be lying if I said that didn’t excite me a little bit. So while I stayed in my football zone, I allowed myself to glance at the reserved seating area every once in a while. Just to see if they were here yet. I knew they’d probably come in a little late to avoid the crowd, but I was still anxious to see my girl, and my buddy, wearing my jersey and cheering me on.

“You ready for tonight?” Deuce asked as he jogged over to me with his normal pre-game bounce. “Monday Night Football, baby!”

“Yep,” I answered shortly, tossing the ball back to Dean McKenna, one of our practice team members.

“Hey, check it out man,” Deuce gestured toward the stands. “I got Judy to get me a reserved seating ticket at the last minute. My little preggo mamacita is feeling better, so we thought Addison might enjoy the company.”

Sure enough, as I looked over I saw Vanessa taking a seat right next to the ones we had for Addison and Jaxon. When she saw us looking, she blew a kiss at Deuce who pretended to catch it, kiss it, spike it like a football and dance around like he’d scored. Well, she was pregnant so I guess technically he had scored.

“Thanks, man,” I said once he finally stopped dancing. “I really appreciate it.”

He smiled and started bouncing again. “Don’t worry about it. Anything for Addison,” he said as he jogged away. McKenna and I kept tossing the ball around until it was time to head back in the locker room and suit up.

Once we went through the normal pep talks and started heading toward the tunnel in all our pads and uniforms, the mood changed. As we came charging through the tunnel, the sound of the crowd was deafening. You could feel the excitement in the air. It was almost electric. Football fans were hard-core. Everywhere I looked there was blue and silver. Blue and silver pom-poms. Blue and silver foam fingers. Blue and silver face paint. There’s nothing like knowing that ninety-five percent of the people in a building this size were rooting you on, believing in you, counting on you. It was unreal.

As we ran across the field, I looked over at the reserved seats again. And there they were. My girl and my buddy. Cheering me on. With an excited smile on my face, I smacked the top of my helmet twice and pointed at them. I have no idea why I did that. It just sort of happened. But Jax pointed back at me, so I didn’t care if I looked like a lovesick idiot.