Page 87 of Red Zone Realizations
I nod. “You really need that here. It’s freezing.”
She smiles brightly. “You get used to it.”
I’m not sure I will.
An hour later I’m face to face with Coach Higgins. He’s a taller man in his late fifties with a comically large mustache. “I think Houston is crazy for letting you go, but we are thrilled to have you here.”
“Thanks, Coach.”
“Of course, we will eventually have to get down to the nitty gritty, but let me start by telling you what we see in store for you in Chicago.” He leans his forearms on his desk. He has a friendly smile and a welcoming demeanor. “You put up great numbers this year. Of course we love that. You maybe let things get to your head once or twice, but what I like to see in a player is passion. Especially passion that can be molded and used. We have Tanner, a great receiving tight end, but I need a blocker. That’s where you come in.”
“That all sounds great, sir.” There’s a smile on my face, but my stomach is in knots. My skin feels too tight. It feels so wrong here. We have plans to see houses tomorrow with an agent recommended by the team, but I just want to get back on a plane and be in Houston as soon as possible.
The second that Coach says he’ll reach out to my manager Arie and be in contact with me later, I shake his hand and speed walk to my car.
I need to get to Arie first. He knew I would be here today, so I’m not surprised when he answers in one ring. I don’t give him one second to speak.
“I can’t do it.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I don’t want to go to Chicago. Find me a way out of it.”
“What if the way out is not playing?”
“There’s got to be something else. I’m open to anything. Tell the Hurricanes that they weren’t willing to give me the price I wanted. Something!”
“Geez, Noah, okay, I’ll see what I can do.”
We hang up. I’m floating, untethered to the earth.
I might be ruining my career, but all I know is that Chicago is not my future.
Chapter Forty-Eight
AUDREY
The sky is overcast in the late afternoon when our plane lands back in Houston. Chicago was nice. We did all the touristy stuff including The Bean. We met our real estate agent and saw houses in a few popular areas. The agent, a woman named Sam, held back her laugh well enough when I was confused by the air vents being on the floor instead of the ceiling. Apparently, it has to do with the cold weather.
On the day Noah went to the training facility to meet the manager and coaches, I wandered around the city on my own. I found a cozy coffee shop to set up my laptop and work on a few things. I didn’t need to. Everyone knew I was out of the office, but with Noah busy and me alone in a new city, I was craving the comforting smell and ambient noises of a coffee shop. It was easier to stick to a routine than it would have been to truly explore the city and think about what my life would look like here.
A quick Google search for “yoga studios near me” returned at least ten results in various parts of the city. One particularlynice looking one wasn’t too far from the last house we’d seen with Sam.See?Everything you need is here.
Except Nicole.
And Chrissy.
True, this coffee shop is no Common Bond. But I’ve done harder things than uproot my life before—like leaving Hunter—and I survived. So this will be easy-peasy.
Noah was quiet on the flight home. Normally he talks about anything that crosses his mind. I think he just has a lot to think about. I’m sure meeting the team made everything real. Maybe it helped him get excited? Maybe they told him what an asset he would be to the team, or the kind of offense they run… but I don’t know because we didn’t really talk about it. I feel like he isn’t excited about it yet. Like he was just going through the motions, and I didn’t want to cause him to worry any more than he already might be.
But as we walk into Noah’s house, I’m struck with the realization that somewhere between the butterfly exhibit and this moment, it started smelling like home, and I don’t like the thought of losing that feeling.
Chapter Forty-Nine
NOAH
I’m supposed to be working out at Iron Man gym, a small place that most of the Hurricanes prefer to use in the off-season, but I’m having trouble concentrating. I haven’t heard from Arie yet. Every time my phone rings I dive for it. I’m shocked Audrey hasn’t accused me of cheating yet. That’s how cagey I’ve been about my phone. I’ve been sidestepping questions about Chicago, saying nothing is concrete yet. Whichis true.
