Page 129 of When You Wish Upon a Wideout

“I told you before. This isn’t just you fumbling the ball on one play and making the catch on the next and getting a whole new set of downs. I told you, you had one shot and you better make it a good one.”

Wasn’t it good?Beau thought.We were happy. We werejusthappy.

“I love you,” was all Beau could manage to say. “I swear, I’ve never stopped, and I promise I never will.”

She closed her eyes tightly, trying to prevent more tears from falling. “I wish you knew how much I want to believe you,” she whispered, the heartbreak floating from her words, tearing at Beau. Taking a deep breath, Sienna twisted her arm, pulled her hand from his grasp, and walked out of his apartment.

* * *

“God dammit, Chase. Did you put a LoJack on my car or something?” Beau threw the mesh bag of equipment into the bed of his truck.

Chase pushed off from the side door he had been leaning against. “I saw on Twitter Beau Walker’s been running some sort of camp in a public park.”

Beau looked at Damien walking in the opposite direction across the field. “I told you I was helping out a friend’s son. And for real, you might want to keep an eye on him. Kid’s got talent.”

“Yeah? Give him my card.”

“What’s up?”

“I called you the other day.”

Three times.

“Yeah, I’ve been, uh... busy.”

Beau had been busy not sleeping, looking at his phone every time he got a notification, a text, a call. Apart from answering the realtor listing his parents’ home to confirm the upcoming open house, Beau didn’t answer the phone. Because the one person he wanted—and needed—to talk to was Sienna. And except for sending him a message requesting time, Sienna hadn’t called in nearly two weeks. Not once.

Time.Beau would remind himself.She needs time, she deserves time.At best, he hoped time would be his punishment, a penance to pay for not coming forward with a letter that broke his soul. He had thought not sharing it with Sienna would spare her from pain. What kind of mother could read a letter her child wrote regarding her out of concern, heartbreak? And selfishly, Beau knew, deep down, Grace’s letter, which was written to bring him closer to Sienna, would only drive her away.

His gut was right.

“What’s that?” Beau asked when Chase handed him a folder.

“Two contracts. LA and Dallas.”

“Chase—”

“I’mlegallyobligated to present you with both. Sign whatever one you want. But let’s lock something in before the NFL thinks you’re starting your own peewee camp for underprivileged children.” Chase looked around the park before pulling out a pen.

Beau opened the envelope. “Wow. You really got LA to up that offer, huh?” The amount of The Bulls’ contract was nearly 50 percent more than Dallas’s offer.

Chase shrugged. “Persistence conquers all, my friend. You told me that a while ago.”

“Did I?” Beau took the pen, signing the offer to play for the Dallas Sparks for one more year.

“Way back,” Chase said, taking the folder. “When I first signed you. When I asked you how far you wanted to take your career, you told me, as far as it would go, that no one works harder than you.”

Beau remembered saying that. What he had meant was all the way to the Super Bowl. But his career would more than likely end short of that, and over the last few months, Beau had come to peace with letting go of the dream of being a champion. Because life, he knew now, could be fuller off the turf whether he won or lost.

“I’ll send this in today. By the way, that GPF trip is set, your accountant took care of everything. Janet said she’ll send out the details.”

Beau nodded. “Thanks, man.”

“Alright, where you off to today? Your last free Sundays are coming to an end soon.”

“Yeah,” Beau said with a small laugh. “Guess I should take advantage of them.”

If things were different, he would head home, shower, and drive out to Brookwood, picking up a good quality pizza for Scrabble night. He hadn’t been included in one since before Sienna and he went to California. He would soak in as much of her as he could—how she tugged the corner of her bottom lip between her teeth when strategizing, shifting her tiles. How she would beam with pride when Grace pulled out an impressive move, how she would absentmindedly bump her knee against his and then do it again on purpose.

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