Page 146 of Redemption
“I’m proud of you, too, you know.”
She shakes her head. “What could you possibly be proud of me for, honey?”
I take my eyes off the road long enough to say, “For being willing to change and grow. And for showing me it’s also okay for me to.”
Tears line her lashes, and she dashes them away with her fingertips. “Oh—look what you made me do. I’ll ruin my makeup.”
I have to laugh—it’s good to know that, in some ways, she’ll never change.
By the time we reach the school parking lot, it’s full, so we have to park a little way down the road.
When I pull to a stop and cut the engine, I unbuckle my seat belt and turn in my seat toward my mom. “Are you ready for this?”
She stares back at me and answers honestly. “I’m not sure. My heart is racing a mile a minute for some reason.”
Reaching out, I take her hand in mine and squeeze. “If this gets too hard for you at any point, tell me, and we can leave. But, Mom—we can do hard things—we’ve already lived through the hardest.”
Chapter 44
Hayes
The boys run out of the locker room into the sunlight, and I can’t help but recall the last game I played with Langston. There was excitement buzzing in the air then, just like now.
Tanner is at the front of the line, running out with his team and ready to take them to victory. He looks strong and healthy, but all it takes is one hit.
One hit, and his world changes.
But I can’t help him, and the people who should be helping him won’t.
Worry settles into my stomach as we take the field. Campbell slaps me on the shoulder. “He’ll be okay.”
I told him about the meeting with Tanner’s parents. He’s also worried, but he’s more optimistic than I am. He never worries about things going wrong.
Me, on the other hand—I’ve lived days of everything going wrong. I know what can happen in the blink of an eye.
Lives change within seconds, and decisions are made that you can’t take back.
Needing to take my mind off the worry, I search the crowd for my girl and find her right where she said she would be—in the same place she sat when she cheered me on in high school.
My chest squeezes at the sight of her. She looks perfect in a Benton Falls Giants jersey and red hair falling down her back. I could take in this view all day. But then she catches me staring, and it only gets better. With a little wave, she spins around, lifting her hair, and my last name is on her back.
It nearly brings me to my knees.
One day, I’m going to convince her to make it her last name, too.
She turns back around and cheers as the announcer starts to announce the names of our players. I throw her a wink and bring my attention back to the field.
The captains are on the field, flipping the coin, and Tanner throws his arm up in the air when we win the toss.
We are playing one of our bigger rivals, and there’s a lot of pressure to win this game. We’ve been on a winning streak, and the town has taken notice.
Before we walked out of the locker room, I made sure they knew that winning or losing this game doesn’t determine their worth.
I’ll remind them after the game, too.
The captains hustle back to the sideline, and the defense gets ready to take the field.
Tanner stands beside me, his helmet on his head, waiting for his turn to be the hero.
