Page 84 of Mad Rivals
As it turns out, Kennedy is already home when I get there, and I’ve never really done this thing before where the woman is home waiting for me to arrive.
She greets me with a kiss, and it’s both strange and wonderful. It feels like something I could get used to. It feels likehomeeven here in this city that’s new and strange to me.
“I thought about making dinner, but I wasn’t sure when you’d be home,” she says, and I hold her close a few extra beats.
“Let’s just order in,” I murmur.
“Before or after?” she asks.
I pull back a little and tilt my head, my brows drawn together. “Before or after what?”
“The sex.”
I laugh. “After. Definitely after.”
We make good on that pact, and when we’re finally eating an hour later, I ask her how her day was.
“It went really well, actually. Oliver had several projects he needed to hand off, and I’m really excited about one of them.”
“Want to talk about it?”
She twists her lips. “It’s sort of on the down low for now, so I really shouldn’t.”
Oh. “Right.”
San Diego was supposed to be our safe space.
We’re competitors in different markets that still share overlap, so Iguess I get it.
Still, though. It feels like one more thing that has the ability to divide us when we’re just coming together.
Our time together feels fleeting as I make my way to OTAs on Wednesday morning.
The team meets first in a lecture room, where the room buzzes with excitement as teammates new and old greet each other. I’m sitting between Clay and Spencer when our coaching staff walks out onto the stage to greet us.
The head coach introduces players new to the team, including myself, and then we break up into smaller groups by position. Coach Clark, the wide receivers coach, goes over a few different plays with us, and then we head out to the field to practice.
The second I step foot onto the grass again, it feels like home. It’s not Chicago. It’s not where I’ve played and practiced and lived for my entire career.
But it’s a field, and field means home.
I feel like I’m living two lives, like my personality is split in two. There’s the businessman my father wants me to be, the one I guess I’m even sort of training to be once my football career is over. And then there’s this…the athlete who always feels at peace on the field.
I don’t know which side of me is going to win in the end, but as I make a catch, pull the ball in tight, and race toward the end zone, today it feels like this is where I’m meant to be.
CHAPTER 35: Kennedy Van Buren
Felt Like Forever
The last two weeks have been a total whirlwind as I commute between Chicago and California. The schedule is already pressing on me, and I’m not sure I reallyneedto be working in the Chicago office as much as LA needs me.
And that’s what I tell my dad on a Friday morning when I’m back from another blissful few days with Madden.
“I could fly home when I’m needed for SCS and otherwise work out of the Aliso Viejo office,” I say. “But after only two weeks, I already know I can’t do this long-term. Four hours on a plane plus a time change is killing me.”
My father clears his throat as he stares at me. “You look exhausted.”
“Thanks,” I mutter, but it’s true. My flight got in late, and by the time I waited for my luggage and drove home, it was well after midnight. Now I’m back at the office bright and early at eight, but the jet lag is real and definitely pulling me down.
