Page 95 of Hello Quarterback

It was hard to explain. My skin felt tight, like it was tugging at itself, which made each step feel awkward and uncomfortable. I settled on saying, “It’s okay.”

“Good,” he replied. “What are your plans for the day?”

“We have a team meeting, game tape review, practice. Then a check-in meeting with the charity board.” My feet were beginning to fall into a rhythm. Three steps to a breath in, three steps to a breath out.

I missed this.

But Dad reminded me of something else I missed. “What about Mia? Any plans with her?”

I gave him a look before focusing back on the trail of brown and yellow grass, trees missing most of their leaves. “No.”

“Why not?”

I had to remind myself to loosen my shoulders for an easier gait. “I sent her flowers and chocolate to celebrate her acquisition... The delivery people told me she gave it to her assistant.”

Dad was far too amused by that.

“Keep laughing and you’re going to fall off your bike,” I huffed, rounding a corner at the fence.

He was still smiling as he biked beside me. “You thought some flowers were going to win her back?”

Now I was a little embarrassed, my foot completely forgotten. “I thought it would help,” I admitted.

“She’s a rich, successful woman who’s been supporting herself for years. If she wanted flowers or chocolates, she couldbuy them herself. You need to give her what she really wants. Something money can’t buy.”

“What I really need is a time machine,” I said. My muscles were starting to burn. We must have been a mile and a half in.

Dad was breathing easily as he said, “Do you want to be with her?”

That had me stopping in my tracks. He was a few yards ahead of me when he stopped his bike and got off to talk to me. I had my hands laced behind my head to catch my breath, stretch my chest. After a few deep breaths, I said, “It’s not that easy.”

He tilted his head. “What does that mean?”

It was embarrassing to talk to Dad about what I’d done, especially since he’d been putting up the horses and hadn’t witnessed it. I’m sure Fletcher told him, but snapping at Mia because I was upset wasn’t my finest moment. Neither was losing myself in a relationship.

“I’d do anything to make her happy,” I said, my throat getting tight.

Dad reached out and touched my arm. “Of course you would.”

“That’s the problem!” I said, pacing because I was frustrated. “I’d break all my rules for her. Lose myself just to see her smile. But that’s not the man she deserves, Dad. She deserves a man who is wholly himself and brings the best of himself to the table. And she won’t settle for a man who pushes her away when things get hard.”

He was quiet for a moment, thoughtful. “So then you have two choices.”

I looked up at him, waiting.

“You can become the man you think she deserves, or you can stay who you are and let her go. And for the record, there’s nothing wrong with that,” he said. “You are an incredible man, Ford. You’re kind to your family, you’re a leader for yourteammates, you’re changing lives with your charity when plenty of men in your position would be spending every dime on themselves. You are good exactly as you are. The question is, are you interested in getting better, maybe for Mia, but ultimately, for you?”

I gripped my shirt, holding on to it at my waist. I was sweating just enough that a cold breeze made me shiver. “We better get going,” I said.

He nodded, getting back on his bike. And we worked our way around the property, the question spinning through my mind.

Evolution was in my DNA as an athlete. I’d always strive to be more. But when it came to Mia, I had to wonder... Was it already too late?

When we got home, Dad and I both went to our own rooms to wash up. But instead of getting in the shower right away, I pulled out my phone to get a different perspective.

It seemed like everyone in my life was coupling up, in the throes of love. I needed to talk to the one person who was completely okay being on his own.

And within a few rings, he picked up.

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