Chapter 24

I was dead asleep when a shift in the air lulled me from my dream. The mattress dipped, and for a moment, cool air found its way under the covers before a soft hand pressed against my chest. I felt a small body tuck against my side moments later, and a head rested on top of my arm at my shoulder. Candy and honeysuckle swirled in the air, and I smiled, tucking my head into Izzy’s dark, silky hair, letting her scent wrap around me as I shifted to pull her close.

“What are you doing here?” I mumbled, my voice still like gravel, and my brow furrowed. “How did you get in?”

“I snuck in with the key your dad keeps in that fake rock. I just needed you.” She sighed, snuggling closer.

“Everything okay?” My response was slow, my brain still trying to wake up.

“Yeah. I think I may just be too wound up about the game. I wish I was flying up there with the rest of you.”

“You don’t want to be with your team?”

“It’s not the same. Not since everything came out.”

A stab of regret struck me that I couldn’t have protected her from the fallout longer. “You still have Casey and Dinah, though. And it’s just for the way up there, remember? You and Jet are staying and flying back with us.”

“I know. I’m just excited to get to that part.” Again, I heard the underlying sadness in her voice, but it was team rules. You rode up together. If your family signed off for you to leave with them after, that was fine, but you traveled to the game as a team.

While Izzy and Jet would be in charter buses, our families were all flying up for the state championship game in Arlington, and my parents were footing the bill for everyone’s tickets and hotel rooms, deciding they wanted to treat everyone and make a weekend out of it. Stef, Helen, and Bridgette had been reluctant to accept the offer at first, but Mom could be very convincing. Jet playing in tonight’s game was a big deal.

Not only had we made it to state, but it was his last shot for a scholarship, and we were all feeling it. I could just imagine Annie’s internal monologue trying to wait it out, like a spring coiled with nowhere to let go.

I wasn’t as worried. I wanted a scholarship for my friend, especially since it seemed so important to him now, but it was Jet. He had other incredible skills and knowledge to fall back on if it fell through.

I still crossed my fingers, praying to the football gods every time I thought about it, though.

After a while, I felt Izzy relax, her breathing becoming deep and rhythmic as she fell asleep in my arms. I just held her close, drinking in the feel of her in my bed. I would never get over how perfectly she fit against me. How well we fit. Even after our last fight a few days ago. She could argue all she wanted, but I couldn’t help but worry, even if she kept swearing she was okay. I didn’t see how she could be, not with everything that had been thrown her way since choosing me. Her life had turned to chaos, drama coming in all directions. It sometimes felt like I was at the root of it, and I hated what all it was putting her through. All I knew was, I was absolutely gone for this girl.

She was mine to protect.

I was just drifting off myself, my thoughts in and out of focus, when a small tap against my stomach edged me back awake. Not opening my eyes, it took me a minute to realize Izzy hadn’t moved.

I felt it again and jolted awake. Did I just…? Was that?

I pressed my hand against Izzy’s small bump, waiting, like I was on bated breath.

Nothing. I slid my hand over, pressing my fingertips gently into the curve of her stomach. Come on…Please. Just about to give up, my eyes flew wide when I felt it again, and a rush of emotion went through me. I just felt her…

I was in awe. Excitement pounded through me, and a burning prickle hit the back of my eyes. I just felt our baby…

Overcome, I slipped my arm out from under Izzy’s neck and slid down under my covers to straddle her legs, pressing both of my hands to her bump. “Come on, sweet girl. Daddy wants to feel you again.”

A few silent beats passed, and then a rapid succession of nudges pressed into one of my hands. I swallowed, my throat feeling tight, so much relief cascading over me. Because I felt her. This was real. She was real. And I now knew what Izzy felt. This little life was ours. A person we’d created.

“I’m so glad I got to feel you. You just made your daddy’s day,” I whispered just above my hands. “I wonder if this is how you feel for your mom. Can you even hear me yet?”

“Soon. Anytime now if what I read is correct,” Izzy’s soft voice replied.

I looked up, finding her smiling down at me with watery eyes, and her hands came to rest over mine. “You felt her?”

There was a double meaning to that question. One we both knew. “Yes,” I mouthed as I nodded. I felt her. And just like her mother, I would protect her, too.

