Page 35 of Personal Foul

Leadership. Discipline. Teamwork. Family.

These aspects are important in life. Things football teaches you.

“Thanks for the feedback,” he says as he makes his way onto the field, calling to the kid in question.

I watch as the players line up to run a play. While my eyes should follow the recruit, I let myself watch the rest of the team. My eyes catch on one of the linemen. His face is determined, but an underlying anger in his movements causes me to continue to watch him. As the ball snaps, he juts forward, meeting his opponent. However, instead of bouncing off and letting go, he grabs his jersey.

If this was an actual game, that would be a holding call without question. What concerns me is the fact that by making the call to go after his teammate, he left his quarterback open. He let his emotions determine what his actions would be, costing his team a sack.

My eyes meet Coach as he yells at the kid. His pissed off look is still there. Whatever made him mad is the reason that he took his mind off the game. His eyes keep cutting to his teammate, the opponent he faced off against, I would have to say it’s him.

I let my mind wander to Garrett. The whole reason he came to Seattle was to move away from his mistake. He couldn’t bear the fact that he made one wrong decision that led to his quarterback being seriously injured. Did he let his emotions rule him too?

Shaking my head from the thought, I finish watching practice, speaking with the coach for a little bit afterward to give him my assessments of not only the recruit, but the other players.

This is why I came here and to most other colleges. I might be a female, which made them wary at first, but I was not single-minded. I would give them a full assessment of the entire team by the end of my observations, making the team better.

* * *

I must have dozedoff at some point. I planned to stay up working while waiting on my nightly call from Nick. Then Garrett would call me later and we would have a different kind of nightly call.

Instead, I passed out after my solo act, causing me to jerk awake when my phone rings.

“Hello,” I mumble into the phone, not bothering to check who it is.

“Hey,reina.” The sound of Garrett’s voice immediately causes a warm feeling to spread in my chest.

“Hey.” I roll over onto my back, smiling at the fact that he’s calling me.

“I need to tell you something, but I need you to let me get it all out first.” The tone of his voice has me sitting up straight.

“What happened? Is Nick okay? Pops?”

“Nick wanted to go to the field after school today. So I arranged for us to go. Finch met us there so we could teach him some techniques.” He lets out a heavy sigh. “Nick broke his arm.”

“What?” I screech, jumping from the bed.

I pace the room, my hands tangling in my hair.

“Calm down. He is perfectly fine. The doctors say it may take six to eight weeks to fully heal, but he’s okay.”

“Don’t try to soothe me, Stone. What the hell were you thinking? Never mind. I’m coming home.” I start packing my stuff while still holding the phone.

“There’s no need to come home early. We have this. I just wanted to let you know, so you weren’t surprised.”

“Stop. I can’t even talk to you right now. You really think I would stay here knowing my baby is hurt? Fuck you, Stone. I’m coming home.” I hang up the phone, tossing it on the bed.

I let it ring several times before turning it off. Within an hour, I’m at the airport on standby for the next flight to Seattle.

Hours later, I’m pulling into my driveway, anxious to see Nick. I slam the car into park and run into the house. I see Pops, Dad, and Garrett sitting in the family room.

“Welcome home, sweetheart, how was your trip?” Pops asks.

“Not now!” I snap, running up the stairs to my boy. I stop right outside of his bedroom, laying my head on the door and try to compose myself. I open the door and walk in.

My boy.

I may not have given birth to him, but he’s mine. He looks so small lying on his bed. My eyes catch on the cast.

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