29. We’re Not In Kansas Anymore

Iwalked out of the doctor"s office, a grin stretching across my face. Finally, after weeks of resting, rehab, and endless tests, I"d been cleared to practice. Real practice, not just stretching and running. The playoffs were in a few weeks, and I was more than ready to get back on the field.

We were going to the fucking bowl and winning that ring.

I couldn"t wait to share the good news with Willa. She"d been my rock through this whole ordeal, and I knew she"d be just as thrilled for me. Maybe taking her to a couple of new cities would scratch that wanderlust bug just a little bit until the off-season. Then I"d take her anywhere in the world she wanted to go.

It wasn"t enough, I knew it. But it could be a start to figuring out how to keep her in my life.

I pulled out my phone to call her, and I noticed a string of missed messages from Willa. My heart dropped as I read through them, her words jumbled and frantic.

Liam and George are back.

They cut their trip short.

They"ll be taking back the shop.

I don"t know what to do.

I need you.

Shit. Shitty shit shitstorm. This wasn"t supposed to happen yet. We were supposed to have more time, more time to figure out our future, to find a way to make this work. More time to be together.

I called her back immediately, my mind racing. "Willa? Baby?—"

Her voice was strained, on the verge of tears. "They just showed up, Hayes. Out of nowhere. And I"m so happy to see them. I missed them so much, and I just had a sumo wrestling fight with Xander, and my mom has asked for a divorce, and I thought... I thought we had more time."

"I know, I know." I didn"t know. Sumo wrestling with Xan? A divorce? Her world imploded while I was getting my brain scanned. "Listen, don"t panic, okay? I"m on my way. We"ll figure this out. Together."

But even as I said the words, I felt a sinking feeling in my gut. What were we going to do? Willa couldn"t stay in Denver. Not even my ties, my love, could bind her. I wouldn't even try to do that to her.

We needed help.

An idea began to form, a crazy idea that a few months ago wouldn"t have even occurred to me. Because I did not know how to make this work all on my own. "Sweetheart, we need help, okay? I"m going to make some calls, get our families together. We need to talk this out, all of us."

"We"re just going to... lay it all out there? Tell them everything?" she asked softly. "They"re going to think I"m crazy and selfish."

They might. "But they love you, almost as much as I do, and I"ll make them understand this isn"t just a compromise you have to make for me, and they"ll get on board. Trust me."

"Okay." She sighed. "I"m... going to ask Xander to come. We understand each other better now. I may also make you two put on some sumo wrestling suits at some point."

"I definitely don"t understand, but if you want him there, then I want him there too." I really fucking hoped I didn"t regret that later.

I spent the next few minutes on the phone, trying to coordinate, but the moment Jules was in the loop, it all came together. Everyone, including Willa"s dad, brother, and her uncles were all meeting at the coffee shop at seven.

By the time evening rolled around, everyone gathered in the shop, faces etched with concern and curiosity.

"Thank you all for coming," I said, my voice steady despite the nerves churning in my stomach. "Willa and I need your help."

I laid it all out—our love, our fears, the impossible choice we faced. Willa"s need for adventure, my ties to Denver. The room was silent, everyone processing the weight of our dilemma.

"Why doesn"t Willa just stay in Denver?" Mr. Rosemount suggested, his brow furrowed. "And you two can travel wherever you want in the off-season, right?"

I shook my head, my jaw tight. "No. I won"t ask Willa to compromise her dreams, her needs. That"s not fair to her."

"Then what about you, Hayes?" my dad asked, his eyes soft with understanding. "Are you willing to give up football, your career, for love?"

A roll of murmurs whipped through the room. No one expected my dad to suggest that. But it was bullshit that they would think I wouldn"t.

I looked at Willa, at the tears shining in her eyes, the love and fear warring on her face. I took her hand, my decision crystallizing with perfect clarity.

"Yes," I said simply. "I would. I love football, but I love Willa more. I"d give it all up in a heartbeat if it meant we could be together."

Willa"s breath hitched, her fingers tightening around mine. "Nope. Absolutely not, Hayes, no. I can"t and won"t ask you to do that. You"ve worked your whole life to achieve this goal, and there is no way I"d ask you to give it up. There has to be another way."

The room erupted into a flurry of voices, everyone offering opinions, solutions. But through the chaos, one voice rang out, clear and calm.

"What if," Liam said, his eyes twinkling with a hint of mischief, "George and I just gave you the shop, Willa?"

George took Liam"s hand and kissed it. "If Willa and Hayes aren"t willing to compromise on their dreams, I can"t let you either. You love this shop."