“We need a name.” I looked back down at Izzy’s stomach, my thumbs brushing gently over the mound that held our daughter, and Izzy laughed. “What?”

“Nothing. I’m just loving how eager you are now. And that you feel her. That I’m not in it alone anymore.”

I crawled up over her, gazing into those emerald eyes that held my heart. “You are both mine.” Izzy grabbed my neck and kissed me, pulling me in so we were wrapped up in each other.

“How about Carry?” I asked when we broke apart, settling by her side again. My hand strayed to her stomach, the mound fitting almost perfectly in my large palm.

Izzy snorted. “Yeah, future prom disaster in the making right there. No.”

I grinned, sensing our next new game. “Carissa.”

Izzy made a face. “Too much like Larissa.”

“Caroline.”

She glanced up at me. “What’s with you and C names?”

I shrugged. “You’re right. I should probably start with A’s. Ariana.”

Izzy rolled her eyes even as she grinned. “No.”

“Apple. Isn’t that some celebrity kid’s name? We could go with Apple.”

“Ugh. No.” She rolled away, sitting up at the edge of my bed, and my hand slid to her hip, her bump out of reach. “I’ve gotta go. Last thing I want is to get caught.”

I pouted but let her go. “Amy!” I called out just as she left my room, and I heard her laugh down the hall.

Me: Daisy

Izzy: So, we’re on to D names now?

Me: I know my alphabet. Now, Daisy.

Izzy: Not sure if I like flower names.

I sent her a thinking emoji back, a grin practically breaking my face, and I sat back as Annie leaned over my shoulder from her seat behind me.

“Snack bar?”

I nodded. The game was well into the first quarter, but the other team had called a timeout. We hurried down the steps and followed the ramp into the hall of the stadium, finding the line surprisingly short.

Annie ordered nachos while I ordered a BBQ burger and some chips. She was licking some cheese off her fingers when I got mine, and I’d just popped a chip in my mouth when we heard a loud roar from the stadium. Sharing a wide-eyed look, we sprinted back out, running up to stand and watch at the railing as Noah dodged two enormous guys and leapt up with a perfect catch before landing past the goal line.

I threw my hands in the air, wondering what we’d missed that had everyone riled up before. Annie turned to a lady sitting behind us. “What happened at the start of the play?”

“Oh, number sixteen rolled over the back of a linebacker trying to tackle him and came out of it with the perfect long pass down the field.”

Annie whipped around, her hand smacking into my arm as her eyes lit up. “Sixteen! That’s Jet!”

I resisted the urge to rub at my arm–the girl could seriously hit–and wrapped my arm around her neck with a hug as I searched for my friend on the field.

Jet’s whole body was alive down at that field tonight. He was so happy to be back in the game. His eyes caught Annie’s, and he pressed two fingers to the mouth of his helmet before holding them out to her as he ran to meet his team in the huddle.

Annie pressed two fingers to her mouth, every bit of her smiling.

I nudged her. “Let’s go find our seats.”

Heading up the steps, Annie immediately started gushing with Helen and Stef about Jet’s last play while I pulled out my phone.

Me: Delilah

I looked over the crowd to where the dance team was seated in the section by the band and watched as Izzy looked down, seeing my text before sending me a playfully exasperated look.

Izzy: I’ve now got Plain White T’s ‘Hey There, Delilah’ playing in my head.

Me: Sounds like a winner then.

Her head shook, laughing.

Izzy: Not quite. Maybe…

Score!

Me: Okay, how about Daphne?

Izzy: No.

Me: Darla

Izzy: Are you high?

I belted out a laugh, and several people around us looked at me like I was crazy. Movement down below caught my attention with the start of the next play, and I watched as the center snapped the ball to Jet from the twenty-yard line. He stepped back, dodging a player that slipped through, and sent the ball flying in a perfect spiral down the length of the field. Liam hauled ass, pushing another player out of the way just in time to catch the ball, and he ran the last ten yards for the touchdown. Again, the crowd roared.

I looked over at Izzy, watching her jump up to cheer with the rest of the dance team, a sea of black and red pom poms shimmying in the air. Casey and Dinah bumped shoulders with her, the three of them talking and laughing, and I was suddenly never more glad that I’d always kept those two off limits.

Dad nudged me to point out something in the game, pulling my attention back, and sometime during the last quarter, Annie switched rows with my sisters. “Isn’t he amazing?” she asked, her eyes tracking Jet on the field.

