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“I sure as hell know Charlie would want to have his own show.”
“I’ll talk to them,” I said, bringing my hand to the small of Nathan’s back.
“There they are,” Nathan said as the front doors swung open again and a wholeecosystemof a family walked in.
I knew immediately it was Nathan’s family. His younger brother Tristan was at the back of the group, but even his parents and sister looked like versions of Nathan.
“Hey, Mom,” Nathan said, walking over and giving her a big hug.
“Can you believe that sign down the highway?” she was saying. “You saw it, right? Blueberries fortwo dollarsa pint? I have half a mind to get ten of them. Twenty, and make ‘em into preserves. Best price on blueberries I’ve seen—oh, mygoodness, you must be Kace Tomlin.”
She saw me, her eyes lighting up. Nathan’s dad was also smiling my way now.
“I take it you two are Denver Ferals fans?” I asked. “I’m Kace. It’s so nice to meet you.”
I gave them each a good hug, and they introduced themselves. Bruce and Jolene Wood were already two of the friendliest people I’d met.
“Fans? We’re superfans,” Bruce said. “Stop me if I start giving you advice to pass on to that coach of yours.”
I laughed.
“This is my sister Lindsay,” Nathan said, introducing me to a young woman who looked cooler than most people I’d ever met. In photos of her, I’d seen her with various dyed hair colors, but right now it was a killer gradient of blue into purple into pink.
“It’s so nice to meet you, Kace,” she said, giving me a hug, too.
“Hey, let’s go grab that big corner booth,” Nathan said.
“Are we all going to fit into a corner booth?” Jolene said.
“They’re pretty big here,” Nathan offered, “and even if we don’t, we’ll just spill into the next one.”
As we made our way across the inside of the big, cabin-like brewery, I realized that the simple idea of going to sit down in a booth wasn’t something that happened quickly and easily when it came to the Wood family. As we walked through the various tables and booths, it was as if someone in the family got stopped every other table.
Everybody knew everybody in this town. Jolene got stopped by another woman to talk about the blueberries. Bruce got stopped twice by other people, to talk about hiking and hot tub maintenance. Lindsay got into a short conversation about her sheepdog.
By the time we were almost ready to sit down at the corner booth, Shawn had arrived, as well as Tristan’s partner, Jack. When we got to the booth, we not only needed to spill over into the next one, but we also pulled up one of the long, wood tables to position it next to both of the booths.
“This is just like my get-togethers at my house,” I told Nathan when we had a moment, tucked into the corner of the booth. “It starts as five people and always ends up as twenty. Or, in my case, a hundred.”
Nathan leaned in to press a kiss to the side of my head. “I know it’s overwhelming. Every time we get the whole family together, it’s a whole, big production.”
“Good thing I love big productions.”
“Now, Kace,” I heard Nathan’s dad say from behind me.
I turned to him. “What’s up, boss?”
“I hear you’re the guy to talk to about this whole cold plunge trend.”
“I am your resident cold plungeexpert,” I said. “I fucking love them, and I also totally hate them. Dunking your body into icy cold water for minutes at a time has that effect on a person.”
“Tell me everything,” Bruce said.
I spent the next ten minutes getting deep with Bruce about the benefits of quick cold water plunging—about how it was life-changing for my mental world as much as for my muscle recovery after tough games. As we spoke, I realized quickly that everyone in the Wood family had the same way of immediately treating me like I was any other person, even when they were already aware of my fame.
So many other people that I met only wanted to hear about football, or fancy clubs I’d been to, or which rappers and actors I had met and hung out with.
There wasnoneof that with anyone in the Wood family. They were curious about me, and who I was, not just about the trappings of fame.
