Page 106 of The Way the Heart Breaks: Jade’s Story

“Good.”

Jade ducks her head, hiding another smile.

* * *

Practice runs long, and by the time Lucas and I get showered and changed, I'm hungry enough to eat the damn football.

“Ithaca?” he asks as we head across the parking lot.

“Hell yeah.”

“Same place?”

“Why make changes now? It’s senior year.” I joke.

He laughs as we climb into the Trans Am, and within a few minutes we're heading toward Ithaca, talking about the game Friday and the footage Coach Saville made us watch over lunch.

We don't bother talking about where we're going. We both know.

Lucatommy’s steakhouse, as we call it. No matter how hard we’ve tried, we haven’t convinced them to change the name from Lucatelli's

Coach would bring us in after practice and let us eat like we'd been starving in the wilderness instead of spending three hours running drills. It's one of those places that somehow became ours without either of us ever deciding it was.

Lucas pulls into the lot, and I follow him inside.

“Damn, I'm hungry,” I say as we get seated.

“You say that every time.”

“Because I am.”

“You two eat like you have a second stomach.” Sally, the waitress, says as she sets down two water glasses and their breadbasket, doubled of course.

“Six pack must be maintained.” I pop my pecs, and she laughs.

“Eight over here.” Lucas runs his hand up and down his shirt.

“Pfft, seven,” I correct. “Those two new guys have yet to fully develop.”

“Well, look who's here. I figured we’d lose you to Skaneateles or some place in Auburn,” Vinnie, the owner, says as he approaches the table.

“We’re not changing anything within our control,” Lucas says.

“Where's the rest of Blue Valley?”

“Probably eating somewhere else.”

A woman at the next table over asks, “How's the team looking?”

“Pretty damn good,” Lucas says.

“She means, how are you two doing with this new team?”

I grin. “We’re gonna take states.”

“So, Saturday?” Vinnie nods.

“Saturday,” Lucas confirms.