Touching Down(82)

Michelle leaned over even closer as the volume in the stadium dialed up yet again. “Comfortable shoes and clothes that travel and pack well. And your passport. That’s all you need.”

“Can you just pack for me?” I laughed, shaking a few Milk Duds into her hand.

Charlie burst out of her seat again, hollering at the refs about some call they’d just made. The Storm was on defense, so I let my attention wander since Grant wasn’t playing. Charlie only let her attention wander during halftime or time-outs.

As she continued to jeer at the refs, I downed some Milk Duds and went over the next few days in my head. Grant and the Storm were going to win this game. If the scoreboard didn’t suggest that, my gut certainly did. Which meant there’d be a celebration party in the next night or two, and I still had a ton of packing to do and planning for leaving the country for three months. I hadn’t planned on such a long trip, but Ravi had said that in order to see if this new drug would work for me, I’d need to give it time. There was no need to “smuggle” a prescription drug from a foreign country into the US unless I knew it was worth it. So yeah, not only was I a drug guinea pig, I was a potential drug smuggler. I was just setting a heap of examples for my child.

But I’d rather break a few laws and get to be in my child’s life than die young having a perfect record.

“I know I’ve told you this a thousand times before, but once more can’t hurt.” I glanced at Ravi and smiled when I felt closer to crying from gratitude for everything he’d done for us. “Thank you. You have no idea . . .”

Ravi patted my leg. “I think I have a very good idea.” He looked between Charlie and me like that explained it all. “And besides, I owe Grant big time. This helps chip away at that debt.”

My forehead creased. “Weren’t you the one who kept him from flunking out of school? How do you owe him?”

Ravi drew Michelle closer to him. “He introduced me to the woman I married.”

“Really?” I asked, surprised I’d never heard this story. “He did?”

“He sure did,” Ravi answered. “She was hung up on this other guy, this super-jock she thought was all that.”

Michelle elbowed him in the ribs affectionately.

I waved my finger between the two of them all wrapped up around each other. “Looks like she got over him.”

Michelle’s hand pressed into Ravi’s chest. “Yeah, after he not-so-subtly nudged me this guy’s way.”

Ravi grinned. “It was fate.”

“What happened with super-jock?” I asked.

“He was totally into some other girl. I don’t think he looked another girl’s way the entire four years we went to school together. Actually, I’m sure he’s never looked another woman’s way since either.” Michelle and Ravi exchanged a look. “Oh, and then he went on to become one of the best players in professional football, reconnected with that girl, and now they’re a couple of our best friends.”

My eyebrows lifted. “You were into Grant?”

Michelle gave me an apologetic look. “A little.”

Ravi huffed his own opinion on that.

That was when Charlie grabbed my arm and gave it a shake, which meant Grant was taking the field. I watched him lope up to the line of scrimmage, practically able to feel the tens of thousands of eyes on him, able to sense the millions of eyes watching him through the screen of a television.

He could have had anyone he wanted. He could have had anyone he wanted for a night, a week, or a lifetime. Yet all he’d ever wanted was me. Realizing that made me feel a dizzying mixture of special and undeserving at the same time. But accepting that was the best feeling in the whole world.

Accepting that was its own kind of miracle. If two kids from The Clink could love each other despite their tainted histories, that meant there were more miracles out there. More of them waiting to be experienced.

“That man’s been off the market since the day he met you.” Michelle nodded at the field as the teams lined up. “That won’t change. No matter what might.”

“The feeling’s mutual,” I said.

I watched him take his place in the lineup, but not before taking another look in our direction. The biggest game of his life, droves of fans chanting and yelling, emotions hitting overdrive, and he never missed a chance to glance at the people who loved him most. Almost like he was a boy again, playing a game for a crowd of twenty.

I’d live loving him. I’d die loving him. It was a guarantee. Just as his love was.

“Mom, watch, watch!” The remnants of Charlie’s pretzel dropped as she grabbed my hand and pulled me up with her.