"I am. Sorry, I should've told you this. Brook might've hinted about the offers."
He smiles. "That's fine. I told her she could tell you. Last night at the game she was telling me she wanted to find a way to cheer you up. I told her about the offers and said that she could tell you if she wanted to."
Brook was looking for ways to cheer me up? Before we had our talk last night? She should've been looking for ways to get back at me for how I treated her, but instead she was trying to figure out how to cheer me up. I love that girl so much.
"Anyway, the offers aren't coming from around here, at least not yet. That's the part I wasn't sure you'd be happy about. I know you want to keep Jake at his school and keep living at your house, but I think you should at least consider the offers before you turn them down."
"Yeah? So where are they?"
"Idaho, Oklahoma, and Texas. They're all smaller schools, which I know wasn't your first choice, but your college would be paid for."
"What about the offers from last year?"
My junior year I had offers from several schools but Coach said not to take it too seriously since a lot of those early offers fall through.
"Those were bigger schools, bigger programs. I haven't heard from them, but I'm guessing those are off the table. You played well this year but you only got half a season. And until we know how your knee is going to heal, it's no use reaching out to them."
"Yeah, I understand."
Coach stands up, a stern look on his face. "Don't be getting down on yourself if you don't end up at a big school. It has nothing to do with your performance on the field."
"I know. I just wish this hadn't happened."
"We all do, but we can't do anything about it. All you can do is look forward and decide which offer to take."
"You think there'll be any others?"
"I don't know. I'm thinking our chances aren't good since the scouts can't see you play. There were two at the game last night. I talked to them this morning. Sounds like Danny will get a few offers."
"I figured he would. He hasn't said anything to me."
"He doesn't want to make you feel bad, which you shouldn't. You have three solid offers."
"For schools that aren't anywhere near here."
"You don't think Jake would move?"
"He would, especially now that he knows what our dad's really like. I think that's the only reason he wanted to stay here, to be close to our dad, but now he'd probably be glad to get away from him."
"Then what's the issue?"
I don't respond, knowing he won't like the answer.
"It's the girl," he says. "You don't want to leave her."
"It doesn't really matter. She'll be going away to college too."
It wasn't until this moment that I even thought about that. I didn't think about it before because I didn't think I had a future with Brook. But now I'm committed to her. I want to try to make this work. But how is it going to work if we both move away?
"Does she know where she's going?" he asks.
"No. Not yet."
"Maybe you'll end up near each other. The Texas offer is in Dallas. That's a big town. Lots of schools there."
"I think she's looking at schools on the coasts."
"Well, I'm sure you'll figure something out. If you're okay with it, I'll stop by next week to talk about this some more. I've got information about the schools and their football programs. Once you have all that, you'll be better able to make a decision."
