Page 15

Jamil

By the end of the series, my interview with Harper was all over social media.

We had barely been around each other over the past three days.

The Cougars lost all the games in Seattle and Harper had focused on interviewing the starting pitchers, barely sparing a glance in my direction.

What happened in the hallway was like a heavy rock sitting with neither of us making the first move to push it out of the way.

The court of public opinion didn’t do anything to make matters any better.

Paired with the stress of my brother disappearing from rehab, my mind had been completely preoccupied.

The facility was still looking for him, but I knew he’d turn up eventually.

This wasn’t the first time he’d disappeared from treatment.

I had only hoped that when he checked himself back in it wouldn’t happen again.

I should have known better than to believe him.

But there would always be a seed of hope that he would finally put the work in to fix himself.

It was beginning to become difficult to erase my worries for him from my mind when I stepped on the baseball field, which was evident in the uncharacteristic seven strikeouts I had over this series.

I could almost hear the sports analysts debating what they thought was distracting me, all of them agreeing that I was letting the attention get to my head.

The truth was none of them knew what was really going on in my life, despite how hard they were trying.

The interview Harper was going to do with Derek was a welcome distraction from that reality.

Today would be the first day we would have to interact.

I even had to get Harper’s phone number from Olivia so I could figure out how we were going to meet.

Harper had simply sent me her address and asked me to pick her up at noon.

The flip from how hot that hallway was back in Seattle to how cold the distance was growing between us was jarring.

I should have been nervous as I pulled up to the apartment Harper was staying in, just down the street from the stadium, because we were dancing around the fact that we’d jumped each other’s bones in the restaurant in Seattle.

The chemistry between us was visible enough that people were even catching it in our interview.

But I wasn’t nervous. I only wanted to be near her again.

All I could think about was that kiss in the hallway.

It was one kiss. But it had been an electrifying, mind-blowing, one-for-the-record-books kind of kiss.

There was clear chemistry now between us.

That first night couldn’t be chalked up to the heat of the moment or a need for a distraction no matter how hard she was trying.

It was only a couple of minutes before she walked out the front doors of her building looking like a powerhouse. She wore a navy pantsuit and her hair fell in tendrils down her back. The look on her face was of someone who was ready to conquer a battle that was on the horizon.

Oh, Derek. You’re about to be utterly unprepared for this woman. You and I both.

I quickly jumped out of the car and came around the front to open her door. “You look fantastic.”

Harper paused as her eyes remained on the open car door rather than meeting mine. Conflict clashed on her face before she sucked a breath deep into her lungs and turned to face me. “Thank you,” she said, a hint of a smile pulling at the corners of her lips before she slipped past me into the car.

“So .?.?.” I trailed off once I’d gotten back in the driver’s seat. “I’m assuming you’ve seen social media these past few days.”

There was only a moment of silence before Harper began to laugh. It started off as a soft chuckle before it devolved into a full belly laugh. I cast her a concerned look to see tears streaming out the corners of her eyes. Once she’d finally collected herself, she nodded her head.

“I have and so has my boss.” She swiped at the rivulets of tears with a smile of disbelief on her face.

“And apparently it was his favorite interview of mine. I barely asked you two questions, and they weren’t anything more than surface level and that ended up being his favorite interview. Isn’t that fucking hilarious?”

There was a deranged look in her eye as she waited for me to respond, so I trod cautiously. “Your boss wasn’t upset or anything? I never would have done it if it was going to get you in trouble.”

“Oh, he loved it. The clip is nearly at a million views and their ratings have even gone up on some of their shows today.” Harper leaned her head against the headrest of her seat.

“All this time I’ve wished to be appreciated at my job.

I guess you really do have to be careful what you wish for because you may get the result and hate how you got there. ”

“Well, now that you have their attention, use today to show them all that you are.”

Harper let out a breath of disbelief as she turned in her seat to look at me. She was staring at me like I had crept inside her mind and read exactly what she was thinking. “I’m sorry about the last series,” she said once she sat back in her seat. “It was a hard one to watch.”

