Page 117 of Time Out

“Worked, didn’t it?”

Cole huffed and grabbed his bag, slung it over his shoulder. “I’ll believe that when I see it. He’d do a lot, but risk us giving up? Seems like a risky move.”

I didn’t want to think Coach would play us like that. I also couldn’t imagine being coached by a man I respected more. One thing was for certain, if this was his last year, he’d ensured we’d give it everything we had. Blood, guts, and all.

“You’re probably right.”

“Sucks to lose him, though,” Cole said and pushed open the locker room door.

I was immediately greeted with a sight that squeezed my chest in the best ways.

Maggie was there, laughing with Ruth as they stood together and talking with Eden. Jasper was next to them, back against the wall, looking like any surly, tired child his age.

At the sight of them, Maggie turned that dazzling smile on me.

“You won!”

“We did.”

I grabbed her, kissed her like her sister wasn’t there staring at us and held her to me.

This was all the congratulations I needed.

Chapter 36

Maggie

They won. I spent most of the game trying to explain what I knew of it to Ruth. Admittedly, it wasn’t a lot. I really need to talk to Davis more about it. Outside the basics Lance taught us that night, I hadn’t really bothered to ask, and what a crappy partner that made me.

At the end of the first half, Ruth had asked, “That’s bad, right?”

Yeah. It’d been pretty bad. Even I, a novice and pretty ignorant in the knowledge of any ball game, could acknowledge that, but whatever happened during halftime brought the team back to the field and fired up. It showed in every play, and it felt like the crowd knew it because they spent the second half on their feet. I joined them.

Ruth followed, and when Davis ran the ball thirty yards down the field in the fourth quarter, being tackled before he could score, she was on her feet, squeezing my hand and cheering just as loud as the rest of the stadium.

“This is exciting!”

“I know, right?” I bumped my shoulder into hers, and for the first time, we were kids, laughing and chasing each other around the acres of our land, having fun without all the worries and fears and drama getting between us.

By the time the game ended, Ruth had laughed and screamed and cheered and been more vocal about the game than I’d heard her be in the last two weeks.

By the time we were in the tunnel, waiting for Davis, it was me who was standing back while she talked to Eden and bent down and spent time getting to know Jasper. That hadn’t surprised me. My guess, she was feeling pretty useless without a handful of children to help take care of. The way her eyes lit up when Jasper was equally talkative with her back proved it.

Happiness filled me as I took in the peace on Ruth’s face and I was still filled with it as the door to the locker room finally opened, and Davis followed Cole out the door.

I was in his arms in a blink, his mouth seared to mine and his tongue diving inside.

I didn’t stop to think about what Ruth would think.

I didn’t hesitate.

He’d played an incredible game, and I was more than thrilled to show him exactly how proud I was of him.

“We’ll continue this later,” I whispered in his ear before he set me back on my feet.

His smile was wicked. “Damn straight. What’d you think of your first game, Ruth?”

If I hadn’t been watching her so closely, I would have missed the blush on her cheek. “Oh. It was fun. Loud? Exciting though. Good job.”

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