"I know. But spending the last couple of months with you meant more to me than anything else ever has. I love the shop because I love you." Liam motioned his hand around the room. "And it"s not like it would be going anywhere. Obviously Willa is better at running it than I ever was."

George looked at the two of us and winked. "Yes, she is. I saw the bank account. She"s actually gotten the place profitable."

Liam gave George a playful smack, but George smiled and looked back at us. "What do you say, sweet wild child? Can we make this a wedding present?"

The room exploded again. Lots of "whoa-whoa-whoas" and "when did this happens" and one "yes, my first sister-in-law." We waited until they calmed down. Willa explained, "No one is getting married. Yet. So, thank you Uncle George, but no. While I appreciate the offer more than you know, and I"ve had fun basically turning your shop into a cat café, I was never really interested in the coffee shop business. I hope that doesn"t hurt your feelings."

"Of course not. We just want to see you happy," Liam said.

Back to square one.

Chris looked over at Trixie, gave her a quick kiss and wrapped his arm around her before focusing his attention back on me and Willa. "Look, bro. Someone is going to have to make a sacrifice here. You guys choose stability, and career now, set yourselves up for the future, and then you can go flitting around the globe all you want in a few years. It's being handed to you on a silver platter. You play football, Willa runs the coffee shop, you can even travel in the off season like the rest of us do. It won't kill you to do the responsible thing for a little while."

It won't kill you.

It won't fucking kill you?

"Won't it?" They didn't fucking understand and the tightness building in my chest exploded. "Do you not see how dead I already was? I was a god damned robot. Family, football, school. That was it, that was my entire life, and I'm telling you right the fuck now, that's not living."

Willa stared up at me, shocked, but also with an intrinsic understanding in her eyes.

"So when you want Willa to sacrifice who she is, for me, which is exactly what the hell you're asking, you're taking, depriving us all of the joy, the color, the excitement, the part of life that makes it actually worth living, not just existing."

Everyone should fucking know it.

And if they didn't understand? They could all go shove their responsibilities up their asses.

Chris stood up so fast that the screech of his chair just about broke the sound barrier. He marched up to me and clenched my fists. I was going to have to punch my older brother. But if kicking his ass was the only way to make him understand, that's what I'd have to do.

Even as he charged toward me, I was going to make him understand. "I'm not going back to an existence without the technicolor that Willa brought to my black and white life. I'm not ever going back to Kansas, when Willa is my Oz. Even if the rest of the world thinks that's the responsible thing to do. She's my yellow brick road, and I'm fucking lost without her."

But instead of wanting a fight, Chris grabbed me into a hard bear hug. "Fuck, man. I'm sorry. Sorry I didn't see any of that."

He glanced over at Willa and clapped her on the arm. "Sorry for being a judgy ass."

"Don't worry," Trixie called. "I'll punish him for that later."

Chris let go of me and faced the rest of our families, then gave one big clap. "Put your heads together people. We've got a problem to solve."

As he returned to his table with Trixie, I caught my dad's eye. He gave me a slow nod and that atta-boy shake of his fist. I got the feeling he'd been waiting for me to show up to life like this.

Declan and Kelsey were sitting at one of the tables with Everett on one side and Penelope on the other. Kelsey sat up in her chair and tilted her head just like Seven did when he thought he smelled catnip. "Oh. I think I have an idea."

She waved Penelope over, and Jules. Everett joined them too, and the five of them put their heads together, whispering and gesturing. I wished they"d do this brainstorming out loud. Willa leaned over and whispered to me. "This must be one hella idea. I can"t even imagine what Kelsey thinks would work. It"s not like I can go on The Choicest Voice, win it, and become an international pop star. I can barely carry a tune."

Kelsey spoke up, her voice gentle but excited. "Willa, I think I"ve got it. See what you think."

Declan nodded, and I took Willa"s. hands, feeling an overwhelm of anticipation.

"I"m releasing a new album in the spring. Keep that quiet, it"s not common knowledge yet and you know how the Besties like it when I drop hints. Anyway, I"ll be doing an international stadium tour to promote it."

Willa squeezed my hand. Did she already see where Kelsey was going with this? Because I didn"t. Did Kelsey want to take Willa with her on tour? Doing what?

"I need someone on my team, someone I trust, to scout the locations we"re going to for hotels, to make sure they"re appropriate for me and the whole-ass entourage, especially for security measures. Would you be interested in doing that for me?"

Willa"s eyes widened, surprise and uncertainty flickering across her face. "I... I don"t know, Kelsey. That"s an incredible offer, but am I really qualified for something like that? I don"t know anything about the music industry."

