Page 45

45

HEIDI

J uniper and I are at Briar’s place getting our hair and makeup done before the game. Normally, I wouldn’t bother with this type of thing. But Briar insisted that we all meet up here and get ready, and who am I to say no to free drinks.

“Are you and dad together?” Juniper had asked from the backseat, nearly sending me off the road.

Panic surges through me as no words make it past my lips.

“Because if you are, that would be really cool,” she adds quietly.

My anxiety dissipates, replaced by something that feels almost like pride.

“I think we can have that conversation with your dad tonight or tomorrow,” I tell her, hoping she will drop it. I don’t want to tell her without Emmett around.

But Juniper isn’t dumb, and she takes this as confirmation, the grin spreading from ear to ear enough to make me smile too.

My hair is straightened to perfection by the stylist Briar hired, and I finally replace my sweatpants with my boot-cut jeans.

It’s not until I pull on my jersey that Briar stops in her tracks, her knowing, sly smile making my cheeks pinken.

“Nice jersey, Flannigan.” She winks, and I can’t meet her eyes. She told me about the first time she wore Leo’s jersey, and we all know what happened when Isla wore Owen’s jersey to that first game.

It was a big deal. A public claim of sorts.

I turn to find Juniper grinning, her jersey matching mine. Elara is behind her in Leo’s, and Isla walks in with a bottle of champaign, the number 4 on hers.

Champ, Briar’s dog, is even in a little doggy jersey.

Juniper and Elara made up fast, and after our talk with Juni, the problems at school seemed to stop. There were a few cases where she called us from the school office, asking us to call a vet for a small animal or two. Although Emmett and I knew they would be okay in the cold, Juniper has decided that every single animal must be brought inside. She’s even been caught trying to sneak Theodore inside on a few occasions, to which Emmett has let her.

The more she’s allowed to do at home with us looking after her making sure she’s safe, the better she’ll behave at school, is his theory.

But in reality I think he just knows that if Elara isn’t okay with it, Juniper will follow.

Although we did find a child therapist to bring her to a few times a month just to see if there’s anything else we can do to correct the behavior.

The very first session was enough, if I’m honest, and it all clicked in Emmett’s mind. She’s a kid, and can’t control very much. Death has been hard on her, too. Although she doesn’t remember her mom at all, she knows where she came from, and that she’s gone. She knows that it was tragic and that it hurt her dad a lot.

When she sees smaller animals, especially in conditions that are bad and could lead to death, all she can do is put herself in their shoes. She thinks of their family.

And she jumps into fixer mode where she’s desperate to save them.

We’ve had a couple conversations with her about this, and it seems to be working.

Theodore is just so cute though, that I don’t really care if it’s technically illegal to own one. As long no one finds out, right? The thing lives outside.

The roar of the crowd is otherworldly. It’s one thing to be in the box, and it’s entirely another to be on the field where the men play, looking up into the stands and watching as everyone takes their seats, ready for a show.

Briar, Isla, and I stand shoulder to shoulder in the cold, jumping up and down on the balls of our feet to keep warm.

Because of how nippy it is, I decided to wear a million layers underneath the oversized jersey, while Juniper is bundled up in the largest, fluffiest coat known to man.

The three of us women are just idiots.

When the men finally make their way onto the field for warmups, the first place they come is over to the sideline.

Emmett’s eyes light up, bright and excited the second he sees me, his boyish grin spreading across his whole face.

He pulls me into a hug over the chain barrier, and he brings his lips to my ear. “There’s my girl.”

The words do something to me, a fire lighting deep within me, and I kiss him. Wrapping my arms around his neck, the two of us get lost in each other, and it doesn’t dawn on me that this is the first time anyone is seeing us like this until I hear the clapping and whooping coming from our right, where both the other guys and Briar and Isla watch us.

My wide eyes shoot to Juniper, who’s staring at us with eyes as big as saucers.

“I knew it!” she yells, more closely resembling a marshmallow than kid as she jumps with her arms in the air, her puffy coat nearly covering her eyes at the movement.

Emmett rolls his eyes, his smile still bright. “You did not!”

She sticks her tongue out at him.

I still think she did.

“You going to win today?” I ask him, holding his cold cheeks between my hands.

He looks around before looking back at me. “I hope so.” He doesn’t seem so sure, and I pull him into a hug.

“You’ve got this,” I assure him.

And I know without a fraction of a doubt that he does.

We’re back in the box when the game starts.

It’s a rough one, like usual these days, but Emmett seems to be playing well.

Leo has gotten sacked a couple of times and Briar is chewing at her nails. Isla leans forward in her seat looking two seconds from bashing her head into the half-wall in front of us.

It’s tied in the third. In the fourth, the other team is up by three.

We’re giving up hope as the minutes tick down.

“Maybe this isn’t their year,” Briar mutters sadly. I know how much this means to Leo, and I know how much he’s fought through his injuries and the mental blocks. He’s done alright, but I know he wants to be even better next year.

They had something to prove this year, and they didn’t quite get there, even if they win this game.

The ball is snapped by the opposition, and I watch as Emmett breaks through their offensive line, knocking the ball out of the quarterback’s hands.

But it doesn’t fall to the ground.

The crowd gasps, falling silent as it bounces off of Emmett’s hands. He falls forward slightly, catching himself as the ball lands back between his hands, and he doesn’t even take a second to process what’s happening. Instead, he takes off.

Everyone’s a little baffled about what’s happened, but Emmett is far ahead of anyone else, the offensive line trailing behind him more and more the closer he is to the end zone.

And he brings it in for a pick-six.

Everyone around us screams. Briar shakes me, grabbing my face as she yells. Isla jumps up and down in her seat, and Juniper and Elara dance in the corner.

The roar of people screaming is unlike anything I’ve ever heard.

“What the hell just happened?” I yell over it.

“They blitzed him. He got scared and was loose with the ball,” Briar shrugs, grinning.

“He got blitzed?”

“Yeah. It doesn’t always work, but that’s why it’s important to know when to call a blitz,” Isla winks at me. “Sometimes you get the timing wrong. But once in a while it works just like that, and it’s magic.”

I press my lips together tightly, attempting to keep my grin at bay.