Page 15

I got us first class seats, and I let Harper sit by the window. Across the aisle is an older couple, and I glance down at my kid.

“Have you been on a plane before?” I ask.

She nods. “Lots of times.”

“They used to serve peanuts for a snack,” I say.

“I know. My mom would always take a Clorox wipe and wipe down the tray just in case, but I always thought she was being a little crazy.” She huffs out a little laugh at the memory.

“Do you want me to wipe it down?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “I’ll be fine. But you’ll need to clear all the peanut stuff from your house. If it gets into my food even by accident, we’re in trouble.”

“I’ll throw it all away,” I say. It’s a lie. I’ll take it all to my locker at the Aces stadium, maybe. Throwing it away doesn’t seem like the best option, but I guess I’m going to have to learn to change my diet.

Hot Tits is in the row behind us, but she doesn’t say a word to me.

I have a feeling the news that I have a kid is going to hit the media, and I figure I should prepare my publicist and my agent for the potential headlines.

I can’t exactly voice what I want to say in front of Harper, but it’s also not like I can sneak away to chat about it. So I do my best by sending a text message to my publicist first that takes me much longer than it should to draft.

Me: Need to talk, time today?

I send the same message to my agent, and then we’re asked to put our devices in airplane mode. I do it and connect to WiFi, and then I open up Netflix and hand my phone over to Harper, who plugs in her headphones and finds some show to keep her entertained for the flight back home. It’s about a seventy-five minute flight, and I take the opportunity to stare out the window as I find myself lost in thought.

I don’t dwell on the changes, instead choosing to think about all I want to do when we get back home. If this had to happen, thank God it happened in the off-season when I’m able to be here to adjust to these changes. I’m not sure what all this will look like going forward as the dreaded words enter my brain for the first time: single dad.

I don’t know any other single dads. Does this put me into a new club? A new category?

Do I need to start wearing Hawaiian shirts and spouting cheesy jokes?

Will women continue to drop to their knees for me, or will they think I want something more long-term since I have a kid?

Okay…maybe I dwell on the changes a little during my flight back to Vegas.

We land, and Harper hands my phone back over. I check my messages, and my publicist, Ellie, sent me a calendar invitation for four o’clock. My agent, Jimmy, left a voicemail.

I’ll listen to it later.

I reserve a Lyft while we wait for Harper’s suitcases, and then we head home—back to the peanut butter factory.

Tristan has been back and forth from Vegas to the small town in Iowa where he and his wife live in the off-season, but he happened to be in town for a charity event, so I hit him up for a favor late last night. I asked him to hang out for a bit while I sent a cleaning crew through, to clear out any food with nuts in my pantry, and to take in any packages out front. I placed a few orders to get the ball rolling in turning the guest room into her bedroom, and he and his wife were only too happy to help.

And when we pull into the driveaway, an even bigger surprise awaits us. My car is parked out on the street in front of the house, and for the briefest second I rage that someone touched my McLaren.

But then I see why.

Somehow they put together a little welcome party, and standing in my garage I find my best friend and his family, my publicist and her husband, a former Aces player and current coaching consultant, and a whole host of my teammates with their families. All my boys are here—even the single ones who, much like me a few days ago, get anxious at the mere mention of children.

They’re holding posters welcoming us home, and there are tables set up with snacks and drinks. Music plays, and everyone is laughing and having a great time.

Kids range in ages from newborn through teenagers, and I get the sense that no matter what happens going forward, I’m not alone.

That’s what football has given to me: the family I always thought I was missing.

And that family is opening their arms to accept my new daughter as one of their own.

To say I feel emotional over this is a total understatement. It’s a thousand different feelings hitting me all at once, and the one that seems to stand out above the others is gratitude.

It’s a lot, and it’s overwhelming for us both…but to have all these people here means the world to me.

Tristan comes for me first, and he gives me a bro-hug but holds on an extra beat before pounding my back a few times.

Tessa is right behind him holding their baby who’s almost a year old now, and she hugs me, too. “We’re right here for you, Trav,” she murmurs quietly.

“And you must be Harper,” Tristan says to the little girl quietly standing to my side and just a little behind me.

She ducks her head a little. “Yep,” she says shyly.

“I’m your dad’s best friend, so if you ever need stories you can use to blackmail him, you come to me,” he says.

“Hey!” I protest, but his words manage to get a little giggle out of her.

“Welcome home, Harper,” Tessa says to her.

