Page 37

37

EMMETT

I ’m in my driveway lacing up my shoes, freezing my ass off when she pulls in.

It’s the day before Leo’s thanksgiving party, and I want nothing more than to make sure that Heidi is feeling okay about u—her job.

I can see her brows furrow through the window of the car as I blow into my hands in a desperate attempt to warm them up.

“You okay?” she asks, getting out. “Is this where I get fired?”

“What?” I rear back. “No. I was going to go running with you.”

“It’s cold,” she states stiffly as she looks around at the ice on the ground. It is cold. But I want to spend the time with her. And if I’m being completely frank, I really missed our runs.

“You saying you don’t want to go for a run?” She’s wearing tight leggings, a puffy jacket that looks both warm and perfect for runs somehow, and a pair of earmuffs, and upon closer inspection, her bag of clothes are in the front seat of the car.

Which means she’s showering here… it’s a thought that somehow hasn’t occurred to me until now, considering she waits until after I’m gone and Juniper is at school to do so. She wouldn’t have time. But of course she showers at my place.

Something stirs deep in my belly, and I hate it.

Clenching my jaw, I force myself to give her a weak smile, which she of course sees right through. An eye roll later and she’s off without a word.

This time, I chase after her.

The run lasts about thirty minutes before we’re back at my place. Heidi’s face is red, her breathing heavy but not as bad as it was when she first started. Breathing in the cold air is hard.

“You did really well,” I tell her, sticking out my hand for her to high-five.

“You did too,” she murmurs, heading inside.

She gets right to work making Juniper breakfast and packing her lunch, and I get right to work making us coffee. It’s early, and Juniper is rummaging about in her bathroom.

Pouring our mugs, I hand one to Heidi, her green eyes sparkling with curiosity before looking into the cup. With a little huff, she opens the fridge and pours a little more creamer into it, making it just a shade lighter.

I fight back a smile, and it pains me that I desperately want to get it right next time.

Taking a sip, I head out to the front porch.

“You’re sitting outside?” she asks skeptically.

“It’s a nice day,” I call back behind me.

I settle in the chair, the frost biting into my skin through my sweats as I take a sip of coffee, the liquid already cooling rapidly, and begin to count the seconds.

I only make it to ten before the door is opening and Heidi slips through it, her fingers gripping the mug like her life depends on it.

She looks like she’d rather be anywhere else, but she can be anywhere else. She could leave right now.

“Hey,” I say, placing the mug on my knee.

She looks around, watching as the sun comes up above the houses across the way. “Hey.”

With a huff, Heidi sits down. Perching her coffee on her knee, she takes out her phone, scrolling through an app.

I try to keep my eyes glued in front of me, watching the cars drive by on their way to work, or the slight breeze blowing leaves that haven’t quite fallen from their limbs onto the chilly ground.

But my eyes drift over to Heidi more and more frequently, and eventually my anxiety gets the best of me.

“It’s a really nice morning,” I tell her.

“You said that.”

I nod awkwardly, letting out a quick sigh.

“Are you excited for Leo’s party?”

Heidi puts down her phone, leaning back against the cold chair. She takes a long sip of her drink, taking her time responding. “I think it’ll be fun.”

“It always is.”

The tension between us could be cut with a knife, and the longer I sit in it without saying something, the worse it’s going to be.

“I’m sorry about the other day,” I whisper, keeping my eyes focused in front of me.

“I know.” Her voice drips of melancholy, and I wish with everything in me that I could hug her.

“I want you to know that I appreciate you, and I do want to be your friend,” I press on.

Heidi’s jaw sets. “Okay.”

“Heidi,” I plead, unsure of what else I could say.

She shakes her head. “Just give me time to get over this, okay? I promise I will.”

Her green eyes finally meet mine, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think she just watched someone kick Theodore.

“I just?—”

“Emmett. I appreciate your honesty. I appreciate that you want to be friends. I do. I don’t know why I thought that we could be more, but since my cards have been put on the table in front of you, I just need to be sincere and ask that you give me some time to process and get over it.”

