Page 72 of Touchdowns and Temptations

“Hm,” I grumble. “Yeah, I’ve noticed.”

“So,” she says, unpacking her food. “What are you doing here if you want the McCarter's address?”

“I'm looking for Noah,” I say. “He's here.”

“He is,” Emily confirms. “I'm working on his shoulder.”

“You're working on his shoulder?” I ask. “Why are you telling me this now and ... and where is your office? When can I meet him there?”

Emily swallows the big bite of her sandwich before answering.

“Sorry,” she says, “I'm really hungry.”

“I see that,” I chuckle. “How is Noah? What's wrong with him?”

“He dislocated his shoulder,” she answers. “Nothing dramatic, but still three weeks out - at least.”

“That's what Alex was hinting at,” I say.

“Were you at the stadium?”

“No,” she says, wiping the corners of her mouth with a napkin. “Daisy told me.”

“Of course she did,” I scoff, and Emily raises her eyebrows. Maybe I shouldn't forget that they're sisters and Emily doesn't take too kindly to me making fun of her sister. “Sorry.”

“It's okay,” Emily mumbles. “This thing between her and Alex is ... well ... complicated.”

Of course, that's one way of putting it. Although I think she meant to say something else. Emily likes Alex, more than that, and I bet she doesn't like Daisy bragging about having sex with him at all.

“Back to you and Noah,” she changes the subject. “Does this have anything to do with the newspaper article?”

“Kind of,” I say. “Noah and I had completely different views on our relationship - or our being together, as I prefer to call it - and it escalated that night. In the worst possible place, and everyone saw it. He's been avoiding me like the plague ever since.”

“Are you surprised?” she asks and I swallow.

Anxiously, I reach for my Diet Coke and take a sip.

“You really hurt him and even a blind man could see that you had a crush on each other. Why did you do that?” she scolds me.

“Because of his job,” I confess. “I don't want to live like my mother and raise my children the way she did with me. It would all happen again with Noah by my side.”

“I see,” Emily says, leaning back. “I'm sure you know that Daisy broke up with Alex because she didn't want to either, right?” I nod. “To leave town and move further away than Nashville. She's too proud to admit it, but she regrets her decision and I think she still loves Alex.”

I almost let an ‘What about you?’ slip out, but I manage to stifle it.

“And what does this have to do with me?” I ask.

“You're too proud to jump over your shadow, too,” she explains. “You're afraid of what this job will bring. Moving and little time together. But if you love Noah and he loves you ... why are you being so stupid?”

“I'm stupid, not him,” I clarify. “Noah wanted us from the beginning.”

“And do you think he won't miss you and your children just as much?” she asks and I bite my lips. “I don't have a father who was gone every two weeks, and I didn't grow up in the spotlight. Ultimately, I'm judging the situation from the outside, but if you love each other, you'll make it. How long will Noah play? Ten or fifteen years at the most.”

“It depends on how healthy he stays and...” Emily rolls her eyes. “That's not what you mean, is it?”

“No,” she replies, “I mean that you shouldn't use ten or fifteen years as a standard for the twenty or forty years you have left.”

“To be honest, I've never seen it that way,” I say quietly. “I always saw my childhood and my mother. But you're right. My parents are happy and enjoying their retirement because they have enough money to have a nice life. They travel a lot.”

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