“Thank you.” I gave her a hug. “Let me know how much it is, and I’ll pay you back.”
“Ordinarily, I’d say no because you’re a teacher and I know on a teacher’s salary after rent, you have to forage for berries to afford food—”
I burst out laughing. “What the hell?”
“—but now that you have a professional-athlete boyfriend, I’ll send you the amount to request from him.”
“I cannot with her,” Aaliyah commented through her laughter.
Since we were early, the stadium looked relatively empty. Most people were at the concession stands or in the parking lot tailgating. There were hardly any people in our section. I patted my regulation-size stadium-approved bag and gave my best friends the nod.
Nina and Aaliyah walked with me to the railing that overlooked the field. Looking around, I made sure security wasn’t paying attention to me, and I said a silent prayer. Digging the vial out of my bag, I held it in the palm of my hands.
“You made it to a Monarchs game, Aunt Addy,” I whispered as I took off the top. “You would get a kick out of this.” Discreetly emptying the ashes onto the field below, I watched the wind sweep it up and float it toward the sideline. “I love you.”
I stood for a minute, imagining what Aunt Addy would say about finally being back at the Monarchs’ stadium. And when the sun heated my skin, I couldn’t do anything but smile. Satisfied, I stuffed the empty container back into my bag, and we headed to our seats.
I was in the middle of the two couples, with Nina and Russ on my right and Aaliyah and Ahmad on my left. The five of us laughed, joked, and talked the entire pregame.
Prior to kickoff, I stared at the tunnel, waiting for Lamar to emerge, and when he did, I jumped to my feet.
The game was a good one, and the offense and defense on both sides of the ball were holding their own. But in the third quarter, Lamar got loose and sacked the Geckos’ quarterback. The ball came out, and the Monarchs recovered. The five of us screamed like the game was over.
In addition to that sack, Lamar was instrumental on a number of tackles, and he spent the day rushing the passer. He did an exceptional job, and I was grinning from ear to ear.
People had started heading to the parking lot when there was one minute left on the clock. It was clear that the Monarchs were going to win, so Geckos fans were streaming out of Franklin Financial Field.
“So, how are we going to do this?” Aaliyah asked.
I shook my head. “I have no idea. If I go down there, would he even hear me?”
“If we all go down there and call his name, he’ll hear us,” Nina insisted. “But it’s whatever you want to do.”
Nerves swirled in my belly, but I nodded. “Let’s go.”
The five of us got up and headed down the steps to the railing. When the game clock hit zero, everyone was screaming, cheering, and exiting the stadium. The players flooded the field to congratulate the other team. A minute later, I saw number ninety walking around the bench and looking into the crowd.
“There he is!” I exclaimed, pointing him out. I cupped my hands around my mouth and screamed, “Lamar!”
“Lamar!” Nina and Aaliyah yelled.
It was so loud and there were people yelling “Hollywood,” so I could understand how it would be difficult to find us. He located the section, and as he drew closer, I could see his thick brows furrowing as he scanned the crowd. We called out to him again, louder.
“Lamar!” the five of us bellowed in unison.
And then he saw me.
A smile spread across his handsome face as he approached.
“What’s up, y’all?” he greeted all of us, even though his eyes kept returning to me.
“You did your thing out there,” Ahmad told him.
“Yeah, you killed that shit,” Russ agreed.
Aaliyah pumped her arms in the air. “Hollywood doing the damn thing!”
“I barely knew what was going on during the second half,” Nina pointed out. “It felt like every time the Geckos got the ball, they had to give it back! You were all over their asses!”
