“Anyone else?”
The other three men shook their heads. Their glasses were still mostly full.
“I’ll be back,” she said.
“What did you think about Cody’s play today?” Troy asked.
I nodded. “He did well.”
Troy agreed. “I’m so fucking ready to get back out there.”
“It will be good to have you back. What are the trainers saying?”
“I can resume practice after next week’s Cardinals game.”
“Raiders?” I asked, knowing it was our last game before the bye week.
Troy lifted his glass. “I’d put money on it being you. I don’t expect to see playing time until after the bye.”
“But you’ll be practicing?” Dijon asked.
“Damn right.”
The server delivered my beer. I lifted it in the air. “Here’s to having you back out there with us.”
Everyone lifted their drinks and we clinked themtogether. We spent the next forty minutes doing what we would do tomorrow in our offense meeting, dissecting the game play by play.
I pulled my phone from the pocket of my sports jacket. “Hey,” I said. “Not to be rude. I just remembered. Zane’s game is about to start. I send him a text before each game. It’s good luck.”
The table of men laughed. “The Vikings will need all the luck they can get for tonight’s game.”
“Does he send you one too?” Jamir asked.
“Every game. Even when I was in LA and never played.”
Troy replied, “I bet they regretted that today.”
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought the same thing. Throwing three touchdowns against the team that kept me on the bench felt pretty fucking fantastic. Looking down, I realized I’d missed a text message. My breath caught in my throat as I saw the name:Vee. I opened the message.
“HI.I AM SORRY. NOT ABOUT THE GIRLS IN TENNESSEE. I’M SORRY I NEVER TOLD YOU WHO I WAS, WHO DAD WAS. I REMEMBERED WHAT YOU SAID HAPPENED IN THE TENNESSEE LOCKER ROOM. EVERY WORD.”
The timestamp saidshe’d sent the text about twenty minutes ago. I looked around the table. “I hate to bail on you for dinner.”
“Oh man…” Troy and Dijon said together.
“Something came up.” I waved down our server. “I’ll take the check.”
“No, man,” Troy said. “I got this.”
“You can pay for everyone’s steaks.”
Dijon and Jamir nodded their approval.
After I paid for our few drinks, I bid my teammates so long, saying I’d see them all tomorrow morning. Making my way through the crowd and out of the Vine Club bar, I read Vee’s text again.
“EVERY WORD?”I sent back.
Her response came at once.“EVERY ONE.”