"You"d get to travel, see the world, talk to and charm new people, and I"m sure there will be crazy weird problems to solve." It was perfect except for the part where I didn"t get to go with her. "It"s everything you"re good at, babe."

"But I"d be away from you the whole time. It"s no different than if I just got another teaching job abroad. We need a way for us to be together. Maybe I should just—" She shrugged, hesitant, torn.

Everett stood up and pointed at the two of us. "Okay, you two, listen up. There will never be a perfect solution. There is no such thing as perfect. Relationships are all about compromise, and you two are the worst at compromising I"ve ever seen. You"ll compromise to make the other person happy, but not yourselves? What the hell?"

He paced the room, his voice rising with each word. "You"re already defying expectations by refusing to allow the other to give up their dreams for you. Everyone would expect Willa to give up her life to be with Hayes because it"s always the women who follow the players in football. They give up everything for us. But you two have already said that"s not what you"re going to do."

Everett marched right up to me and Willa, his eyes blazing. "I"ve been trying to tell all of you lovesick fools that you need to be true to yourselves. Stop trying to fulfill everyone else"s expectations of what they think you should be or how your relationship should look. All of you need to get your heads out of your asses and go after what you actually want the most."

With a final huff and a glance at the table with Declan, Kelsey, and Penelope, Everett stomped out of the room, leaving a stunned silence in his wake. Pen, eyes wide, hurried after him, murmuring something about calming him down. Declan and Kelsey shared a meaningful look. I didn"t know what was going on there. Everett had never yelled at any of us like that in his life.

Willa looked up at me. "Is my head up my ass?"

I tipped my head to the side and glanced at her fine ass, then shrugged. I turned around and showed her my tight end, giving it a little wiggle. "Is mine?"

Xander answered for us both. "Yes."

Willa gave him a very polite middle finger. "But we"d never get to see each other if I"m traveling all the time. That"s not the point of all of this. How does that work?"

"Duh," Xander threw scraps of his paper cup that had been torn to shreds at us. "Hayes travels almost every week too. And even if the Mustangs do go to the bowl, the off-season is only like a month away. So you take your trips when he does. It"s not like Miss Superstar over there needs you to scout the entire world every week." Xander looked at Kelsey and blushed. "Sorry, Ms. Best, I didn"t mean to speak for you. I"m kind of a dick sometimes."

When had he figured that out?

Kelsey laughed and waved him off. "You"re not wrong. I don"t even start the tour until April. Declan and I were looking forward to a little downtime too. I think you"d probably be gone a couple of times a month, depending on how far in advance of the tour you are and how the prospects for the hotels seem. Pen has all those details. You"d work closely with her."

Declan pushed Kelsey"s hair out of her eyes and looked at her like I imagined I looked at Willa. "The two of us are on crazy travel schedules too. But we make it work. Kels comes to games when she can, I go to concerts when I can. We have a lot of phone sex."

Jules held her hands out like blocking the sight of them would help her not hear that tidbit. "Ugh. Can you not be all gross and talk about your sex lives in front of me? I"m a minor."

Declan gave her his patented grumpy look. "A minor pain in my ass."

God, could this work? It wasn"t perfect, but was it close enough? "You"d still be... tied to Denver. Can you live with that? I"ll see if I can get traded if the answer is no."

Willa started to protest my offer, but Xander stood up and walked over to us. "I know the reason you don"t want to be stuck in Denver is because of me. And Mom. But when I get drafted next year, it"ll probably be somewhere else in the country. I"m leaving. You can stay."

She blinked a few times and then punched her brother in the arm. Hard. "Great, Xan. You"re going to leave just when I don"t want you to? You are a dick sometimes."

"I know." Xan gave her a cocky grin. "I have been for a while. But I have one redeeming quality, I promise."

I wasn't so sure about that.

Xan gave me the bro-code chin jerk of approval. "What your jackass boyfriend here figured out, about how you're the joy in the world? I knew that. I've seen you be that our whole lives. And anyone who can't understand that, doesn't deserve you. So stay. Nobody says you have to even talk to Mom again if you don"t want to. I"ll run interference for you. It's my turn."

Willa pressed her lips together, but they were trembling. "It is your turn. For like the next twenty years."

Wait. Did that mean...?

Willa looked up at me and the tears she"d been blinking back pooled on the edges of her lashes. But they weren"t sad tears. "No expectations. Just exploring something new together," shesaid softly, a slow smile spreading across her face.

I grabbed her up in my arms and spun her around. "Hell yeah, baby. We"d better up the minutes on our international calling plan. Because I am so looking forward to phone sex with you."