I watch as she gets up from her chair, checking the time on her phone. “You should get going soon,” she informs me quietly before heading back inside without a backward glance.

“What do I do to earn her trust back?” I ask, running my hand through my hair.

I’ve been stressing all morning. I feel like I’ve found a little clarity on the situation. What I want. What I’m willing to do. I want her. I want to try.

It’s terrifying, but I need to see if it’ll work. It’s clear that she thinks I’m going to constantly turn her down over and over, and I hate that that’s the expectation.

“I think that you need a little bit of a more direct approach,” Leo tells me cooly. He’s been stressed about tomorrow and a little annoyed that we had to come in today.

I should be in the other room going over a few more defensive plays for this weekend, but I had to talk to Leo first, or I wouldn’t be able to focus. But Leo is clearly far more concerned about how he’s going to pull off his multiple turkeys tomorrow.

Instead of doing some kind of crazy recipe, Briar finally forgave him and helped come up with a new rub. Apparently each turkey has a couple pounds of butter under the skin, which I can’t help but think is probably awful for us going into the weekend, but we also don’t have to eat a ton of it.

“I feel like I have been direct.”

He shakes his head while he scrolls on his phone. “You haven’t. None of this has been direct.” He looks up at me from where he’s sitting, annoyance clear in his eyes. “You need to grow a pair and just tell her that you want to try. Otherwise she’s not going to know. You literally turned her down at a Halloween party, man. You have to do a little groveling.”

He has a point.

In the past, I would buy flowers if I fucked up, or write a couple of love sincere love letters. I’m not sure Heidi would like those.

“How many people are coming to your party tomorrow?” I ask finally.

Leo’s foot starts tapping, and I know this has to be my last question. The man is on edge. “As many as usual. I have to get home soon and start prep.”

In the past I’ve made the mistake of asking him if it would be easier to hire out. It would not be, according to him, and any time anyone asks he gets weirdly pissed. He loves his Thanksgiving. It’s one of the few days that he can truly express how much he loves the team and everyone who allows everything to come together. It’s a constant revolving door of people who make the franchise tick and their families.

It's a big responsibility, and although he has Isla and Owen making the pies and Briar helping prep now too, it’s still a lot to take on.

“Just know I’m here for you, man.”

He nods silently, not looking up. It’s clear that I’ve overstayed my welcome, so I head down the hall.

“You gotta blitz her, man,” a familiar voice says behind me. I turn, watching as Cooper pushes off the wall.

“Were you listening to our conversation?” I point back toward the room.

He rolls his eyes. “Of course I was.”

I groan, turning back around and heading toward the meeting room.

“Girls can be really hard to read, Emmett. Just make it so undeniably clear that you want her and nothing could go wrong.”

“How do you know that?” I don’t look behind me.

“Because I’m never wrong.”

He’s almost always wrong.

Talking about the Heidi situation with Cooper is one of the absolute last things I want to do, so I decide to change the subject. “Did you decide to do that show? Get more information about it?”

He falls into step next to me, but I happen to know he should be headed the other direction. “Yeah. I think I’m going to do it. It sounds like it would be a great opportunity you know?”

It’s hard for some young, middle of the pack tight ends to really get noticed by brands. You have your superstars, and I guess they’re not as neglected as running backs seem to be, but tight ends can sometimes fall behind the long list of great offensive players. Especially if you’re not one of the top couple players in the position.

Although Cooper is good and gets better every year, even he’ll admit that he needs to improve. This year hasn’t been great for him, and I know without a doubt that he wants to start off next year better than this one.

Although I don’t necessarily see anything wrong with going on some kind of reality dating show, you don’t really get a choice on how they portray you, and that does worry me.

“Are you sure it’s worth it? What if you look like a complete dick?”

He shrugs. “It is what it is, man. I’ll be on my best behavior.”

I let it drop, turning into my room. A couple guys on the defense are already there going over notes.

“Emmett?” Cooper calls, and I turn back for a moment. “Don’t fuck it up this time.”