“He’s definitely on his game tonight,” I agreed.

“He has to get a scholarship after this. Oh!” Her nails dug in my arm as Kyle made a desperate wild pass to Jet as he was tackled, and Jet took off in a run to dodge as more of the opposing team swooped in. “Oh, my God! Go! Go! Go!” Annie screamed as he bolted down the field, most of his teammates blocked. Everyone stood, screaming, cheering, our entire side of the stadium losing it as Jet raced the entire way down the field, spinning away from a tackle in the last five yards to make the touchdown.

Chaos. Ensued.

The stands erupted.

Annie leapt up, and I caught her against my side, the two of us yelling and jumping with the crowd.

Jet was on fire, and the close game we’d had the whole night finally had a clear lead.

I was on pins and needles, pacing the hall as we waited for Jet and Izzy to come back out. We’d won the game, that last play sealing the deal, and even if Jet didn’t walk out of here with a scholarship offer tonight, I was ready to jump his bones.

“Annie, enough. Be still,” Mom fussed, but I literally couldn’t. Tucker smirked from where he was talking to the dads, and I shot him a look. Mom was chatting with Helen while Jenna had taken all the younger siblings for a last look at the souvenirs and concessions. I was just going nuts.

Izzy came out first, and it was basically a relief to my sanity, her presence an anchor I could use until Jet came out and I knew if there was news.

I felt rather than saw when he was finally coming out from the locker rooms. How I didn’t know. It was just like a sixth sense, and I ran through the gathered crowd to leap in his arms. He spun me around, hugging me tight before setting me back down.

“Hey, sweetheart.” And I knew just from the look on his face that he’d gotten one.

His mom and dad swarmed in before I could ask, wrapping him in their own hugs and congratulations.

“Hey, it’s nice to see y’all again. I’m Coach Donahue from Ridgeside U. We met at the beginning of the season.” A tall man with broad shoulders and a bald head stuck out his hand, coming up from behind Jet, and Stefano and Helen took turns shaking hands and saying hello. I just wrapped myself around Jet’s arm, never wanting to let go.

“This kid’s a hell of a player,” the coach continued. “I would’ve offered him a spot months ago if I hadn’t already filled my quarterback position, but as luck would have it, my guy from El Paso just fell through, and when I heard Jet here was going to be playing in the state championship, I knew I had to get out here to see him again. He’s phenomenal. Stepped up his game even from the last time I saw him. I’d love to talk scholarships with y’all when you get back home.”

“Absolutely.” Stef was beaming, his hand going proudly to Jet’s shoulder. “We look forward to hearing from you.”

“Yes, thank you so much.” Helen stepped up behind Stef, her hands wrapping around his arm like mine had Jet’s.

I listened, excitement blaring through me that was just waiting to get out as they wrapped up conversation and details, and as soon as the coach walked off and his parents had their turn, I pulled Jet in for a kiss.

“Don’t hog him, sis,” Izzy teased when I finally pulled back, and Jet let go of me to give her a hug while Tucker clapped him on the back of the shoulder.

“This is awesome, man. Congrats.”

“Thanks.”

“Are y’all ready to head back to the hotel?” Chuck asked as Jenna came back with the kids. Everyone looked jazzed but tired, especially the younger ones.

“Actually, Mateo wanted to know if we wanted to go grab a burger or something before heading back. His family is staying at the same hotel.” Jet looked around at us then the parents.

They shared a look before Stef nodded. “That’s fine, but we’ll want y’all back before it’s too late. No more than an hour, hour and a half.”

“Deal,” I agreed, bouncing slightly on my toes.

“So, where’s Mateo at?” Tucker asked once our families had gone.

“Emma actually wants to meet up, too.” Izzy looked between us. “I saw her when I went to the restroom earlier. Her family’s at the hotel next to ours.”

“Cool. You call her, and I’ll call Mateo.”

Izzy reached in her bag for her phone, and she froze. “Crap.”

“What?” Tucker frowned, and she looked up, an apology in her gaze.

“I think I left my pom poms in the stands. I need to go back for them before they lock up. Can you call Ems instead, sis?”

“Yeah, sure,” I replied, taking her bag when she held it out. “Hurry back!” I called over my shoulder.