Page 106 of The Playbook

He stared out at the field for a moment before answering me. “She’s my daughter, Walker.”

“I know, Coach. I love her and want to fix what I did.”

He dragged his gaze to me. “Then go fix it and don’t screw it up again because I won’t let there be a next time.”

“There’ll never be a next time,” I swore to him.

He nodded at me and called Jake Sommers up, our second-string quarterback. Jake eagerly darted onto the field as I slipped away to get ready for the show of a lifetime.

“Please let this work,” I said softly as I stopped and peered up at the sky.

Because if it didn’t, I was out of ideas.

CHAPTER51

Grace

“Ibought Lana a drumstick Christmas ornament as her gift this year,” Noah said as we lined up to take our positions on the field.

I shook my head at him. “She’s going to hate that.”

“I know.” He grinned, making a tiny smile quirk my lips up.

He nudged me. “You OK?

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“What are you going to tell him at the fifty-yard line?”

I let out a soft laugh. I’d told my friends about his note asking me to meet him there. Lana, surprisingly, hadn’t said much about it other than she wanted me to be happy.

“I haven’t decided. I figure we can meet there after we get through our performance. We won’t have much time. Everyone will be milling around, doing bathroom breaks and getting food, so we can probably just wander off for a few minutes.”

“To kiss?” He puckered his lips up and feigned making out with an invisible person.

I cracked half a smile at him. “I don’t know. I want to. Then I don’t. I’m scared, I guess.”

“Do it, Grace. Trust me, he has it bad for you.”

“How would you even know? Didn’t you threaten to kick his dick in if he came too close to me?”

He shrugged as Mr. Brown called us to attention. “Yeah, but I’ve had a change of heart. And I think you have too. Besides, I heard he told Nikki off in the hall.”

I didn’t get to say anything else because we marched onto the field doing some new elaborate march Mr. Brown had thrown at us on short notice. He’d also changed up the songs we were to play. It was a good thing our band was a quick study. We’d had to stay after school to work things out, and it had severely cut into my dinnertime. I was starving as I lifted my knees and pounded my drum. Add to it that my nerves were going crazy with everything concerning Logan, and I was a damn mess as we marched to the field.

It took me a minute to realize something wasn’t right. The majorettes and dance squad had joined us along with the cheerleaders. I did a quick scan and didn’t see Nikki anywhere, which was definitely strange since she always made it a point to be the center of attention.

We wound our way into different formations. A heart. A star. X’s and O’s. A football. Our medley moved from “Love You Like a Love Song” by Selena Gomez to Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream”. The crowd cheered, completely into the elaborate performance.

I crinkled my brows as our tiger mascot danced with the dance squad. I had no idea Adam Jenkins could move like that. He’d never danced at games before. He was really good as he mimicked the dancers’ crisp, smooth moves.

I stopped at the fifty-yard line, the song shifting to something a little slower. It was new, and Mr. Brown had only given it to us in class today. I drummed slowly to the mesmerizing tune as a couple of the drama club kids approached me and started pulling my gear off me.

“Hey! What are you doing?” I hissed as one of them unhooked my drum kit from my shoulders.

“Behind you,” Noah called out from beside me.

“What?”

---