Page 21 of Fourth Down Forever
Right then, Coach comes over to our table. "Are you ready for Saturday's game, men?"
"Yes, sir," we all say in unison.
"Thanks for coming out again for another team dinner. I will see each of you tomorrow for practice. Don't be late." He then turns to me with a skeptical eye. "Where is your wife? I was hoping to say goodnight to her."
"She had to leave, but I was just about to go join her."
"Will she be at the game on Saturday?"
"Yes sir. She will be," I say, crossing my fingers. Hopefully, Janae will be able to convince her if I'm not. He just nods and moves on to the next table of players, allowing me to make my escape.
Before I leave the dinner room, I make sure to stop over at the table with the two women. "Ryan, Justin." They both look up at me, waiting for me to tell them something. Pointing at the twowomen, I say, "You should be ashamed of your dates. They were rude and said some hateful things to my wife. I hope you are not planning on keeping them around because I won't forget this."
After I let them know how I felt, I run out to my car. My heart is racing as I drive as fast as I can back to my apartment, swerving between cars, hoping that I get there before Sam leaves.
The moment I enter the parking lot, I slam it into park and run up to my floor. Throwing the front door open, I can tell right way I’m too late, she isn't there. She left.
My apartment went from cold to warm in the week that she was there and back to cold again. Sam has a way about her that makes everything feel amazing and now that she's not here, it just feels empty.
I enter my bedroom hoping that the dread I feel in my gut is wrong and that Sam's asleep in the bedroom, but I'm not so lucky—Sam is nowhere to be found. The closet door is propped open and I head over to it. When I fully open it, I see that her suitcase is gone along with all of her clothes.
At that moment, a hole in my heart opens up and threatens to swallow me whole. My knees buckle under me, and I collapse onto my bed, wishing that she were here in my arms at that very moment. That's when I realize that I love Sam, and that I've loved her since the first time we got together. I've just been a coward this whole time and was willing to settle for tidbits of her. Now I see there is no way that I can do that. I could never settle just for tidbits. No, I need to have all of her.
And I know exactly what I need to do.
This time I don't wait or push my feelings aside. No, I'm going to win her back even if that means I have to get down on my knees and beg for her mercy.
Chapter seventeen
Samantha
A knock on the door to my apartment wakes me up from the dead of sleep. The lights in my apartment are still on—I must've cried myself to sleep, dressed in the same outfit from the dinner. Glancing at my phone, I see that I have multiple missed calls and texts from Janae, Kade, and Shane. I don't have the strength to deal with it, so I place the phone back down on the nightstand.
Another knock on the door has me moving to the front door, but I pause for a moment to check my appearance in the hallway—my eyes are red and swollen from the tears. I try to wipe them away, but to no avail. Shrugging my shoulders, I don't worry too much about it because it's probably just Janae coming to check on me.
"I'm coming," I yell to whoever is on the other side of the door. Knowing I won't be able to make myself any more presentable, I go to open the front door and my stomach drops when I see who is standing on the other side.
"Hey, wife," Kade greets me. "We have lots to talk about," he says as he moves past me and into my apartment.
"Kade, what are you doing here?" I ask.
"I'm here to convince my wife to come back home," he says.
"This is my home," I sigh.
"Okay," he says.
"Okay?"
"Yeah, if this is your home, then it's my home too." Lifting up a bag, he continues, "Good thing I brought my bag."
"Kade, you don't have to do this. We can just get an annulment; I'll take the blame. I don't mind."
"Imind."
"Don't you want your life back?" I ask him as tears trail down my cheeks.
"The only life I want back is the one with you. Samantha, I'll do anything to be with you," he says, pleading with me.
