Page 32 of Second Down Scrooge

I pull back, and I search her eyes for a beat.

“I want to move in with you,” she blurts, and my heart soars. Before I get the chance to tell her that, she adds, “After the start of the year. Things are too crazy to even think about moving now, you know? Between the wreaths and the bakery, life is just insane. Would I love to just make wreaths all day? Of course, but I have a job. And with heading to Chicago with Mia for Christmas, let’s get through the holidays, and then I might have some time to breathe and focus.”

“Kel, you can breathe and focus now. You don’t have to work at the bakery. You know that, right?”

“Of course I do. I need a paycheck,” she says, and I shake my head.

“No, you don’t. I want to help however I can, and I guess I haven’t made that clear. You could stay home with Mia, or you could start a wreath business and sell wreaths at every holiday, or you could do none of that and stay home and watch game shows all day. I want you to be happy. You’re the mother of my child. It’s the least I can do.”

She clings on around my neck and hugs me tightly, and it’s as if I feel the stress rolling off her shoulders as I hold onto her.

I want to be here to shoulder the stress with her…not make it worse on her. And I don’t think I’ve done a very good job of that over the last year.

But all that changes now.

For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m coming in first.

And, to be honest, I’m not quite sure what to do with that. But I can’t wait to try to figure it out with the woman in my arms.

Chapter 16: Austin Graham

One of the Lucky Ones

Five Days Until Christmas

I like to take a moment at the start of warm-ups to just look around the stadium as I try to live in the moment. These moments are fleeting, after all. The average career of a professional football player spans just over three years. I’ve been doing this for seven.

I’m one of the lucky ones, and I know that. And to be on the field as we start our first drive when I’ve spent the majority of my career in the second spot feels somehow even luckier.

As I look around, I see that the stands are filling five days before the holiday. I spot Kelly, and she’s wearing my jersey.

It almost feels like an early Christmas gift.

GRAHAM 41 stares back at me, and I can’t stop glancing up at her in the crowd during our warmups. I’m with the other tight ends as we run through our pregame footwork drills and upper body stretches, and when I glance up into the stands, she’s watching me, cheering for me, here for me. She’s sipping from a huge beer, and she looks happy as she laughs with Ava.

My heart feels full. Between her and the little girl we share, it feels like my life is finally falling into place. It’s everything I’ve worked my ass off for. And it feels for the first time like I did things the right way this time—like I earned all this. I’ve made things right with most of my teammates—including Asher.

We’ve talked a little, bonded a little over fatherhood, and have started an actual friendship.

And even though we’ve talked around our issues, I’m not sure I’ve given him the proper apology he deserves. He’d already leftthat day at the bakery when I apologized to Grayson, so I haven’t had the chance.

We’re playing the Buccaneers this weekend, and we’re ready. I’ve studied the film, and I know the plays that I’m going to have to execute today.

Asher glances over at me as we run through our stretches. “You ready for this?”

I tilt my head a little before I nod. “Fuck yeah, I am. You?”

“Never been more ready.”

“You’ve been dialed in all season,” I say.

“Comes with fatherhood, I guess.” He lifts a shoulder as his words hit home. That, in fact, is the exact same reason I’m dialed in. It’s the exact same reason I’m fighting so hard on this field. I want to make plays Mia will be proud of when she looks back on game footage from her dad’s playing days, and somehow making amends with Asher feels like the right thing to do.

He starts to turn away from me, but I don’t let him go quite yet.

“Hey, Asher?”

He turns back toward me with eyebrows raised.

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