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I didn’t have any time to ask, to think too deeply on it, because once we arrived at the Big House, it was all controlled chaos.
A smiling woman from the board met us with VIP badges. She shook our hands and gave Mira a sad smile.
“Please let me tell both of you how sorry we were to hear of Chris and Amie’s passing,” she said. “Their legacy will not be forgotten at Michigan.”
My eyebrows popped up when she turned her back.
“How much money did Chris leave them?” I asked Liam when she walked us through the tunnel and out onto the field, complete with our own security detail walking deferentially behind us.
Liam snorted. “Too bloody much, I’d reckon.”
Charlotte emitted a soft, wondrous gasp. I glanced over at her, and her mouth was open, her eyes wide as she looked around the stadium.
“Wow,” she said.
“Biggest stadium in the country,” I told her, leaning down to speak into her ear so she could hear me over the roar.
It really was magical. And I glanced around for a moment too—at the endless sea of maize and blue, remembering the last time I’d stood right in that spot, with Chris and Amie. There’d been no big goodbye, no extra-long hugs that day. It was busy and loud, and we’d been there so many times that it just seemed normal.
And it wasn’t.
It was good to remember that.
“Wait until they start singing the fight song,” I told her.
Liam heard me. “You’ll know when that is because my ears will start bleeding.”
Charlotte laughed. “I take it you didn’t go to Michigan.”
His affronted scoff had even me smiling.
“Liam thinks he’s better than the rest of us because he went to Ohio State.” I leaned in closer. “That’s why he needs to overcompensate in most areas of his life.”
“Asshole,” Liam muttered.
Charlotte smiled as she glanced between us, leaning her arm against mine. Because I wanted to, and because it sounded nice, I slid myfingers in between hers and let the warmth of her hand ground me in the moment.
When the coach approached us, she released my hand, hanging back while the three of us talked. A few players—current and former—came to pay their respects, and just before the game was about to begin, the president of the board waved me and Liam over to her side.
“We’ll make the announcement about Chris and Amie’s endowment,” she said. “They’ll do a moment of silence, and if you can just give a small wave to the cameras, they’ll show the two of you and Mira up on the screen.”
Liam straightened. “You didn’t tell me that.”
At his gruff tone, her eyebrows climbed up her forehead. “I’m sorry. I assumed you’d be okay with that.”
Based on the look on his face, he was unequivocally not okay with that. “Give us a minute, will you?”
Mira shifted in his arms, picking up on his instant tension.
Liam carefully pushed the headphones off Mira’s head. She cringed at the noise all around her.
“Listen, duck, do you want to wave hello to all these people? Just a minute? They’d see you up on that screen.”
I’d never heard Liam sound like that. I didn’t even know he wascapableof sounding nice. Gentle.
Mira looked up at the screen, then back at Liam. She shook her head, a furious and resounding no. He gently tucked the headphones back over her ears. Mira started playing with the collar on his shirt.
The woman glanced at Liam.
