Page 84 of Playing It Forward

“I’m working on it.”

“Never said you weren’t.”

I wish I was as confident as he is. It doesn’t matter. Confident or not, I’m starting this season. And I’m doing everything in my power to take us to the Super Bowl. This is our year.

Brock motions toward the entrance. “We should go. We don’t want to be late. Coach Knox will have us running circles around the field until we drop. And it’s already eighty-five degrees out.”

“Speaking of Coach Knox,” Tanner begins.

I know exactly what he’s referring to. All the players are talking about it. The rumor Knox is leaving. My gut clenches. I don’t want him to leave.

I hold up my hand. “Enough with the rumors.”

He sticks out his bottom lip in a pout. “But people are finally talking about other people besides me.”

I lift an eyebrow. “Because you’re actually behaving for once.”

He shrugs.

I don’t seriously think he’s behaving. I think he’s digging himself deeper into the hole he dug before we arrived in Smuggler’s Hideaway. But trying to talk Tanner out of anything is a waste of energy.

We enter the stadium and make our way through the hallways to the locker room. I go first, the way I usually do, and—

“SURPRISE!”

The entire team except for the assholes behind me shout. I whirl around to confront them. “What the hell? You told everyone?”

Brock grunts. “We warned you everyone knew.”

Thanks to goofball Tanner, I forgot the purpose of them surrounding me was to warn me. A warning would have been good.

Lamar, the center, lumbers forward. He hands me a package. It’s pink and blue and appears tiny in his hands.

“A little something to commemorate the occasion.”

I open the bag and pull out the tiniest pair of football cleats I’ve ever seen. “What if it’s a girl?”

He snorts. “My girl plays football harder and meaner than my boys.” He steps closer. “Let me give you some advice.”

I nod because he’s giving me his advice whether I want it or not.

“You should teach the baby to sleep through crowd noise immediately.”

Crowd noise? My nose wrinkles. My little mermaid isn’t going to be sleeping in big stadiums.

Except I play in big stadiums. Will Terri come to my games with the baby? She hasn’t accepted any of my invites to attend practice. I doubt she’ll attend a game.

I don’t know how this is going to work. I want to be there for her and the baby, but I won’t be there physically. Will she think I abandoned her when I’m gone?

Brock slaps me on the shoulder. “Learn how to install the car seat before the hospital. Trust me on this.”

I flip through dates in my mind. Our little mermaid is due to make her debut on March 12th. Football season – even if we make it to the Super Bowl – will be over by then. But my obligations aren’t over when the season ends.

I have sponsorship deals. Which will be even worse if the Seals play in the Super Bowl.

And I usually host a quarterback camp around March/April. Could I move the date? Or have I already committed to the location?

And if we win the Super Bowl? March will be a media storm of podcasts and television appearances.