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“Who needs blankets? It’s grass,” West asked, looking insulted.
“I do—you know, the pregnant one,” Maggie told him.
None of us pretended our women hadn’t already told us. There was no point. They knew we’d been told already.
“Congratulations, by the way,” I said to them both.
West grinned and pulled Maggie up against his side and kissed the top of her head. “Thanks,” he replied, looking real damn pleased with himself.
“I brought a veggie tray,” Willa said, walking toward us. “I sent Gunner back to the Rover for the ranch dip.”
“Oh, thank God!” Maggie said, looking thrilled.
“Gunner let you bring a veggie tray to a field party?” I asked, slightly horrified.
Willa raised her eyebrows. “Gunner doesn’t tell me what to do,” she said.
“Jesus, woman. You’re killing my reputation,” Gunner said as he caught up to her.
“Wine, Gunner? Seriously?” I asked, seeing the bottle of red wine in his other hand.
He shrugged then nodded at Willa. “It’s her fault.”
“Looks like there’s more food,” Nash said, grinning, and nodded his head toward Asa and Ezmita, who had just walked through the gate. There was a large bag that I recognized from the Stop and Shop.
“Please, God, let that be cinnamon rolls,” I said.
“Oh, so those are okay? Just not veggies?” Willa asked me.
“It’s cinnamon rolls, baby. You gotta understand,” Gunner told her, causing her to roll her eyes.
Brady was back, putting out the blankets, when Tallulah arrived with several bakery boxes and a bottle of sparkling apple cider. By the time it was all set up, the last field party looked more like someone was having a reception. Although we were using red Solo cups, there was champagne, red wine, sparkling apple cider for Maggie, and paper plates instead of just the keg of beer. Tallulah had even produced a roll of paper towels from Nash’s office. The night had fallen, and the fire was blazing. We had our friends, and we were all together.
“To the field that raised us,” Nash said, raising his red Solo cup into the air.
“To the field!” everyone said together before taking a drink.
“When did we get so damn fancy? Domestic and shit?” Gunner asked, taking another drink of his beer, then reaching for a cinnamon roll.
“Would you have preferred some bags of chips like the old days?” Willa asked him, smirking.
He shrugged, then grunted. “We rarely had chips then. Just the keg.”
“Fuck no,” West said as he chomped down on one of Tallulah’s mom’s brownies. “This is way better.”
“It’s the last field party. It should be special. Stand out,” Asa said, sitting with his arm around Ezmita, who I realized had never come to a field party. She was leaning back on his chest, and it was clear he was happy. Out of all of us, he had made the biggest transformation.
“I don’t think it could stand out any more than it already does. Three couples engaged, one having a baby, folks moving back to Lawton and settling down,” I said. Aurora was snuggled up to my side with wine in her cup. She hadn’t experienced many field parties herself.
“And we got a fucking football celebrity in our midst,” West said. “Who knew one of us would go big,” he added.
Then the other guys all said together, “I did.”
I laughed and looked at Nash.
“What?” he said. “We all knew you would be the one to make it. You were our star. Everyone knew that.”
I shrugged. I had wanted it, but I hadn’t been as sure as they had. Back then my world had been rocked by the woman at my side. She had given me more to want in life than football. I wasn’t so sure I could have done any of this had she not been there with me. When I needed her she always had the right words. She was my biggest fan and the center of my world.
