Page 33

Harper

“Will the lighting work in the living room?” Nora asked me as we studied the area.

Jamil and I had showed up, along with my camera crew, about ten minutes ago to Nora frantically trying to finish cleaning their home while Adam and Nolan attempted to wrangle the Steel boys downstairs for the duration of the interview. Jamil had disappeared to go help them.

During the entire car ride over, I couldn’t put my finger on it, but the air between us felt off.

Jamil was holding back, like he wanted to say something, but was biting his tongue.

He’d still gotten out of the car to open my door for me, and I’d even caught him admiring how my legs looked with the skirt I was wearing.

But the uncertainty was sitting in the back of my brain, and I was unable to shake it away.

“Nora”—I reached over and placed a gentle hand on her arm—“This will work perfect.”

A stray hair fell from Nora’s claw clip, and she desperately tried to blow it out of her face. “Are you sure? I can clean up the front sitting room. We don’t use it much, but the boys have taken it over for their projects,” she began rambling again.

Before she could spiral past the point of no return, I turned her toward the kitchen. “Let’s go get you a glass of wine.”

Nora sighed before breaking down into a fit of giggles. I eyed her warily, wondering what we’d just walked into this afternoon. “I’m sorry. Between the boys finishing up school and trying to get ready for summer break while also having Adam home all the time now, I think I’m going crazy.”

The tiredness on Nora was everywhere—etched in her eyes, seen in the set of her shoulders, even in the shirt that had one too many mysterious stains on it.

I wasn’t sure what came over me, never in my life had I ever considered asking another woman to hang out.

Nora and I were at two different stages in our lives, but that didn’t mean she didn’t deserve a night off.

“Do you want to hang out? Maybe we can have a girls’ night and grab drinks.

I know we have a stint of away games coming up, but after we come back? ”

Maybe being around Olivia, Maggie, and all the other women in this friend group was wearing off on me. Nora looked over at me like I was sent from the heavens above. “That would be amazing. I haven’t had any socialization with someone sane since the party Jamil threw for you.”

It was almost comical that Nora considered me sane.

I felt like I was far from it nowadays. Between desperately chasing after a career that I questioned was worth it some days and navigating friendships for the first time in years, normal was far from what I was feeling.

But the warmth I felt from surrounding myself with people who cared was almost better than the pride I felt when nailing the perfect interview.

“I don’t think I have your number,” I told her as I fished my phone out of my bag. “Why don’t you punch it in here for me and I’ll text you some dates. Maybe we can snag all the girls to come along.”

Nora continued spilling her guts as her fingers flew over my phone screen.

Now that the flood gates were opened, it didn’t appear that they were going to close anytime soon.

“It’s been years since Adam and I have spent this much time together and it’s a bit of an adjustment.

I’m more afraid that he’s going to grow resentful of retirement far earlier than he should.

He’s only forty. He still spends a lot of his free time following as many sporting events as possible.

I wonder if he misses it, but he swears he was ready to be done. ”

Adam, Nolan, and Jamil emerged from the Steels’ basement chatting about Jamil’s game from yesterday. Adam was talking animatedly about Jamil’s ability to hit nearly every pitch that was thrown his way, listing off statistics like he’d written them on the back of his hand.

“Has he ever considered broadcasting?” I asked Nora as the men stopped in the kitchen.

Nora glanced over at me, the wheels in her head turning as she weighed the possibility of something like that for her husband. “He’d be wonderful at that.”

“I have some contacts in the industry. Let me write some numbers and emails down. Do you have a pen and a piece of paper?” Nora hurried off to the kitchen to grab a pad for me to write on.

“What are you two doing?” Adam asked as he watched his wife hand me a legal pad. “You’ve got the look of someone scheming.”

“And if we were?” Nora cocked an eyebrow in Adam’s direction, her arms crossed over her chest. Her husband raised his hands, clearly knowing after so many years of marriage what conversations he needed to bow out of.

“Harper, I think we’ve got everything ready,” Neil called out from the living room.

“Perfect. Thank you.” I turned to Nolan and Adam. “Are you two ready?”

