I adjust myself, just like I did back then. That was my way of letting her know I was counting on it.
She elbows me as I answer Logan, “I was just thinking how pissed José must be.”
“Think our boys are gonna win this, Tessa?” he asks.
“Let’s hope so. I hate the Giants.” She looks across the field and smiles slightly. “Lucas, at halftime, you should take José a hat. It’s cold out there.”
“You can give him mine.” Logan pulls his navy beanie out of his back pocket. “He’ll be wishing he was sporting these colors by the end of the game when the Cowboys smoke their asses.”
I am ready to scold him when Tessa high-fives Logan again and they both laugh.
He throws his arm around her and points at the field.
Ava has always been close to Tessa, whereas Logan kept his distance. This … this is nice. I stand back and watch them cheer on … the fucking Cowboys.
Logan looks back at Maddox. “Come here, man; let me explain football to you. This is the real shit, not what you Brits call football.”
I step back farther and let them enjoy, and when I do, I notice Harper and Ava have slowed down on the drinking and are sitting now.
“Dad, check out the score. Do you see that?” Logan yells, calling my attention back to him.
“I do. José is gonna be pissed at you for bringing his team bad luck.”
Tessa giggles. “Well, Logan and I are pissed at him for coaching the Giants. So, we’ll be even.”
At the end of the game, Logan and her are doing a victory dance, while Ava and Harper are holding each other up with their heads rested against each other’s.
“Sober up, ladies. Twenty minutes until we go meet José.”
“Locker room,” I hear Ava whisper to Harper.
Tessa laughs. “Are you excited, Ava?”
“Yeah, I am. We’re going to the locker room.”
“Outside of the locker room, Ava,” I correct and give her the Dad look, the one that stopped working on her at twelve.
She whispers to Harper rather loudly, “I’m sneaking in.”
I try the look again, and she laughs hysterically. She even snorts. Regardless, my girl is a doll.
“She does that on purpose, you know?” Tessa whispers.
“Uh-huh. She better be joking,” I say loud enough for Ava to hear.
“Maybe I’ll go with her,” Tessa jokes, or at least it better be a joke.
“Like hell you are.” I laugh then step it up just in case she isn’t. I’ve had all I could take of her cuteness today. If she does that, I may be forced to move quicker than I planned. But Tessa was worth the wait back then—I was a complete fucking idiot—and she’s even more so now.
She needs to heal, and I need to get Logan graduated and Ash … whatever it is she needs, to get it her shit together.
?
José walks out of the locker room, and I give him a big hug. He immediately recognizes Tessa. How could he not? She hasn’t changed a bit. He picks her up and hugs her, twirling her in a circle, and she laughs the most beautiful laugh.Lucky bastard.
I introduce everyone, and we chat a while before Ava and Harper start getting too much damn attention from the players leaving the locker room and Maddox looks like he’s had enough of that shit. I completely understand.
“Long day?” José asks, looking at everyone.