***
“Are you sure we should have left Dash in the suite with your grandparents?” It’s not like his family hasn’t been helping with Dash’s care the whole time.
“Did you wanna try taking that baby away from her?” Max squeezes my hand.
“I’m not stupid.” Emilia looked a little feral when I offered to take him.
“Then relax and enjoy the end of the game. This is where Gabe is going to shine.”
Max is a nut. The odds are that they’re going to lose. There’s twenty seconds left in the game, Gabe’s team is down by three, and they haven’t even made it to the fifty-yard line. How is the family going to handle it when he loses?
“There’s nothing like watching the winning play from the fifty-yard line. I’m going to kiss you silly when we win.”
“And what if we lose?” I wink at him.
“Then I’ll kiss you twice to cheer me up.”
“You’re incorrigible.”
“I know.” He winks.
It’s too easy to love this man. Far too easy.
Daria’s having a blast cheering at the game and showing Hope new signs. When she said the family was learning, she meant the whole family. Mind-boggling.
If this were real, it would be better than any dream I had as a child.
The teams take their positions, and I prepare to comfort Max when they lose.
Then, all of a sudden, Gabe has the ball and a clear path right down the center of the field.
Impossible.
But it’s happening. He’s got the ball tucked into his side as he maneuvers around the defensive line like they’re moving in slow motion. Grace in action.
Twenty yards.
Ten yards, and a teammate slams into the guy who almost nabs Gabe.
Five yards…he might win this.
Number sixty-eight is close.
Gabe needs to keep out of his reach for two more yards.
One more yard…sixty-eight is within spitting distance of Gabe.
As they call TOUCHDOWN, sixty-eight hurls himself at Gabe, missing his body but landing with his full weight on Gabe’s extended leg.
He made it.
“He won!”
Gabe should be getting up to do the winning dance. That’s what they always do for winning plays. Why isn’t he getting up?
A hush spreads across the field and throughout the stands.
Get up.