“Have you met Evan?” Tristan asks me, and he waves over the defensive end just traded to the Aces from Detroit. He’s got red hair and a bushy, red beard, and he looks sort of like one of the actors in Game of Thrones .

He walks over with a gorgeous blonde and a little blonde girl who looks to be around Harper’s age, and I feel like I have an instant new friend.

I reach out to shake his hand. “Welcome to Vegas, man,” I say. “I’m Travis, and this is Harper.”

“Evan,” he says, and his handshake is as fierce as he is. “This is my wife, Trudy, and our daughter Bella.” He looks at Harper. “She’s ten. How old are you?”

“I’m ten, too,” Harper says. She looks at Bella. “Are you in fifth grade?”

Bella nods. “Yep. I just started my new school a few weeks ago.”

“Do you like it?” Harper asks.

They get to talking, and I glance up at Evan and mouth thank you .

He presses his lips together in a sort of smile and offers a nod as if to say, of course .

“Trudy, it’s nice to meet you,” I say.

“Same,” she says with a warm smile. “And I know this is all new and will be an adjustment for you, so if you need anything at all, we’re happy to help.” Her words and her demeanor both come off as genuine, maybe because of the southern drawl, and if it was anyone other than an NFL wife offering me all this, I’d be skeptical.

Instead, all I can be is grateful. “I appreciate that.”

“I mean it. We’re new to the area, too, and Bella would love to make a new friend that she can play with at the Aces events. And I’m a stay-at-home mom, so if you ever need someone to look after Harper or help with pick-ups, whatever, I’m happy to help.”

“Wow. That’s incredible, and I may just take you up on it.”

I glance over at Harper and see she’s already scouting the snack table with her new friend, and that’s when my publicist approaches me.

“I lied about the four o’clock thing,” Ellie admits.

I laugh, but I sober quickly. “I’m guessing it’ll hit the media soon.”

She nods and chews her bottom lip for a beat. “How do you want to play it?”

I shrug. “What angle is there? I just wanted you to be aware.”

“You can spin whatever angle you want when you’re controlling the narrative, Travis,” she says, and she shrugs. “Though I’ll admit I’ve never dealt with something like this before. I think honesty is your best bet. Showing the world that you’re standing up to take in a girl you never met in the face of tragedy will more than likely drive up your stock.”

“What does that mean?” I ask.

“It means endorsement and sponsorship opportunities. It means a whole new image instead of what you’ve been working with.” She raises a pointed brow as if my image could’ve used a little sprucing up anyway.

I think back to that hot girl who rejected me the night my dad called with the news about Caroline and Simon. I remember her saying something about how she knows me as a bad boy who sleeps around, and while I don’t consider myself a bad boy per se, the sleeping around part is pretty accurate.

And there’s never really been a problem with that…until I had a ten-year-old girl to report back to, one who is old enough to see the headlines and who might even be old enough to understand the implications.

One who I don’t want to disappoint, and one who I don’t want to see me in any sort of negative press situation.

“I’m not looking for benefits born out of tragedy,” I mutter.

“I know, and that’s not at all what I’m saying.” She sets a hand on my forearm. “I apologize if that’s how it came off. I’m just telling you there are organizations who will give you a shot because of your situation, and there’s nothing wrong at all with taking them.”

I nod, and her husband Luke sidles up beside her, wrapping an arm around his wife’s waist. “You doing okay, Woods?” he asks.

I shrug. “As well as can be expected,” I admit.

Luke and I never played together. He retired before I was traded to the Aces, but he started a sports agency that works hand-in-hand with his wife’s publicity firm, and on top of that, he spends a lot of time with the wide receivers since that’s the position he played for a decade.

I respect the hell out of him, and I love everything his wife has done for me. These two are truly a dream team, and I’m lucky to have them in my corner.

He gives me a friendly whack on the back. “We’re here for whatever you need, man.”

“I don’t know how any of this works, so knowing I have someone to ask definitely helps.”

They both chuckle, and Ellie squeezes my arm. “We don’t really know what we’re doing, either. Parenting is sort of a take it as it comes endeavor. Nolan, no!”

In the irony to end all ironies after her last statement, I glance over to see their kid yanking an entire plate of cupcakes off the table, and Ellie dives over and manages to catch the plate before it goes crashing to the ground.

Nolan, who’s maybe four tops, bursts into tears, and then his little sister whose name escapes me at the moment because I’ve never had a reason to remember it starts to cry, too, and Luke and Ellie’s attention moves away from me and over to their kids.

As it should be.

As it will be for me, too, going forward.