I gave her a shrug. “That’s part of the season. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

“I’m also sorry for not talking to you after the restaurant,” Harper replied quietly as she gazed out the window, watching the Chicago skyline slowly fade away as we drove toward the Chicago Bobcats’ practice facility.

“That’s okay.”

“I don’t regret it,” she told me after another moment of silence.

“Me neither.”

Before we could continue our conversation any further, we pulled in front of the practice facility.

Only a few cars were in the parking lot, and I recognized Derek’s as one of the few.

Harper’s crew was also waiting for her. Together we studied the building as we walked up to the entrance.

I’d only been once before to work out with Nolan Hill, the retired quarterback and now coach for the team, Derek Allen, and Hawthorn Smith, the team’s kicker.

Even I had to admit it was an impressive feat of architecture with the massive glass structure reflecting the green on the trees surrounding the facility.

“Welcome everyone to my humble abode,” Derek greeted us just inside the main entrance.

I rolled my eyes at my friend. The two of us had bonded after being brought together by Nolan Hill’s relationship with Olivia’s sister, Lottie.

We were like twin flames always set to destroy wherever we went together, a guaranteed good time.

I took up the rear of the group as Harper greeted Derek and then introduced the rest of her crew.

It was the perfect opportunity to observe her without being caught.

It had been obvious from the moment I saw her at the bar that she had a magnanimous personality.

The kind that would have people hung on every word of her interviews.

“And this is last year’s Super Bowl trophy,” Derek said as we stopped in front of the trophy case leading to the locker room where the interview would take place. There was a picture of the entire team next to the trophy and then one of the captains—Derek was being held up by Nolan and Hawthorn.

“Do you think you can manage back-to-back?” Harper asked him as we walked into the immaculate locker room where Derek already had two chairs set up in the middle.

“I’m not sure. We’re young, but we’ve got a lot of talent and a lot of fire.”

“Are you ready to get started?” Harper asked as she took one of the open seats. Her crew set up quickly—seasoned professionals that they were.

“Please,” Derek told her, motioning for her to go ahead.

I moved to stand behind her crew so I could watch the interview through what the camera was capturing.

The overhead lights had been turned off and only the lighting Harper had brought in was illuminating the two people in the middle of the room, everything else cast in shadow.

Her navy suit popped on the screen while Derek’s white button-down shirt complemented. Visually it was perfect.

“Derek Allen, it’s a pleasure to have you in the hot seat.”

“I’m excited to be here.” Derek rubbed his pants nervously. On the outside he always came off as extroverted—the funny one—but anytime the spotlight was solely on him, he had a hard time with it. Yet another thing we both had in common.

“Let’s start on the night of the Super Bowl.

Take me back to those final few minutes.

You and Nolan Hill had connected on ten passes with you racking up one hundred and thirty-five yards.

It was an unbelievable performance the two of you put on after a rocky first half of the season.

What were you thinking there in the last quarter being up nearly three touchdowns? ”

Harper hadn’t even glanced down at her notes once as she spit out those statistics.

“It was bittersweet,” Derek started. “We were about to win another Super Bowl after three years. It was going to be my second one. But as those minutes ticked off the clock, I realized once we walked off the field, Nolan and I would no longer be teammates. He was going to be done.”

“That chemistry the two of you had is like no other tightend and quarterback pairing in the league,” Harper continued without even missing a beat. “What do you think made that partnership so special?”

Derek cocked his head thoughtfully for a moment before replying.

“I think our playing styles aligned well. I never feel like I’m stuck with a specific route, and I can always find a way to get open.

Nolan had this innate ability to know where I was going to try to go, even when it wasn’t a part of the planned route. ”

Harper smiled. “Magic.”

“Like magic,” Derek agreed.

“Do you think that can be replicated with Caleb Willis as he takes over the reins of the team this year?”