Page 91 of The Night We Met

Pushing off where I’m leaning, I make my way to her. Luna brings the stick over to where I sit and I toss it back out into the yard.

How do I bring up my feelings? Do I just say what I’m actually feeling or just get straight to the point?

Kamryn notices my struggle, “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know, Kam. To hear that Liam had bought you a ring. Knowing that if he were still alive you’d probably be married to him. You and I would have been a moment in history.”

She places her sketchpad on the seat next to her and comes over to where I’m sitting, straddling my lap. Her hands rest on the sides of my neck as her thumbs caress my jaw.

“When I found the ring, I was angry. And so hurt. I was led on by Liam into thinking that we had no future. Do you want to know what I did with the ring?”

Do I? If she tells me she kept it I might just turn her house upside down to find it. But instead I give a little nod. Letting her know I’d like to know.

“I wore it for about a year. I think it was a way of me holding onto him since I couldn’t physically do that anymore. But in one of my therapy sessions, I was advised that by wearing that ring I was holding on to a past that wasno longer written in the stars for me. The ring was keeping me from reaching my fullest potential. It was a day in March that I went and visited Liam. As I was talking to him, I slowly dug a hole in the ground. When it got deep enough, I took the ring off, and I buried it. As much as I loved Liam, that ring was not mine in the real sense. Could it have been mine? Maybe. But since he’s dead I have no way of knowing. You two were the greatest loves of my life. I’m not sorry for saying it. But your ring is the only one I can see wearing for the rest of my life. When that time does come.”

I let out a woosh of breath that I had been holding in. How Kamryn has a way with words that alleviate my own fears, I will never know. Leaning forward to press a quick kiss to her lips.

“I’m sorry I left this morning. I needed my thoughts in order. And comparing myself to a dead guy and wanting to kick his ass isn’t fair to either of you.”

“You came back,” she points out.

With a subtle nod, I tell her the words I said once before. Words that held more weight when I broke her heart. “Kamryn, I love you. I always will.”

“I love you too. Always have.” She buries her face in my neck and wraps her arms around me just as tightly.

We sit like this for what feels like hours although it’s probably only minutes. Kamryn in my lap with her face buried in my neck. My arms anchoring her to me as our hearts sync together.

The past month with Kamryn has been as easy as breathing. We’ve managed to work at our relationship with our schedulesas busy as they have been. While the road trips for games have made having a relationship tricky, FaceTime has made it so we can be with each other without being with each other.

But now our schedule is lightening up for the next two weeks. We have our Thursday night game at home and then a ‘Bye Week’. I have last minute plans that I’m hoping I won’t have to cancel.

I walk down the hallway to my offensive coordinators office the Wednesday before our game.

“Hey, coach. Do you have a minute?”

He looks up from his tablet. “Yeah. Come in Brooks.”

Taking a seat in front of his desk, I don’t beat around the bush. “I was thinking about taking a trip after the game.”

His eyebrows scrunch together. It’s very uncommon for any athlete, let alone one that’s a starter and in a good seed spot.

“Mason, you know that’s not how things are run around here.”

“I know. But hear me out,” I plead. If I need to get on my knees and beg I will. He sits back in his chair and gives me a short nod. “When we win on Thursday night, we’ll be put at a higher seed in the division. This ‘bye’ week couldn’t come at a better time.”

He regards me like I’ve gone insane. And maybe I have. Going out of the country while the season is still happening is ludacris.

“Come talk to me after the game.”

It’s not a no. But it’s not a yes. I feel like I just asked my parents to go to the mall.

“Yes sir. Alright, well I’ll let you get back to what you were doing.” Heaving myself out of the chair, I tap the top of his desk and walk out towards the team locker room.

“Alright boys, I know we’re all tired. Jamison, they've been double teaming you all night. Let’s use that to our advantage.” The noise of the sold out crowd hopefully drowns out what I’m telling my guys. We’re up by a touchdown in the fourth quarter. The other team came to play, but so did we. We just need another touchdown to coast into a win.

“Break.”

I stay back from the huddle as my O-line heads to their positions. When they’re settled, I take my spot behind the center. Taking a breath I call out the play. The ball is snapped into my hands and I drop back a couple of steps, looking for my open guy.

---