Page 72 of Just a Football Star

“You coming to the camp championship tonight, Tate?” One of the kids asks on his way out.

“I didn’t know there was one.”

“It’s Friday night, baby!” A compact, swift guy says. “We’re going up against another high school in town.”

“Ah, I get it now.” It doesn’t take long for me to decide. “Sure, I’ll be here.”

I need to watch this game, because when I get back to Colorado, I’m going to finally listen to Matt Willis and apply for that assistant coaching job.

I will spend the rest of my life being the decent man I know I can be. I’d like to somehow show Oakley I will be that man. I’m not Brandt. And I’m not defined by my past.

Also? I need to do one more thing. I have to change my morning flight’s destination from Colorado to Texas.

Because I’m going to Texas in the morning. I know that now. And nothing is going to stop me from getting there.

Chapter 34

Alec

I stand in front of the cemetery’s burial registry, the names of the buried on the huge stone tablet swimming in my line of vision. The wooden awning overhead does little to protect me from the heat of the Texas summer.

I’ve been standing here for several minutes, and anyone who might see me would probably think I’m just having a hard time finding the grave I’m here to visit.

But I know where Callie’s grave is. That’s not the problem, not the reason for my stalling.

This birthday party is significant because it’s where I say goodbye to Callie. And it’s harder than I thought it would be.

My phone rings and when I see it’s Milo, I answer it.

“How’s Austin?” he asks, chewing something crunchy.

“Mom would cringe to know you talk with your mouth full, Milo.”

There’s a pause and then I hear an audible swallow. “I didn’t expect you to answer on the first ring. I thought I had time to finish,” he insists.

I chuckle, enjoying this distraction from the heaviness of this situation. “Is summer term over yet?”

He tells me about an over-the-top professor he has and about a paper he needs to write.

“I gotta go,” I tell him. “I’m at the cemetery right now.”

“You’re at the party? Why didn’t you say so?”

“I’m not technically at the party yet. Haven’t walked over there.”

I can see her friends and family there at the gravesite already, across the grass, several sections over. There are helium balloons and potted flowers and those little metallic windmills all around the headstone. I hear her dad’s booming bass laugh, and I recognize one of her college roommates.

“Well, get over there, Alec. Git ‘er done!”

I end the call, but my feet are fused to the cement of the alcove. It’s like I just trudged through the mud and it’s now drying on me, heavy, caked on. Impossible to move.

I just want to spend a moment with her privately, before I go say hi to everyone. If I can even manage going to say hi.

“Callie,” I whisper. I stare at her name on the board. It’s small but completely clear. “It’s been three years,” I tell her. “I thought even a year ago I’d never stop feeling lost. I was injured and alone. But that very injury was what brought Oakley to me.” I pause, fighting a war in my mind.

“I promised you, before your accident, that I would love you forever. That you were the one for me. I know I could have been happy with you.”

I don’t feel anything. My gut is empty. It’s a cavernous hole…pretty much how I felt from Callie’s death up until Oakley came into my life.

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