“I’ll be watching you too.” She brushed her lips with mine. “I love you.”
The team met at Maker’s Mark for light practice. That meant no pads or helmets. It was basically flag football without the flags. We ran plays and worked out options. The coaches spent the past week drilling the Texans’ defense into our offensive heads. Unlike the Jaguars who played man defense, the Texans relied on zone defense.
In zone, the defenders read the QB’s eyes and anticipated throws—the tells Pickett told me about. Statistically, zone defense was more efficient with nearly ten percent lower expected points added—EPA—per play.
NFL rules required visiting teams to be in the destination city no less than eighteen hours before game time. While there were no straight commercial flights from Lexington to Houston, the Coopers’ plane would get us there in around an hour and a half. Since the NFL moved our kickoff time from three thirty to 7:20 p.m.—Central time—we showered and ate lunch at Maker’s Mark before heading to the airport.
Once we touched down, I sent Vee a text message telling her that the team landed and we’re on our way to NRG Stadium. The Texans were one of the few NFL teams that used their stadium as their practice facility and headquarters. They recently announced plans for a new 83-acre development in the near future.
The coaches had us run some walkthroughs at NRG Stadium before heading to the Houston Grand Hotel—River Oaks. I’d stayed in the same hotel when it was named St. Regis. After checking into our rooms, we met for a series of different meetings followed by a high-protein dinner.
Once back in my room, I called Vee.
She picked up on the second ring. “No.”
I laughed. “That’s no way to answer your phone.”
“I’m not telling you my room number.”
“I just wanted to hear your voice.”
Vee sighed. “Tomorrow’s going to be a long day. I know the Sunday Night game is a coveted time slot, but I would rather we play at one o’clock. We’ll be lucky to get back to Lexington before two in the morning.”
“Will you meet with Coach Tilson at seven?”
“Yes. I’ll probably collapse Monday night.”
“You can collapse,” I said. “I’ll catch you.”
“You know,” Vee said, “I asked Daphne a while back why Dad wasn’t at Maker’s Mark on time for his meeting with Coach Tilson. She said she didn’t know about the meeting and said he probably overslept. I’ve been thinking about that.”
“Did he oversleep because of the Benadryl?”
“If he did, how is Bre being blamed for it. He slept at home.”
“When do you think you’ll be questioned?”
“Trish doesn’t know. It depends on the attorneys involved.”
“I’m open for phone sex.” A laugh bellowed from my belly as Vee made sensual noises, moans, and whimpers.
“You’re not supposed to laugh.”
“I couldn’t help it,” I said as the sound of her yawn came through the phone. “I hate to hang up, but we should.”
“I want to curl into you in our bed and sleep for days.”
“Our bed,” I repeated. “I like the sound of that. Good night, Vee.”
“’Night, Fin. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Chapter 36
Vee
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