As the three of us settled into our chairs, I made a point to make eye contact with Nolan first. “I only want to highlight the amazing careers you both had, while discussing what it’s been like transitioning out of the uniform.

You can share as much or as little as you want.

I won’t pry for more than you’re willing to give me.

If you want to stay surface level, like one of the previous post-game interviews I’ve done with you, that’s fine. ”

His shoulders visibly relaxed away from his ears. “You didn’t seem to cut Derek quite the same deal.” The mirth in his eyes told me he’d appreciated seeing Derek answer the hard questions for the first time in his career.

“It’s Derek. Don’t you think he deserved it?”

Both Nolan and Adam doubled over in laughter. When Nolan picked his eyes back up to meet mine, there were tears streaming from the corners. “I knew I liked you.”

I adjusted my jacket to make sure it was sitting properly before signaling to Neil that I was ready. “Are you both ready?”

My eyes cut toward the kitchen to try and grab Jamil’s eye and encouragement. But instead of giving me a smile and a thumbs up like he’d done before, his attention was focused on his phone in his hands. My heart sank as I tried to tell myself his behavior had nothing to do with me.

But what if it does?

As soon as the camera started rolling, I fell into the familiarity of an interview, pushing my concerns for Jamil to the back of my mind.

“Nolan Hill and Adam Steel. The two of you are both infamous for the success you had in your careers and even stirred up some conversation into how long your careers would last.”

“Probably too long some may say,” Nolan coughed, and the two men shared a lighthearted laugh together.

“The decision to lengthen your careers one more season seemed to pay off for you both. In fact, both of you ended with a win on the biggest stage of your respective sports, which many cannot say they had the opportunity to do.” This was the part of my interviews which I enjoyed the most, the first question that would set the tone for the remainder of our time together.

“Do you feel as though that decision was worth it?”

Nolan gestured for Adam to answer first. The retired pitcher cleared his throat, a thoughtful expression crossing his face as he considered my question.

“It’s never an easy decision to take the uniform off for the last time.

For many of us, we’ve been playing our sports for most of our lives.

Playing has become interwoven into our very identities.

I remember my father telling me that I’d know when it was time to finally make that decision.

I wasn’t chasing a World Series win. I was playing out every ounce that I had left in me.

But I knew the moment I realized that my boys were growing up at a rate far too fast. I didn’t want to miss more than I had to. ”

“And you, Nolan? Was playing one more season worth it? I do recall from our previous interviews that some of your desire to play again stemmed from wanting a Super Bowl win. I’m certain that was an extremely rewarding moment when you achieved that goal.

” I didn’t miss Adam trying to hide a growing smirk that was directed toward his friend.

During my research process, Olivia had told me that Adam’s friendship had been long-standing, and his advice was highly sought after by Nolan.

“Many of my critics would have liked to have seen me retire two years earlier, but if I had listened to them, I wouldn’t have figured out that I am more than the jersey and I wouldn’t have met my wonderful girlfriend.

Those two things are much more important than any Super Bowl win or line in a history book.

” I could practically hear the women across America swooning at Nolan Hill talking about his love for Lottie.

Only one without a heart wouldn’t find the notion sweet.

“The transition from on the field to off the field permanently is often quite difficult for most athletes, as Adam mentioned. How have the two of you been fairing?” I could already tell this interview would bring the masses of Chicago sports fans together.

Between the friendship of Nolan and Adam and the cross-sport interview, this was sure to be as big of a hit as my interview with Derek.

“Coaching has been unexpectedly fulfilling,” Nolan jumped in when he noticed the color drain from his friend’s face.

“I hadn’t given much thought to what I’d do after my career was over, but with the guidance of my family, I decided to stay with the Bobcats to coach the next generations of quarterbacks.

I’ve found coaching to be just as challenging, maybe even more so, than playing.

It’s exponentially more fulfilling and I can only hope that I make enough of a difference in the players’ lives and careers that I can continue doing this in the long-term. ”

By the time Nolan had finished answering my question, very little color had returned to Adam’s face. He looked lost and panicked when he realized it was his turn to answer.