I could hear Paige going wild behind me, too, and I found her in the stands, giving her an air high five. Randy was there next to her, but he didn’t seem in a celebratory mood. Instead, his eyes were hard on me, disapproving.
He didn’t like that I was happy.
Nothing could get under my skin at that moment, though — least of all him. And I blew a kiss at Paige just as our boys lined up for the extra point kick. It was good, and then we were up by four.
But the Serpents still had thirty-two seconds to play with.
It was the longest thirty seconds of my life, watching them make conversion after conversion, lining up quickly after each play to get the next one in before time ran out. They were on a mission to win in the last stretch, and our defense was on a mission to stop them.
When they snapped the ball with four seconds left to play, their quarterback launched it long, eyes on their best receiver who was just ten yards from their end zone.
But he didn’t catch the ball.
Boone Parson, our cornerback, did.
Every player on our sidelines jumped in the air when the interception happened, the stands going crazy behind us as we all rushed the field. The rest of the defense hoisted Parson up onto their shoulders, and he held the ball over his head in victory.
I was all smiles and laughs and cheers and a racing heart as I watched. Jordan remained calm until he shook hands with the other coach, and then, for the first time all game, emotion showed on his face. He thrust his fist into the air, joining in on the celebrations as the entire town of Stratford roared their approval.
We’d won four games in a row, and our first one at home.
The Stratford Wild Cats were on fire.
It was a high unlike any I’d ever known, winning a home game — especially one that close. The energy was still buzzing through me when my job was done in the training room and the players had all gone off to celebrate their win. The other coaches were still laughing and reminiscing over their favorite moments of the game when I rounded into Jordan’s office.
“Okay, I have a serious question,” I said, plopping down into the chair across from his.
He glanced up, smiling when he saw me as he kicked back in his chair. “I’m sorry, but I’m not signing autographs at this point in time.”
I stuck my tongue out.
“What’s up?” he asked, still smiling. I had a feeling that smile would be glued to his face all weekend.
“How the hell do you go to sleep after a game like that?”
Jordan barked out a laugh.
“I’m serious,” I continued, shaking my head with my hands extended toward him. “I mean, my heart is still pounding.”
“It was amazing, wasn’t it?”
“Absolutely unreal,” I agreed. “Paige is staying with her dad tonight, and I just cannot imagine a scenario where I go home, make some tea, and go to bed. Like… I feel like I could run a freaking marathon right now.”
Jordan smiled as he took in my enthusiasm, but the longer he watched me, the more that smile fell. His eyes flicked back and forth between mine like he was warring with something, and he opened his mouth, shut it again, then finally spoke.
“Maybe you don’t go home then,” he suggested. “At least, not yet.”
“And where the hell should I go?” I asked on a laugh.
But when Jordan’s expression sobered, the storm swirling in his eyes, my own smile fell, too. There was a new energy in the room, one that had snuck in without me noticing, but now, it was all I could feel.
The air was hot.
The office was smaller somehow.
Jordan’s eyes pierced me like the blade of a knife, and without rhyme or reason, I leaned into the edge.
“Come with me,” he said — and it wasn’t tentatively or hesitantly, but confidently, like there was no other choice but for me to agree.
My heart that had been racing stopped altogether, chest tightening as if to warn me this was a bad idea. And I knew it, too — I knew by the way it was suddenly difficult to swallow, and the way my neck heated the longer he watched me that way.
But no matter how bad of an idea I told myself it was, I couldn’t suppress the louder voice inside me that said go.
So, I stood, and with that buzzing, electric energy still hanging like live wires between us, I ignored the danger and submitted to temptation.
“Let me grab my bag.”Jordan“OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!”
I couldn’t stop laughing at Sydney’s outbursts as we tore through the Tennessee mud in my Bronco, the full moon above us and my headlights lighting the way. She held on to what I referred to as the, “Oh, shit” handle with one hand and gripped the center console or the dashboard with the other — depending on which way the Bronco was moving.