“You know what I see when I look at him lately?” she asks softly. “Hope.”
I glance up at her finally.
“I know you think you’ve been making his life harder, but from where I’m standing you’re the thing that’s kept him going through most of it.”
My chest aches painfully at the softness in her voice.
I stare down at our joined hands, blinking hard once before I embarrass myself in front of an entire luxury box.
“I’ve made things really hard for him,” I whisper.
“No,” she says gently. “Life and circumstance did that. You just needed time.”
I look down at our joined hands and let out a small, emotional laugh.
“He deserves someone who stops running every time things get hard,” I whisper.
His mom squeezes my hand gently. “Then it’s a good thing you came back.”
Something tucks itself against my side. Ella’s got both her arms wrapped around my waist with her foam finger pointing at the floor.
“I missed you,” she says into my sleeve, breaking the tension.
Zach’s mom loosens her hold on me so I can put my arm around Ella.
“I missed you too, Ellie-Bear.”
“Promise me you won’t go away again?” she asks.
I can feel Jamie’s eyes on me, and Zach’s mom’s, for that matter.
“I promise I won’t go away ever again.”
“Okay,” Ella says happily before lowering her voice like she’s sharing a secret. “Uncle Zach told me he sleeps better when you answer his phone calls.”
Jamie immediately coughs into his drink to hide a laugh.
Then, without warning, she’s back at the glass, pressing the foam finger to it, completely unfazed by it all.
By the time I’ve drawn my attention back to the game, the Night Owls have scored a touchdown, making it 17-21.
There are three minutes left in the game, so there’s plenty of time to win this; it’s just whether Zachcan.
He stalks onto the field, and I watch him closely. There it is. He’s shaking out his hand again.
My fingers tighten around the water bottle, my stomach fluttering with anxiety.
Come on, Zach. You can do this.
Zach calls the snap, and the second the ball is in his hands, he throws it to Reese immediately.
Reese catches it and steps out of bounds to stop the clock.
Everyone in the box with me is silent. No one moves. We’re all too focused on him.
They make their way down the field one drive at a time, trying to keep the pace up.
On the next drive, Zach can’t find anyone open, so he runs the ball himself, slipping past one defender and driving forward just enough to get them to the ten-yard line.
