Page 6 of Remember Me

My thumbs hovered over the reply button. I should be ecstatic for him. It’s Super Bowl Sunday. The first and potentially the pinnacle of his career, but every time I wanted to be, there was that familiar twinge in my shoulder I couldn’t quite shake. It was always there but hurt a little more when I thought about things I lost.

“Everything okay in there?” Hayden, my wife, poked her head through the bathroom door and gave me a small smile.

That smile.

The one I fell in love with when we were teens, and I haven’t wanted anyone since. I’d never get enough of her. The way she laughed, the way she smiled. The way all she had to do was look at me and she’d know exactly what I was thinking. Even if I didn’t want her to. Even if I’d been hiding my real thoughts about seeing the rest of my roommates tonight.

“Woah, wait.” She paused before taking me in. “Is that what you're wearing?”

I adjusted my tie and looked down, happy there were no crinkles in my freshly pressed dress shirt and khakis. “Yeah?”

Her lips pressed together as she stepped into my space to toy with my tie. “As much as I like this teacher version of you,” she said as she pulled me into a long, lingering kiss. Then she backed away and rested her forehead against mine. “We’re going to the Super Bowl, not your first day at Rome U. You should be wearing jeans and a jersey. You’ll be a crinkled mess after our two-hour drive.”

“I Just want to make a good impression,” I said as she started to loosen my tie.

“To who? Aiden? That guy doesn’t care about making a good impression on anyone.”

“If he hadn’t removed your mask in our Halloween party, then we would’ve never reconnected,” I pointed out because although Aiden had his faults, he was a pretty decent guy if he cared about you. He just had a weird way of showing it.

Hayden tilted her head back and laughed, one of my favorite things to listen to. Before we got together, it would be a rarity to hear it, but now, I heard it all the time, and I still considered it was one of my best accomplishments in life.

“I think you’re giving that sex-crazed buffoon a little too much credit. We actually reconnected when I spilled coffee on myself and you in class. Do you remember?” She looked up to the ceiling. “Oh, and even if that hadn’t happened, you did date my roommate.”

“Yeah, but dating Britt just made me realize what I was actually looking for.” I leaned in closer, lowering my voice. “You.It was always you.”

“Smooth talk, Mr. Hartley,” she said, pulling my tie off. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you wear this to the Super Bowl.”

When she started to unbutton my shirt, I hummed out with approval. “As much as I’d love to have some fun with you right now, our daughter is downstairs, and your brother is coming over any minute. I don’t want to scar either of them with our escapades.”

I wiggled my brows, and she shook her head and finished unbuttoning my shirt.

“Oh, please.” She playfully whacked my chest before walking into the closet and coming back with a Crossbills jersey in her hand.

“Really? You want me to wear Devin’s name on my back?”

“Yeah. Everyone else will be wearing it and knowing Jackson, he’ll probably have face paint on.” I stared at the jersey and all the implications behind it. Wearing someone else’s name because I couldn’t get there myself. Because the NFL dropped me. My team lost faith after two years on the injured list, and no one else wanted to pick me up. I couldn’t blame them. What was I bringing to the table except an injured shoulder and a place on the bench?

“Come on, A. You’re the new offensive coordinator at Rome University. You’ve got nothing to prove to anyone.” She was right. Should’ve known I couldn’t hide anything from her. It might’ve taken my wife years to figure out that I was always in love with her in high school, but we’d been inseparable ever since the last year of college, and I didn’t have to say a thing anymore. She knew how I felt about football. The love, hate, the push pull. As much as I wanted to take time away from it, it seemed life always had different plans.

When I left the NFL, I started to work at a local high school in Charlotte. After a couple of years, I helped them bring home a State Championship win for the football team. That was what really put me on the radar of the colleges. Rome U offered me the best package with a guidance counselor job for Hayden. It was a fresh start, and although it uprooted us from North Carolina, it was the chance to build something new. I had to admit; it felt like the universe was finally throwing us a bone after years of setbacks.

“I just want to make a good impression,” I said softly, because the truth was a little harder to admit. I was happy for Devin and Tanner. Truly. They were both amazing players and deserved to be there, and I even felt like they had a serious chance of beating the formidable Rattlesnakes. It was just a hard pill to swallow in my life, knowing my athletic career came to a resounding end before I could ever play in something like that.

“There are going to be a lot of people there, potentially the University president and maybe some boosters,” I said, trying to justify myself.

“And you think they’re going to want to talk to you about funding when they’ve probably paid an extortionate amount of money to watch the game?” She smiled. “Look, if this makes you feel better, keep the shirt. Lose the tie. And maybe throw a casual jacket over it instead of the suit coat you have no doubt planned?”

It was a reasonable compromise, so I nodded, buttoning the shirt back up. “How's Autumn doing with her project?”

“Almost done. She's very concerned about the ratio of purple to pink glitter, but I think we've reached an acceptable balance.” Hayden leaned against the dresser as she watched me adjust my outfit. “Darren should be here in fifteen minutes.”

I glanced at my watch with a smirk. “Do you think he'll be on time?”

“Of course. He wants all the Super Bowl gossip from his favorite brother-in-law.”

Hayden’s eyes took me in, a look that I felt deep in my chest, and wondered why I tortured myself over things I couldn’t change. She was what my life was really about. Not the glitz and money that come with a football contract. She’d never stopped believing in me, and Autumn didn't care if her daddy was a football star or a coach or anything else as long as I read her three bedtime stories every night.

“I'll go check on Autumn,” I said, placing a quick kiss on Hayden's forehead.

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