Page 88 of Shape Of My Heart
Gage had five guys on his tail but they were just wasting their breath. Josh smiled proudly as he watched his friend breeze down the field, maintaining Josh’s mantra that nothing was faster than Gage. The crowd went wild as Gage passed into the end zone, running past the goal post and across the plane of the goal line to score their winning touchdown. The stadium erupted with cheers and all the Gladiatorsroared.
Josh removed his foot from the guy and stood, still watching it all. He was proud, indeed, and he was also grateful. Like always he looked back to his father who was cheering for him. He wished so badly that his mother and Clarissa could beheretoo.
But…maybe there were, maybe they were here in spirit. It was a nicethought.
Josh looked at his father, balled his fist and placed it on his heart. His father did the same, gazing at him with pride, just likealways.
The euphoria he usually felt after a game filled him. It was a good feeling and he was grateful to the woman who made this all possible. He looked at his Amy standing next to his father. They were a massive distance from where he stood on the field but she could see that he was looking at her. He kept his hand at his heart and mouthed “Thank you” to her, which she most likely didn’t see but he did itanyway.
He continued to stare at her until Ty landed a hand on his shoulder and ushered him over to join in with thecelebration.
* * *
Amy was soproud of Josh, and today she had a new-found admiration for how he played with his team. This was the first football game she’d ever been to, and while she squirmed at the fighting and clashes, she had to agree that it wasfantastic.
People hung around to celebrate after the game. The diehard Gladiator fans were everywhere doing all sorts of things, from buying memorabilia to taking pictures of themselves with some of the players. She was trying to get through the crowd to get down to the changing rooms to find Josh, but several people had stopped her to talk, and now Zelda was doingthesame.
“Hey Miss Thing,” Zelda said, giving her a hug. Her bright green eyes sparkled with pride as she looked at Amy and gave her a hug. “We couldn’t have done thiswithoutyou.”
“Oh stop.” Amygiggled.
“You know I’m right. You certainly slapped sense into the machine.” Zelda laughed heartily. “Well done.” She tapped Amy’s arm and left as she got dragged away by one of thephotographers.
Amy made her escape and continued through, pushing the crowd of fans. She made it to the changing rooms and saw a whole other crowd. These were fans of a different category. These were the people who wanted autographs from the top players like Josh. The other category of fans she saw had to be what she called groupies. No mistake about it, the throng of women she saw gathered around couldn’t have been anything other, not in the skanky clothing shewitnessed.
“It’s better if you stay here,” a pretty, dark-haired lady called out to Amy. She leaned against the wall adjacent to the changing room, holding her little brown purse to her chest. Amy had seen her here with Gage a few days ago when she’d stopped by to meet Josh for lunch. “Unless you want to be stamped on.” Shesmiled.
“Hi,” Amy said, going overtoher.
“Hey,I’mEvie.”
“I’mAmy.”
“I noticed you squirming as much as me duringthegame.”
“Idon’tlike the fighting and violence,” Amy told her, wrinkling her nose. Evielaughed.
“Yes, that was my face too.” She laughed. “It’s rough as anything. I’m Gage’s fiancée, are youwithJosh?”
What shouldshesay?
Aside from Hilda and Gabriella, no one knew that she and Josh were together. Sure, the guys saw them kissing that night, but that didn’t meananything.
Evie raised her brows at Amy’shesitation.
“I—”
At least she made some attempt to answer, but they were interrupted when Gage rushed out of the crowd, not even batting an eyelid at the women who had gathered for him. He dashed over to Evie, picked her up, and spun heraround.
“Mrs. Gage, did you see me?” He beamed as he lowered her back to theground.
You only had to look at Gage to see how much he loved Evie. Amy didn’t think she’d ever seen that before. She didn’t know that you could just look at two people and tell they were in love. This was what happened here, because she saw the same love beaming in wavesfromEvie.
“Yes, Mr. Evie, I saw, everyone did.” Evie giggled. “You werefantastic.”
They were so cute with their Mrs. Gage and Mr. Eviereferences.
Gage acknowledged Amy and smiled. “Your boy’s just back there trying to find his walking stick andointment.”
