Page 59 of Second Down Darling

He chuckles. “How about a Blizzard? I promised Ash we’d get some icecream.”

Asher grabs his dad’s face. “Two scoops WockyWoad.”

“Onescoop of Rocky Road.” He tickles Ash until the kid squeals. “Afteryou eatlunch.”

“I might be persuaded,” Itease.

After I scroll to my favorite image, I swivel the laptop so he can see the screen. It’s a shot of Jake on that drive to his first touchdown. I panned with him, so the background blurs and shows his motion. He’s in focus, determination written all over his face. The muscles in his arms and legs are taut as hesprints.

“Holy shi—” He stops himself, looks at Asher, and reconsiders what he wants to say. “Holy crap, Charlotte. This is incredible. Think I could get a copy for mymom?”

“Of course. I’ll save the best ones for you on a drive.” I’ll admit I took a chance on panning. I hadn’t really shot anything like that since my Photojournalism I class, and doing an exercise for a course is different than an on-locationassignment.

Jake waits until Asher is focused on petting Duke and mouths, “This is cool as fuck. Thankyou.”

I’m floating on a cloud of pride allnight.

The next day at our meeting, AD Armstrong is just as enthusiastic. “Charlotte, these photos turned out better than I could’veimagined.”

It feels so good to be praised for my work. All Dakota ever did was bitch at me for not getting her best angle or making her nose look too big or not making her boobs bigger. Or complain that I made her skin too shiny or her forehead toowide.

The AD picks three shots for his weekly newsletter, two to post on the Bronco football website, and a few to send to themedia.

“Before I forget…” He hands me a card. “Call this kid when we’re done. He’s the sports editor at theBronco Times. He’ll definitely be interested in this collection for the special edition they’re doing forhomecoming.”

Once we’re done discussing captions, he leans forward in his chair and temples his fingers. “Now that I’ve seen your work in action, I have a proposition. If you can cover all the home games, I might be able to get youpaid.”

And when my shots get featured across the interior spread of the school newspaper a few days later, it seals the deal—I’m officially in love with being a sportsphotographer.

22

JAKE

Ibarely havethe front door open before my two older brothers come barreling through and tackle my ass to theground.

“You dicks.” I groan and shove them offme.

Although I’m annoyed, a part of me feels like I’m finally part of their club. David and Elijah are a decade older than I am, and when I was a kid, I was definitely the weird middle child. I’m eight years older than my younger brother, who was only five when our dad decided he’d fuck off and divorce our sweet mother. Sure, he came around for a few more years, but then he pretty much forgot all aboutus.

“Where’s Colby?” I grit out as Eli tries to put me in achokehold.

“He’s got some eighth gradedance.”

“¡Muchachos, pórtanse!” My mom claps her hands as if that’s ever been an effective tactic to get us tobehave.

Charlotte hides her smile behind Asher’s head as she bounces him in her arms. Next to us, Duke jumps andbarks.

I’ve been a little worried about this reunion. My mom is cool, but I’ll kill my brothers if they’re assholes toCharlie.

Elijah hops up off the ground and holds out his hand. I’m tempted to drag him back down again, but I’d rather not get injured doing something stupid. I let him pull meup.

“Mamá, remember all the times you put him in charge?” I point to Eli. “You really think that was such a good idea? He’s the reason you came home from that potluck dinner at church and found your coffee table inpieces.”

Eli mumbles, “Snitches get stitches, littlebrother.”

David looks like he’s going to crack a joke when he notices Charlie. She gives him a shy wave. “Hi. Long time nosee.”

He gives her a curt nod and takes Asher out of herarms.

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