Page 152 of Hometown Halftime

Chapter sixty

Kinsey

The energy in the locker room feels completely different today.

Every girl on the team moves a little faster while pulling on jerseys and taping wrists, music blasting through the speaker Harper set up this morning. Someone’s singing badly. Someone else is aggressively spraying deodorant into the air like it’s holy water. Everyone is dressed, so we move to the training room.

Despite the excitement, my stomach still twists itself into knots. Because this game matters. If we win today, Cedar Falls advances to the playoffs in the first season this program has ever existed.

If we lose? Our season is over.

I stand near the whiteboard, pretending to review defensive assignments while secretly trying not to throw up from stress. Across the locker room, Riley finishes helping one of the forwards tape her ankle before glancing toward me.

He walks over while the girls continue yelling at each other in the background. A grin spreads across his face before he leans closer.

“Kinsey, your eye’s twitching.”

I huff out a breath. “I feel like everything is twitching. I’m nervous.”

“You have nothing to worry about. Win or lose, we had a chance at the playoffs in our first season. These girls believe in you. I believe in you. It doesn’t matter what happens on that field, you did something amazing here.”

God, he’s the best.

Before I can respond, Brooke suddenly claps loudly from the middle of the locker room.

“Okay! Before we go out there, we have something.”

The room quiets as she reaches into one of the duffel bags on the bench and pulls out two wrapped bundles. Then she walks toward Riley and me, wearing a nervous smile that instantly makes me curious.

“We just…” She glances back toward the team briefly. “We wanted to say thank you.”

Confusion flickers through me.

“For what?” Riley asks.

Brooke looks at us like we’re idiots.

She spreads her arms, motioning to the team. “For all of this.”

Emotion catches unexpectedly in my throat. All the girls behind her nod.

“This season’s been like…the best thing ever,” Paige blurts out.

“And we know today’s game is big,” Tara says quickly, “but even if we lose, this season has still been really awesome.”

Emotion presses hard against my ribs while I look around the locker room at all of them. Six months ago, half these girls barely knew the rules of rugby. Now they’re standing here talking about the playoffs like they belong there, confident and proud and part of something they built together from scratch. Brooke steps closer and hands the wrapped bundles to Riley and me with an excited smile.

“Open them.”

I pull the paper away first and have to fight tears.

It’s a custom Cedar Falls rugby jersey in our colors with Coach Malone stitched across the back. Underneath it is the number one.

“Oh my God,” I whisper.

Beside me, Riley’s staring down at his own matching jersey, his with a large two on the back, looking just as wrecked.

“We all signed the numbers on the back.” Brooke points out.